Philippe Clement told Rangers fans to “be smart and follow the rules” after their use of pyrotechnics resulted in UEFA twice fining the Govan club.
A fine of approximately £11,500 for the release of flares at the 4-1 Europa League defeat at home to Lyon earlier this month followed a bill of around £15,900 for a similar incident in the 2-0 away win against Swedish side Malmo.
Interim chairman John Gilligan told the “small minority” of Rangers fans this week that pyrotechnics “must stop” and ahead of the William Hill Premiership game against Kilmarnock on Sunday, boss Clement backed him up.
He said: “Everything that the club gets fines for, it’s a bad thing for the club, for everybody working in the club and for the fans also.
“So it lowers the budget for other things, but for the fans it’s also really important.
“They need to be smart and follow the rules that are made by UEFA, by the Scottish Football League.
“So they need to follow that, like you need to follow also the rules when you’re outside in the city and you need to follow the rules of the police. That’s life.”
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Asked if there was concern in the club that further transgressions could result in tougher punishments such as a partial stadium closure, the Belgian said: “I don’t want to think about that because I know the passion of our fans.
“I know they want to give their life for this club.
“So I’m also confident when the right people say the right things, like John did, that they understand that it’s not a good thing for the club, so that they will not do it. So I believe in them.”
Clement was appointed Rangers boss on October 15 last year and soon won the Premier Sports Cup before his side reached the last-16 of the Europa League and climbed to the top of the league before being overtaken by eventual champions Celtic, who also beat them in the Scottish Cup final.
Amid ongoing boardroom changes this season and with a much-changed squad, Clement’s side were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers and are in the middle of a Europa League campaign, while currently trailing Celtic and Aberdeen by five points at the top of the table.
He said: “It’s difficult to discuss all of what happened in one year. That it’s good that we won a trophy along the way, I wanted more.
“We were close on more, but not good enough. We had to do – and it’s about we, it’s never about I – we needed to do a big rebuild in the club in every sense, on the pitch, off the pitch, so many things happened.
“So I’m putting every energy into that, day and night, to get this club back where it belongs, for me.
“So the future is much more important than the past, in that way. Yes, there are steps made, but we still have to make several steps to get where we want to be.
“That’s with staff, that’s with players, that’s with the board, that’s with the investors, that’s with everybody together, making things better.
“So I’ve seen steps made, I’ve seen also that we lost things along the way when people left.
“So now you need to rebuild again, with players, with people from outside of the staff. So in that way, it’s about working hard to improve.”
