Philippe Clement will not “run away” from his Rangers challenge as he tries to continue his revamp of the Ibrox squad amid a tough start to the season.
The Belgian boss took over the Gers hotseat last October and brought the Premier Sports Cup back to Ibrox, but he let slip a lead at the top of the Premiership to Celtic, who won the title and beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup final.
With Rangers playing at Hampden Park due to the delayed refurbishment of Ibrox, Clement has overhauled his squad with nine new signings and an eye on the balance sheet.
But they have already dropped two points behind Celtic in the title race and are licking their wounds after being knocked out of the Champion League qualifiers by Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday.
Ahead of the Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie with St Johnstone at Hampden on Saturday, Clement, who extended his contract to 2028 earlier in the month, stressed he is in it for the long haul.
“It’s a massive job and I knew it,” he said.
“And it was for me so easy to not do it. But maybe that’s my… I don’t know if it’s a word in English. My masochist side.
“No, I love this club, really. And I only had one time that feeling with the club and it was in Bruges where I was 16 years (with Club Brugge as a player and manager) because it was my second family.
“I feel after seven months like really part of this club. I could not leave this project now. That is impossible, although there were chances for that. No. But I know we need time to build things.
“And I cannot say how fast things will go. But I can say that everybody is working really hard.
“And I’m really confident of the future of this club because now decisions are made to keep this club healthy, first.
“Secondly, to think short term, yes where possible, but thinking also about long term. And this is what this club needed.
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“Do I love to be in a club where my heart is and they can spend cash all over and I can get experienced players and to have a squad where every position is double or triple? Yeah, of course, I would love that.
“But I knew before it would not be the case. But I don’t run away from it. No, I see it as maybe the biggest challenge there is.
“And I love a challenge. And I’m very, very confident in the way that everybody is working here together now.
“And communicating together that we will reach our goals. Will it be the next month or in three months or in six months? That’s more difficult to predict.
“But this club is on the good way and on the healthy way. And this is what this club needed because otherwise you go to the problems of the past. And that’s not what anybody who loves this club wants.
“I feel this responsibility. And I like also this responsibility. Because there are so many things that we still can do here. But we need to be inventive to do it with less money than your great opponent in the league.
“That’s the reality. And we know. So if you can reach that, that’s much stronger than just having the cash and to do it with the cash.”
Clement admits a delay in players being moved on is holding up his plans of adding more new recruits.
Midfielder Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi are two big-name players whose Ibrox careers could be over.
The Light Blues boss said: “Some of them know it already for a really long time and they’re still in the building.
“That makes things more difficult. But it is what it is. I cannot put a gun on their heads to get them out of the building. That’s also not the idea.”
