Danilo vows he and rag-tag Rangers will be ready for Hearts opener as clock ticks on crisis club

It's a race against time for Danilo as the returning Rangers hitman scrambles to get ready for the new season.

In fairness to the Brazilian, he’s not the only one. A lack of readiness is a common theme around Ibrox these days. The clock isn’t just ticking for the Govan crisis club, it’s crashing like a giant gong as every passing second draws Philippe Clement’s rag-tag team closer to the first game of the season.

For Danilo, there’s at least a level of belief that as the days go by the stamina levels wiped out by his seven-month lay-off will return. That might not be enough to see him start when the curtain rises on the new season away to Hearts in eight days' time. But the striker is over the worst of the devastating knee injury he suffered in Gorgie last December and as certain as possible that he’s on the path back to full fitness.

If only the Gers support could be so confident that Rangers are ready to resolve the myriad of problems that have thrust their team into turmoil this summer. Hope is a sensation in short supply at Rangers right now, blown away by a stalled recruitment drive, a string of pre-season defeats and the cack-handed Copland Road construction project which means Clement’s team will spend a month at least locked out of their own stadium. But inside the dressing room, Danilo insists faith is not lost.

“Obviously we always want to bring results whether it’s a friendly game or not,” said the former Ajax and Feyenoord frontman in the wake of Wednesday’s latest summer slip-up to English third-tier outfit Birmingham. “The fans travelled a long way so we want to play for them as well.

“But that’s the good thing, that they are only friendlies so it doesn’t matter if you win or lose you take a lesson from it