Philippe Clement has confirmed tonight what Ibrox Noise has been reporting for weeks – Rangers simply can’t buy players without selling them first, and it’s NOT what he signed up for.
In a damning statement from the Belgian boss, Clement confirmed after Rangers’ latest slip in preseason, this time to Ajax, that he simply has no budget for players this summer without getting sales first.
But that tellingly, he didn’t sign up for that in October.
He said:
“That’s the reality (we have no cash without sales). That’s the reality that the board told me a few months ago. I know this, the recruitment team knows this also. This is the reality of the club.”
When Ibrox Noise reported the £25M projected budget that was aimed for this summer, it was based on two things:
1: That last summer it was £20M and has been going up £2M-£5M every summer since Steven Gerrard’s summer window of 2020 (aside 2021 in which we spent £0).
2: That sales would be facilitating it – that we would like to spend that region of cash, but it depended on selling players first.
Clement offers even more worrying updates:
“I had other expectations when I came in in October, I have to say.”
This is exactly the stuff Steven Gerrard said after the loss to Malmo and his exit in 2021 – he put an outright pressure on the board in saying they hadn’t backed him that summer, and that’s what Clement is saying now.
And it’s a different board!
“But I know the reality now. I am very motivated to build the club and help in that. It’s focusing not only on the short term but also on the long term. If I only looked at the short term I would only bring in experienced players who can do the job directly. Mistakes like that have been made too much in the past and at the end you don’t reach your goals. You need a different philosophy and that’s what we are all working towards.”
So he’s basically saying the board more or less mislead him in October, and told him there would be cash.
Now he’s aware there’s no kitty at all, not without selling players first.
It’s a damning statement, and it bodes grimly for the road ahead. Will Clement stick around? We’re honestly not sure.