Rangers boss Michael Beale confessed his side are fighting “against the odds” after admitting the Ibrox outfit can't match Celtic's financial might.
The admission came as the Ibrox boss revealed he’s been hit with a fresh injury blow just days on from the despair of losing Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final. Tom Lawrence will not play again this season after Beale confirmed the midfielder has been sent for surgery that will rule him out until the summer.
And Kemar Roofe’s prospects of an imminent return to action are also looking slim with the striker on his way to see a specialist over a persistent calf complaint. That news is the last thing Beale needs as the Rangers gaffer begins the process of lifting his shattered squad following their Hampden agony. Last Sunday’s defeat to Celtic has again sparked a clamour among the Light Blue legions for a sweeping reform of the Ibrox first-team. Beale is already making plans but admits he and recruitment chief Ross Wilson have to find ways to make their cash go further after conceding he won’t be able to match Ange Postecoglu’s spending power.
The Ibrox boss added: “The biggest clubs in the world spend hundreds of millions and get it wrong. That’s the reality of recruitment. We’re competing against the odds if you like. In general, if you look at any league in the world, the team that spends the most is first. So we have to compete against the odds because we’re not going to spend the most money. We’re not going to recruit the finished product. So there’s a lot of coaching, a little bit of patience and a lot of good work to go on.”
Beale added Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell to his squad last month and believes there could be as many as five new faces needed this summer.
He added: “It is going to be a significant summer. There are no quick fixes so the word ‘patience’ comes out again, the word that nobody in this city likes. But the reality is that over 90 days we’ve made steady progress, regardless if people say that we haven’t. I’m saying we have and that’s my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own. But I won’t be dampened by one defeat, no matter how damaging that defeat is because I know that in that (Old Firm) head to head months before we were worse off. So we’re moving forward. Whether it’s quick enough for people or not we have to still keep moving forward.
“I’ve got quite a complex job here at Rangers as I’m going to need to change a squad with not huge finance. And everyone wants me to get it ready. The most important thing is people stay fit because if you don’t, how can people be judged?
“There’s been an element this season where we’ve not had a number of the new signings or a number of key players fit.”
There’s good news on that front with John Souttar and Rabbi Matondo set to rejoin his squad for Saturday’s Ibrox clash with Kilmarnock, while Ridvan Yilmaz is hoping to be in contention for next week’s Scottish Cup quarter-final with Raith Rovers.
But that has been offset by the updates on Lawrence and Roofe.
Former Derby skipper Lawrence hasn’t featured since August after sustaining an Achilles injury while Roofe’s registered just 147 minutes of action during a campaign plagued by fitness issues.
Beale said: “Tom Lawrence has had another operation and won’t be available until the back end of pre-season. Kemar tried to train on Saturday but it was no good. Unfortunately with Kemar he’s going through a tough time at the moment and he will be away to see someone as we need to get to the end of this.
“He has a problem with his calf but there are one or two other things that could be leading to that that have been nagging.
“Me and him have had a real heart to heart. He’s a boy that I’m really close to. I want to see him get some light at the end of the tunnel so we’re going to get some advice on that. With Tom Lawrence he was back our training in isolation, had some real discomfort when he was running. They had a look and they had to do a procedure so he won’t be back until the back end of pre-season.”
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