RANGERS have already made strides in their summer transfer recruitment, according to director of football operations Creag Robertson.
Philippe Clement has plenty on his plate at the moment with a Premiership title battle and Scottish Cup showdown with Celtic on the horizon.
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He is fully focused on the five league games which remain and the Hampden derby on May 25 – but work is already in full swing behind the scenes to ensure the club have targets in place for when the window opens.
The Belgian manager will work closely with recruitment chief Nils Koppen ahead of summer to identify players who could improve the side, with several first team players expected to be on their way out.
John Lundstram, Borna Barisic, Kemar Roofe and Leon Balogun are all out of contract at the end of the season and there’s been little update over their futures at Ibrox.
Wolves loanee Fabio Silva will likely return to his parent club and the Gers don’t have an option to make Abdallah Sima’s move from Brighton permanent.
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And reports this week suggested club stalwarts James Tavernier and Connor Goldson could also depart, with Steven Gerrard said to be interested in signing the pair for Al-Ettifaq.
It’s set to be a chaotic window for Clement to get his team into shape for the start of next season but plans are already in place to bring reinforcements to Ibrox.
Robertson has revealed talks are already underway with “active” transfer targets as he gave a positive update to fans regarding recruitment.
But he did explain how the Euro 2024 tournament could prove to be a stumbling block and may cause a delay in transfer dealings in the coming months.
Speaking at the club’s CEO Fans’ Forum today, he said: “In terms of player recruitment, we are active in the market right now.
“Key areas of focus for the Football Board are succession planning, player contracts and player recruitment.
“There are conversations on recruitment every day.
“When Nils came in, he reviewed the department and changed the structure and process, so we are in a strong place as we build towards the summer.
“A number of good conversations with active targets are underway. I cannot give any more detail right now.
“Ideally we would like to bring in players early, for the start of pre-season, although the Euros might slow the market slightly.
“Our intention is to be on the front foot and bring players in as early as we can, but we will need to remain agile to the market dynamics.”
Meanwhile, Gers CEO James Bisgrove has lifted the lid on some of the measures taken to ensure they ‘get things right’ when away fans return to Old Firm clashes next season.
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He said: “One of the reasons zero has been the number at the last two Old Firm games is that both clubs need modifications to their stadiums.
“We will make adjustments to turnstiles, Parkhead will make modifications to ingress and egress to improve the supporter experience.
“Feedback suggests our away support experience is sub optimal and we hope to get improvement on that with the 5% allocation we will receive at Parkhead.”
As for derbies at Ibrox, some Gers fans will need to be relocated on Old Firm days, but Bisgrove insisted that on the whole the changes are positive.
He told fans: “It is positive in terms of atmosphere and for the spectacle of the fixture, it’s a positive step forward.
“However I would like to put on record again that this Board would never go beyond 5%, ie the full Broomloan Stand.
“The European allocation is the right number.
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“If we had not engaged in this process, there was a risk another number could have been imposed which would be less favourable.”
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