Philippe Clement has traditionally been coy about the future of the Rangers squad.
With the club competing on four fronts this season, the Belgian clearly wanted to keep his charges focused on the task at hand.
But repeated failures by several high profile names in the squad and a run of devastating injuries have broken the spirit of many supporters.
Fans are weary of too many in this team feeling more comfortable playing second fiddle to Celtic in Scotland and for the final time many supporters have urged the club to take a fresh approach.
And it’s not going to be easy.
With no fewer than six players out of contract and several high earners failing to justify their wages, Philippe Clement has finally admitted that a rebuild is on the horizon.
And despite missing out on an extra £30m Champions League bounty by letting the Premiership title slip from his grasp, Clement has also made a public appeal to the Rangers board to fund what the Belgian describes as ‘quite a rebuild’.
Clement: Rangers face ‘quite a rebuild’
Philippe Clement has now confirmed that there will be a ‘turnaround’ of players at Ibrox this summer.
The news comes against the backdrop of Rangers’ collapse in the title race, a failure to beat Celtic in the four Old Firms this campaign devastating the season.
A run of one Premiership win in five games at a crucial moment of the campaign has also proved decisive.
All things considered, the club haven’t been helped by a devastating run of injury problems.
Now, the Rangers manager insists change is coming with the recruitment team already busy building a shortlist of targets.
”It’s going to be a turnaround in the squad,” said Clement. “That’s clear also with all the contract situations and everything.
“So we’ve been working hard on that already for four months.
“I see that the recruitment team are really busy finding the good profiles for next season but now it’s for me important for these last three games and not to only be busy for next season.”
Philippe Clement has also suggested that it won’t just be those players who are out of contract who’ll be moving on in the summer.
Whilst talks have been shelved until the end of the season, Clement is on the transfer hunt for more Mohamed Diomande-esque signings whilst the ex-Monaco boss is convinced the club will also need to add experience.
It’s a real head-scratcher and whilst fans retain faith in the Belgian, a failure to get things right this summer will see his favour quickly dry up with supporters.
“It’s going to be a big one because of all the end of contracts,” said Clement. “And maybe others also.
“No, it’s going to be quite a rebuild also.
“So you want to keep foundations of this season also, you don’t want to start from 0 again so we need to find a good balance in that.
“And doing smart things for now but also for the future of the club, to bring profiles in like Diomande is proving now, week after week who can also be assets for the future.
“But we need to get also experience in if experience is leaving the building, so we need to find a good balance in that.”
Asked about getting the necessary budget to take Rangers forward, Clement made a public appeal for more funds.
“We are talking about that yes,” said Clement. “I think every manager if he needs to rebuild he always wants more money.
“I feel that the club knows how necessary it is to do that but it’s not only in recruitment.
“In other departments we need to also make good decisions because we cannot have so many injuries so we need to rebuild some things there I think.”
Rangers stars still have chance to prove worth
Whilst for the first time being Philippe Clement admitted that change is coming this summer, the Rangers boss wouldn’t be drawn on individuals.
The Ibrox manager has also been eager to keep a sense of perspective on how the team has performed in recent months despite collapsing in the run-in.
Asked about how the players under contract can keep their place in the squad, Clement responded: “I am not going to speak about every individual now.
“It’s just about everybody showing their level, what they did a few weeks ago also.
“Don’t make everything now negative because we lost the game and now everything what happened the last couple of months is bad because it’s also not the case.
“Because a few weeks ago all of you guys were saying Rangers has the momentum, Rangers is the best team and Rangers is playing the best football.
“So that was there also that moment so these players were doing that also.
“But from those players who were doing that a lot of them are not available for the moment.”
Asked about the out of contract players, Clement said: “I said it last week, we’re going to make final decisions after these two weeks.
“Because it’s too crucial to be busy with all those things, making negotiations with players, for them.
“Because it’s now about one thing. It’s about the club and getting the results and players who are busy with other things and talking about contracts and everything they cannot have the focus on the result now.
“It’s also a chance to take for them to show that they want to stay here.”
Rangers have been linked to several players ahead of the summer with a move for Jose Cordoba amongst the most prominent.
