AS he sat in the media auditorium deep in the bowels of Hampden last night and attempted to contain his fury at what he had just witnessed, Philippe Clement downplayed the seriousness of Rangers’ exit from the Champions League.
The 2-0 defeat which the Ibrox club – whose manager, players and supporters had been astonished and incensed when Jefte was ordered off for a second bookable offence in the second half – suffered at the hands of Dynamo Kiev denied them a potential £40m pay day.
After he had described the red carding of his summer signing as the worst decision he had seen “in over 30 years”, Clement was asked the inevitable question about the long-term implications of the failure.
“If you go to the Champions League you can do things faster because there's a lot of money coming into the club,” he said. “That's not the case now, so it will take more time. That's the reality.
“But it doesn't mean that the story stops of course. You see it already now with young, exciting players coming into the club, making steps and making value for the future. Out of that you can get two, three other players. Like this, we need to create a model as a club to grow.”
Clement was very much putting a brave face on things.
The reverse will have devastating consequences for Rangers. It will damage their already slim chances of challenging Celtic for the William Hill Premiership as well as the Premier Sports Cup and Scottish Gas Scottish Cup in the 2024/25 campaign hugely. And, for that matter, in the seasons to come.
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The Parkhead outfit had a stronger squad and healthier bank balance – their interim financial results revealed they had reserves of £67m when they were published back in February - before their city rivals took to the field in the second leg of the third qualifying round tie.
Their involvement in the new league phase of UEFA’s revamped elite club competition in the coming months will see, even if they sign new players in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window, their coffers swell even further. The sale of Matt O’Riley, who is being pursued by clubs across the continent, will offset any outlay on reinforcements.
Vaclav Cerny, the Czech Republic internationalist who arrived on a season-long loan from Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg last month, has also improved the Rangers side.
Elsewhere, Goalkeeper Jack Butland, centre-half John Souttar, left-back Ridvan Yilmaz and utility man Dujon Sterling are decent footballers.
However, this looks to be a team badly lacking in the necessary depth, freshness and quality to land domestic honours and progress on the continent in the coming 10 months. Serious investment is desperately required. It is highly unlikely to be forthcoming now.
Rangers have only played four competitive fixtures this term. Already, though, it looks to be a season too far for their captain and right back James Tavernier. The ease with which opposition winger Vladyslav Kabaiev repeatedly brushed him aside at Hampden was alarming for supporters. He offered next to nothing going forward too.
Up front, Cyriel Dessers had another one of those evenings. The Nigerian striker is a mercurial, frustrating talent. He was lauded for his injury-time equaliser in Poland in the first leg. But he was posted missing time and again in the final third during the rematch. A more clinical finisher is needed.
It will be asking a lot of Danilo, a player who only showed occasional glimpses of why he cost £5.6m during his debut season in this country and who has been sidelined by injury for the past seven months, to provide a cutting edge in the final third when he finally returns to action.
On the evidence of their latest run-out, failing to make it through to the Champions League may spare them from the sort of humiliations they suffered when they last got into the group stage two years ago.
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Rangers will collect a seven, possibly eight, figure sum from their involvement in the Europa League and there should be more incomings and outgoings in the next fortnight or so. But will the new recruits be more inspiring than Hamza Igamane, Jefte, Liam Kelly, Clinton Nsiala and Robin Propper? Do not hold your breath.
The video which an impish Celtic fan who had somehow managed to make his way onto the building site filmed and posted on a social media outlet this week strongly suggested that timescale is optimistic.
Playing at Hampden for the foreseeable future will do nothing to help Rangers achieve their ambitions.
It would be stretching things to say they were 1-0 down before kick-off against Kyiv because of the venue. Tens of thousands of their followers were in attendance at the Mount Florida ground and they created a decent atmosphere. Still, huge sections of seats lay empty. The situation is far from ideal.
Clement is, despite the lack of backing he has received and the difficult circumstances he is working in, starting to come in for increased criticism from previously supportive punters.
It very much smacks of the treatment his unfortunate predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst was unfairly subjected to during the final days of his rollercoaster tenure when he was missing a raft of key players.
If his charges fail to overcome St Johnstone at “home” in the Premier Sports Cup on Saturday evening or Ross County in the William Hill Premiership at the same stadium seven days later, then Clement will be under intense pressure when he takes his team to Parkhead to play Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season on Sunday, September 1.
The problems which Rangers are currently wrestling with are not the sole responsibility of the man in the dugout. It is impossible for a side to succeed in the modern game when they are shopping at Costcutter and their greatest adversaries are going to Waitrose. But that looks set to be the case for the foreseeable future due to the Dynamo Kyiv defeat.
