A lot of what Rangers manager Philippe Clement has said has become hot air in recent months, so we are extremely wary of many things he says going forward, and the latest about a mega tough preseason is, while theoretically welcome, a lot like the noises one or two previous managers came out with.

Clement has promised, essentially, the preseason of the players’ lives, that they will have a program even on their own holidays. Our only gripe with that is players always have a holiday program to follow, it’s nothing new – even if one or two of them do come back in slightly worse condition than the manager would like.

But Clement is adamant his players will be ready for next season, properly.

He said:

“The biggest scoop is that the foundation of the house is clearly not good. The players who are not prepared to play three games a week on high intensity because it’s been all season we’ve had players out and players not ready for that. So for that, we need a really strong preparation. We’re going to do this in the summer to solve this problem. That’s one of the reasons and there a few others more that we’re going to work on to make it better and to solve it. And their summer break also of their lives because they’ll have a programme also in their holidays, yes. That’s what we’re going to need to perform as a group next season in Europe and in the league and that the players can cope with more intensity than they did this season.”

In fairness to Phil he’s recognising the issues are deep-lying, players who aren’t up to the demands of playing for Rangers, who get injured too easily, and he does at least seem to have some eyes open to that part.

But it’s the preseason promise, that the players are going to be brutalised, apparently, that fans, in theory, will like to hear, because right now the squad is powderpuff and breaks easily.

But of course, words and talk are cheap, fans need to see results – and overall the majority do trust Clement to do the right things in preseason and sign the right players, but the results will have to match the promises.

Whatever he does in preseason, we cross our fingers for a fast start to the season next year.