Philippe Clement struck by young Rangers fan's tears as unseen costs of Dens Park farce hit home

The images of Rangers and Dundee officials watching referee Don Robertson plod around a saturated Dens Park ahead of another inevitable call-off were beamed out across the world on TV.

But it was a sight hidden from the public glare at the team hotel back in St Andrews that Philippe Clement reckons really brought home the harsh reality of the farce that is making a joke of Scottish football. The Gers boss told how he’d come face-to-face with a father and son who had travelled hundreds of miles from Wales to watch their beloved side take, what they hoped, would be another step towards the title.

Tears were streaming down the six-year-old’s face when he discovered there would be no game. If that wasn’t hard enough - it was the second time they had shelled out to make the journey full of hope only to see their excitement drowned by the dodgy Dens surface.

Clement has had to cancel days off for his players and redraw his schedule for the packed next few weeks. But it’s the impact on the punters he feels just as bad.

He said: “You guys maybe don’t understand but we have a very busy schedule, you are preparing everything, training and preparation. The guys almost don’t have any free days. They will have two free days this month. I’ve had to take one off now because we had to change our programme.

“So there’s a lot of things around it. Yesterday when we were in the hotel I saw a father with a small boy, it was the second time that they’ve travelled from Wales to St Andrews for the boy to see a Rangers game and it’s the second time the game’s been cancelled.

“It was a boy of six, seven years old who was crying. There’s a lot of things around that, all the fans coming there from Wales, from England, from Northern Ireland, from