Philippe Clement tells Rangers snipers 'I'm not stupid' but suffers instant takedown over sports science 'excuse'

Under-fire Philippe Clement says he's not a 'stupid manager' - and won't take unnecessary risks with players if it results in injuries.

But Kris Boyd doesn't see it that way and told the boss he needs to start putting results ahead of what his sports scientists are telling him. Rangers slumped 14 points behind Celtic after enduring another turbulent afternoon of Scottish Premiership at at Fir Park for the Light Blues as they fell two goal behind a the break thanks to goals from Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Tawanda Maswanhise. However, Hamza Igamane would come off the bench at the break to replace Cyriel Dessers and his double claimed a point for Rangers ahead of the crucial clash with Celtic to open 2025.

Vaclav Cerny was also introduced at the break and given the difference the pair made led to questions over why they weren't able to start. Clement had said pre-game that their absence from the XI was down to advice from his sports scientists, who had suggested the pair were at risk of injuries if the played the full 90.

Clement was asked on Sky Sports after the match if their impact suggested he should have started them. And he said: "You can say that in hindsight. And if they were injured in the second half then you would say I am a stupid manager who doesn't listen to his staff when players are on the edge.

"We know what they've been doing until now, they were fresh and that's why they could make the difference in the second half. It's worse if we were to lose them for two months because you see how important they are for the team.

"I've already taken quite some risk in the last week. But there has to be an end to taking risk because otherwise you become really foolish."

Pundit and Rangers hero Boyd, though,