Despondent Rangers star addresses seething fanbase after horrific cup exit as flops warned to take 'accountability'

Crestfallen James Tavernier has warned his Rangers teammates they must shoulder the blame for their embarrassing Scottish Cup exit to Queen’s Park as a collective.

Under-pressure boss Philippe Clement has found himself in the firing line as he attempted to side-step questions relating to whether he will resign from his post after Sunday’s calamitous 1-0 defeat to their Championship opponents at Ibrox.

But frustrated captain Tavernier has held his hands up and conceded it’s down to the players to find the right solutions as he directly addressed angry Light Blues supporters.

“It’s unacceptable,” the defender stated. “We can’t be losing at home. We can’t be having over 30 shots at goal, I believe it’s 12 shots on target. I’ve got to do better with the penalty but we will have to take accountability, everybody.

“It’s just unacceptable, it’s as simple as that. Being a Rangers player comes with expectations and you have to deliver. If you don’t then rightly so you will hit the brunt of the fans. That’s exactly what they deserved today.

“I won’t really touch on tempo as I think we created chances but just not good enough chances. You can’t be shooting that many times at goal and putting the ball over the bar too many times. We give up an easy goal and we just can’t be doing that.”

Is it time up for Philippe Clement?

Up to this point, the Rangers board have made their position clear by throwing their full support behind the beleaguered Belgian manager to the end of the season no matter the results on the pitch. However, their stance might change after this catastrophic defeat. Their domestic campaign is over by early February and that’s an indictment on those in charge at Ibrox.

There’s no doubt Clement is in major trouble now. If he does survive this result, it’s not a good look for the Rangers board which a large majority of fans already believe is itself not fit for purpose. He may continue to limp on while the powers at be weigh up a decision, but realistically this should be the end of the road. The question remains, though - do the Gers board have the finances available to sack him?