Clement belief undimmed amid Rangers struggles

Scottish Premiership: Rangers v Aberdeen

Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Date: Wednesday, 15 January Time: 19:45 GMT

Coverage: Listen to Sportsound on Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds and follow live on the BBC Sport website and app

Rangers manager Philippe Clement insists his belief has not wavered despite his side trailing significantly behind leaders Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

A minority of fans walked out in protest at results and the actions of the club's board during Sunday's 3-1 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox.

Clement's team will be 16 points off the summit when they host Aberdeen on Wednesday and a mood of doom has hung heavily over them for swathes of the season.

"The bigger the challenge, the more hungry I am in life," the Belgian said.

"A lot of people realised a lot of things changed here. That made things more complicated the last couple of months but that makes the challenge only bigger to get where you want to get to.

"Everybody's aligned and has the same plan towards getting there."

Patrick Stewart joined Rangers as chief executive in December, following James Bisgrove's departure from that role in the summer.

Chairman Fraser Thornton also took over from interim figurehead John Gilligan last month.

Those arrivals followed the publication of the club's accounts to June, which showed a £17.2m loss.

Clement was appointed in October 2023 and won the League Cup within his first few months.

However, he has failed to add to that since, with Celtic strong favourites to secure a fourth successive Premiership title and fourth domestic trophy in a row.

Rangers - last year's beaten finalists - begin their Scottish Cup campaign at home to Fraserburgh on Sunday, live on BBC One Scotland.

"I'm a winner and I've always been," Clement added.

"When I was young, nobody believed I would be a professional player and when I was a professional player, nobody believed I would get into the national team."

On transfers, Clement indicated there was nothing to report regarding incomings and, on the prospect of outgoings, said: "There are possibilities, yes, but we will see."

Meanwhile, Leon Balogun and fellow defender James Tavernier are back in training following recent absences.