Rangers manager Philippe Clement has dismissed as ‘fake news’ any stories about the potential exits of either James Tavernier or Connor Goldson, and suggested they will remain at Ibrox next season, but at a reduced workload.

The manager, in his latest bout of bizarre ramblings which have been his trademark for many months now, suggested both Tav and Goldson played too much last season (his choice) and their workload will be lesser next season, while rejecting the stories from the Middle East (and Birmingham) about their departures.

He said on the pair:

“There is a lot of speculation in Glasgow – Fake news. But it is part of being in Glasgow. You cannot react to every fake news because then you’ll only be busy with that. All the speculation around them is the same speculation that you can have around every player. It is the same for us.”

So Clement is trying to play down any idea of bids in or interest in for the pair, which the majority of Rangers fans won’t be terribly thrilled to hear, with a widely-held belief that their Rangers races are run.

He went on:

“What I see is that they brought a lot to the club the last couple of years. That they did really good games with me. They also did games where it was less, like all the team. For me they maybe played too much last season or the last couple of years because if you play 60 games nobody is every time at his top shape. They have done all of that for the club, they worked really hard for that. They are not going to play 60 games the season to come now.”

The fact Clement is complaining about how much they both played when he was the one selecting them is… a bit bewildering, especially in Goldson’s case, given Leon Balogun was happily on the bench most of the season.

In terms of Tavernier, that was technically more difficult with the only viable backup being Dujon Sterling, and we all saw how much he struggled v Ajax in that slot but of course Balogun can more than deputise there too.

But nevertheless, January came and went and the manager got no new RBs at all. And still hasn’t, instead opting to extend Robbie Fraser and sign Jefte on the other side.

So what do we make of the latest?

We honestly don’t take too seriously a lot of what Clement says any more – the first 5 months he seemed a straight shooter and pretty honest, but as the season deteriorated so did his media performances and by the end it was rather debatable comments he came out with.

Remember ‘Borna Barisic is hungry for trophies’ and ‘John Lundstram will sign a contract’.

But, our job is to report, and that’s what we are doing.