Rangers interim chairman John Gilligan has insisted the club is backing Philippe Clement and he believes Celtic can still be caught in the league.
The former Ibrox director came in as stand-in chairman after John Bennett stepped down last week for health reasons.
To help the club close the five-point gap to Brendan Rodgers’ side - along with Aberdeen who are also on 15 points after five games – Gilligan has revealed more funds will be available in the January window without the need to sell players.
Read more:
-
Who is John Gilligan and what is the chairman and CEO state of play?
-
The day I understood why Rangers legend Ally McCoist is always late
-
John Gilligan sends Dave King message and makes Clement call
Gilligan told Sky Sports News: "We have to take one step at a time but ultimately we have to win the league.
"Yes, definitely [we can challenge Celtic and Aberdeen] because of the manager and the players we've brought in. The fact is we're a strong team and week to week, we're playing games that we should win and we can win.
"Why not? You have to have that belief. If we start to doubt that and have that disbelief, then it will start to go through the whole place. We can't have that."
On Clement, he said: "It's been difficult for the manager and it would be silly to think otherwise. Putting my supporter's hat on, the word 'patience' is not something football supporters are very good at, but I would ask the fans to be patient.
"The manager has brought in some good, exciting young players. He's trying to take the age of the squad down, trying to get the trading model correct and I think this is the moment where we hopefully back the manager.
"I'll put myself on the line here and say we are backing this manager. This man has made a lot of changes in the background, we're starting to see that coming and we just look forward to the weeks and months ahead."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel