Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart has repeated his backing for Philippe Clement despite the Belgian presiding over the team’s ‘disastrous’ loss to Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup.

The Ibrox club’s elimination at the hands of the Championship side was the first time they had gone out of the tournament at home as a top-fight team.

Already 13 points behind Celtic in the Premiership and having lost the League Cup final to their great rivals, the humiliation was seen as the final straw for the manager in the view of many fans.

‘Look, I don’t want anyone to doubt the gravity of the result and how I view the gravity of the result,’ said Stewart yesterday.

‘You can’t sugarcoat it, it was disastrous. It’s historically obviously a significant moment.

Clement has again been backed to continue as boss despite the Queen’s Park debacle

CEO Patrick Stewart admitted cup exit was ‘disastrous’ but he is still supporting the manager

Many Rangers fans felt Clement should have gone after defeat to Queen’s Park

‘It’s the first time we’ve got out to lower league opposition at home in the Scottish Cup. That is not lost on me. That’s obviously a source of shame for the club.

‘Clearly, there’s financial impact as well, but, more importantly, it was a really good opportunity to win a trophy and that’s now gone.

‘It’s impacted everyone at the club, let’s be clear. Obviously, everyone at Auchenhowie, but also around the club, it’s impacted morale and serious questions have been asked. So, yeah, it’s a massive blow.’

Asked why Clement was still in charge, Stewart likened Rangers’ problems to ‘fixing a broken house’. He also said the Belgian and his players deserved credit for reaching the last 16 of the Europa League, and said the club were not going to put the team’s potential progress in that tournament at risk by changing the manager

‘Look, I’m going to go back to what I said in January,’ said Stewart. ‘We have been underperforming as a club for several seasons now and that’s not down to a manager.

‘We’ve changed the manager and it’s not made a difference. But what I’m doing now is I’m looking at the root causes of that and, until we sort those root causes, it’s akin to trying to fix a broken house and starting with the ceiling instead of starting with the root foundation.

‘So, I’m going into the foundations and having a really good look at this. So, that’s the first reason.

‘Secondly, look, for all the Queen’s Park result was disastrous, I think we do also have to give credit to Philippe and the team for the Europa League run.

Rangers CEO Stewart admits the defeat to Queen’s Park was ‘a source of shame’ for Ibrox club

James Tavernier reacts with horror after he failed to equalise for Rangers from penalty spot

Chief executive Stewart says Clement and his players deserve credit for Europa League run

Stewart fears that changing manager now could put progress in Europa League at risk

‘We had a really tough draw. Four of the top eight we played against and we finished in the top eight. So, they deserve real credit for that. And I don’t want to take a step that would put further progress in the Europa League at risk.

‘So, that’s another reason for why we continue to keep Philippe in his role. I’ve said this before, I am not here to make popular decisions and get quick wins. I do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. I’m not going to do that.

‘I’ve got to keep real discipline and focus on making sure that we are making the right decisions in the right order for the long benefit of the club and not knee-jerk reacting to what was frankly a disastrous result.

‘I’m not trying to duck from that, but we’ve got to stick to the plan. To be clear though, we’re all judged on results, myself, Philippe. So, there’s no free passes here, but we are sticking to the plan and I’m going to be incredibly disciplined about that because we’ve not always been that in the past.’

Stewart again shot down suggestions that the only reason the Belgian was still in charge was because the club simply could not afford to sack him.

‘I’ve said consistently now, we are not refusing to make changes because of finances,’ he insisted.

‘So, all I can do is reiterate that, but that’s absolutely not the case. To keep somebody in position to avoid a termination payment, that’s just a false economy.

‘That’s not a way to run a club and that’s not what we’re doing. Decisions have been made for the long-term interest of the football club, not to save money.’

Stewart says the problems at Rangers are far bigger than just blaming manager Clement

Rangers’ victory over Union Saint Gilloise saw them progress to last 16 of the Europa League

CEO Stewart admits the team’s shock Scottish Cup exit ‘impacted’ everyone at the club

Stewart revealed that the initial conclusion of an ongoing review into the club’s entire football operation was that a sporting director would be beneficial.

Insisting that this person would work in tandem with technical director Nils Koppen, Stewart believes the new structure will see Rangers emulate elite European clubs.

‘That role will put somebody right at the top of the football tree, an experienced football person at the top of the tree that will be responsible for all aspects of the football club to make sure they are working together towards fulfilling a holistic joined-up plan,’ he said.

‘What the structure will be putting in place will be creating two really distinct roles.

‘Sporting director is responsible for the entire football operations, men’s, women, academy, medical and performance, recruitment, the whole gamut.

‘Nils as technical director is responsible for squad planning, so making sure that our first-team squad for men’s and women’s teams are in the right place.

‘And that means he’s looking at player recruitment, with particular focus on player recruitment from all the age groups, through making sure that we’ve got a good pipeline coming in from the academy into the first team – but also where we don’t have that pipeline we’re recruiting externally.

‘But critically also making sure that we’re selling players at the right time because that’s critical to the player-trading model.

‘So, he’s very much focused on one part of the football operations, whereas the sporting director has got the whole gamut and is very much focused on the football strategy in its wider context.’