The big Philippe Clement Rangers rebuild that could see 20 players head for exit and 2 transfer shopping lists

He picked up a dead weight and ran with it further than anyone could reasonably have expected.

That Philippe Clement might still rescue a treble from the wreckage he inherited from Michael Beale is testament to a job extremely well done. But, no matter how these next three weeks work out, the Belgian will know that the real heavy lifting has hardly even begun.

On the contrary, having worked so hard to protect the squad that Beale built from the full blast of an early season implosion, Clement must now be utterly ruthless in its dismantling or risk it blowing up in his face when the next campaign begins. The truth of the matter is, Rangers are very probably in need of the biggest summer rebuild since Dick Advocaat started from scratch back in 1998, when the Dutchman set about overhauling a team which had run itself into the ground in the exhausting pursuit of 10 in a row.

To be fair to them, Beale and the Ibrox board were smart enough to work this out for themselves 12 months ago. But, by botching the job so badly, they have left Clement with an even greater and more urgent task. And, presumably, with the necessary resources even harder to find. As things currently stand, with the league title still not completely outwith his grasp along with the accompanying £60m fighting fund of Champions League lolly, Clement will have no choice but to leave his recruitment drive on pause.

In the meantime, he may even be drawing up two very different looking shopping lists which are likely to be entirely dependent on the outcome of the climax to the title run-in. Should he manage to claw back Celtic’s lead at the top of the table and unlock a small fortune of UEFA’s cash, then Clement will be financially able to activate plan A.

If he