'I feel for him' - Michael Stewart expresses Rangers sympathy for precarious Philippe Clement situation

Michael Stewart has revealed he has a degree of sympathy for the precarious situation Rangers manager Philippe Clement finds himself in.

The Ibrox club slumped to their latest Premiership defeat against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday, with Marley Watkins netting late on to secure a narrow 1-0 win for the Ayrshire side to ensure the Gers fell a point further behind pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen in the title race, who drew 2-2 in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.

Ex-Hearts and Hibs midfielder Stewart acknowledged that while results and performances haven’t been anywhere near good enough on the pitch, he pointed to Rangers recruitment policy and the difficult circumstances Clement has had to operate under in recent months.

The pundit has questioned how much input the Belgian was allowed to have in signing new players over the summer and highlighted how crucial their next three matches against FCSB, St Mirren and Aberdeen could be for Clement’s future in Govan.

Speaking on Sportscene, he admitted: “I feel for him to a certain extent because I look at the squad and it's not as strong as it was before. How much of that is down to poor recruitment that he's been involved in? And how much of it is down to cost-cutting?

“I think there is an element of that there but one thing for certain is that the two games in the next week are huge and have potential ramifications.

“They have St Mirren at home off the back of the European game and then it's Pittodrie. That is a mouth-watering game and is one that is going to tell us a lot about how their season is going to unfold.”