Clement enters self-protection with candid Rangers claim everybody could hear when he spilled the beans – Hugh Keevins

There is no soft solution to Rangers ’ current predicament. Hard cash only.

And that is why tomorrow’s draw for the third qualifying round of the Champions League is of paramount importance to Philippe Clement. The manager has spilled every bean there is to spill about the problems created by living in what we’ll call reduced circumstances at Ibrox. There is, he has freely admitted, no money to buy players. The only way to make new signings is to sell those at his disposal who have a reasonable value on the transfer market.

Which means further reducing experience within his squad while carrying out what the Belgian has said is a “massive rebuilding job”. That’s quite the conundrum, is it not? The extent to which Clement can alleviate his difficulties before Rangers’ Champions League qualifier has to be played next month is negligible to minimal.

The need to make the group stage and achieve the equivalent of winning the National Lottery is, on the other hand, undeniable. Failure would impact on the rest of Rangers’ domestic season and, by association, Phil’s immediate future.

It sounded like a self-protection mechanism when Clement delivered the candid statement that “I had other expectations when I came in October, I have to say”. There were no lights shone in the manager’s face. No thumbscrews applied or other interrogation methods employed when he spoke about how he imagined his job would be at Ibrox.

And then confessed the distance between expectation and the reality of the situation was considerable. It was something he obviously wanted to get off his chest and put out in the public domain.

And who could deny him that much when Clement has been confronted by problems that are not of his making? The mishandling of