Rangers manager Philippe Clement isn’t buying into the air of negativity swirling all around Ibrox.
The Gers support aren’t exactly all singing from the same Ibrox – sorry, Hampden – hymn sheet heading into the new season.
The Copland Stand fiasco has combined with years of domestic failure, Celtic’s repeated Champions League qualifications at our expense and a lack of activity in the transfer market to raise the pressure on Clement’s team before a ball has even been kicked.
But the Rangers manager has taken the opportunity to soothe those jagged nerves heading into this weekend’s Tynecastle opener in the Scottish Premiership.
And between injuries, transfer targets and the ‘rebuilding of the club’s house’ – an apt metaphor given the circumstances at Ibrox – Clement has suggested there’s more to be positive about than meets the eye.
Clement promises more transfer activity
When it comes to Rangers’ transfer business, Philippe Clement has been clear in an interview with Sky Sports that ‘there’s a lot of work to be done’.
It’s the same message which has come out of the Belgian since the summer transfer window opened but with the season fast approaching, there’s a sentiment that not enough has been done in Glasgow.
With fan frustrations bubbling by the minute – and every doomed Rangers transfer pursuit – Clement is relaxed and claims that there are few supporters in football happy with the business done at their respective clubs.
“If you can find one fan who is happy now about all the transfers done in a club you will do a great job I think,” said Clement.
“It’s all over in all the teams, all the squads, that fans want more and that’s why they are fans also. That’s normal.
“It’s a busy period. It’s also a period that started later than normal because of the Euros.
“The club did already a lot of things inside of the budget that we have but we don’t have a budget to just spend money so we need to do it wise and not only short term but also long term.
“Like I said a lot of the core of the club and the team left also and also were above their 30s so we need to reinvest in also younger players and development for the future.”
Clement has also been talking about Rangers’ transfer ambitions over the next few weeks.
Touching on the perhaps understated move for Czech international forward Vaclav Cerny, Clement is clear that Rangers are still ‘very busy’ on the transfer front.
In a relaxed interview, the Gers boss is clearly confident deals are in the pipeline and Rangers fans will have to be patient with some factors around transfers out of the club’s control.
“We have new players coming in who could take experience,” said Clement. “Of course they need to learn more and they need to get the team better and the way of playing and everything.
“And we’re still very busy in the transfer market.
“I’m very convinced that (Vaclav) Cerny will be a really, really important signing in that way.
“So the recruitment team has been working hard, together with us, together with the board, everybody is aligned about what to do.
“But of course the when you never have control totally about that because it’s about yourself, the money you have, it’s about the other players, it’s about the other team also.
“When players come free or if they can come free, so those things you don’t control.
“Everybody worked really hard and I’m convinced we can make a good start of the season and I feel a lot of hunger in this building.”
Progress on Rangers injury front
One positive which is perhaps a tad understated so far this summer is the involvement of several Rangers first-teamers in a full pre-season.
There have been a number of players in recent campaigns who have had their early season preparations interrupted by injury problems.
This summer saw a solid squad of players take part in pre-season training and whilst there are doubts about the Ibrox credentials of many of them, we’ll certainly be in a better place to judge when they’re at optimum health.
“I think we made really good steps in this pre-season,” said Clement.
“But in many ways that people don’t see because they don’t know the past or they don’t know the details.
“We have five, six players who the last three or four years never had a full pre-season and they had now so that’s a big step forward for them.
“We had players coming out of injury that lost a lot of last season like Danilo, like Oscar Cortes, who were out for months.
“So they are in a positive way, they did all the trainings that we planned to do with them.
“They are not yet at their best shape but it was impossible at this moment, but it’s for sure a positive.”
Last season, Clement made a pledge to shake-up the club’s ailing medical department.
Injuries have plagued Rangers for the last two seasons in particular and big changes are clearly needed with the situation affecting the club on and off the park.
There has been visible progress in this regard but Rangers will continue to improve the fitness of some of those players in the squad who many have doubted for a long time.
These include the likes of Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo, who have always struggled to find consistency at Rangers due to being laid up on the treatment table.
“We fixed things for sure,” said Clement. “Not everything, you cannot do that in five weeks, that’s impossible.
“But we almost didn’t have injuries in the pre-season. We had an unlucky one with Nicolas Raskin, that was a bad tackle and that can happen in football.
“We had a few minor muscle things but nothing major so that’s a big step forward.
“Like I said, several players who were injured the last two three years a lot did much more in pre-season now so they will be more robust.
“This is not the end of the pre-season for them, the next two, three months will be also crucial to make them stronger and to make them better.
“So we need to make a good combination with me making them stronger and letting them play games and that they are ready for things, and of course, to win the games.
“That stays the most important thing.”
Clement will ‘do everything’ to pip Celtic
Whilst it’s been the likes of Ross County and Dundee who’ve undid Rangers under Clement, an inability to beat Celtic when it matters hangs over the Rangers boss.
Clement’s ‘moral winners’ stumbled in that 3-3 at Ibrox whilst the Belgian refused to use such a line after the devastating 1-0 Scottish Cup Final defeat.
Still without a victory over Celtic, Philippe Clement knows that if he fails to stop the Old Firm rot he will struggle to regain domestic dominance.
Asked about our Old Firm rivals and the club’s title ambitions, the Rangers manager is clear.
Rangers will be putting everything into winning the title and he’s urged supporters to be patient as new ‘foundations’ are put into the Ibrox ‘house’.
“I will put all my effort (into winning the title),” said Clement. “And that’s what we need to know.
“We know that their’s is a small renovation with a few details and they can build on their core and we have a big rebuild.
“Let us first make a good foundation of this rebuild, of our house, and let us build our house the next couple of weeks and next couple of months to make it much stronger.
“And then it will be much stronger than it was six months ago.”
