The Rangers support have been like bears with sore heads this summer. Philippe Clement needs to avoid another season of discontent at Ibrox.

As the renovation work in the Copland Stand continues to cast a shadow over the club, the rebuilding job in the dressing room continues to focus minds. Ibrox will not be ready for action come the start of the season. Time will tell what shape Clement’s side are in by then.

The Belgian sat down with journalists for the first time this season on Thursday afternoon. The previous day, there was an insight into some of his new recruits as Connor Barron, Jefte and Clinton Nsiala, as well as the returning Oscar Cortes, got match minutes under their belts in the training game against Standard Liege.

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When Clement said farewell to his squad – some only temporarily and others on a more permanent basis – after the Scottish Cup defeat to Celtic, he could not have envisaged the soon-to-be unfolding chain of events over the close season. The first topic of discussion had to be the one that had dominated the agenda in recent weeks after the Rangers Review revealed the previous evening that a deal to upsticks and relocate to Hampden was set to be signed. Just hours after Clement addressed a range of issues on and off the park, chairman John Bennett confirmed that Rangers will begin their campaign at the National Stadium.

The farcical and frantic situation regarding the Ibrox delays has seen tensions rise amongst supporters this summer. Bennett has come in for his share of criticism for that issue, while fingers in the blame game have also been pointed in his direction over what many perceive as a sluggish start to the transfer window.

In that regard, Clement sought to provide some context and clarity. He rhymed off several aspects that his staff are working on to improve the squad and the side physically, tactically, technically and mentally. He is cognisant, though, of the wider mood at a time when optimism for the new term is in short supply amongst the support.

“I understand as a fan,” Clement says. “If you don’t know everything that is going on at the club, everything that is needed in the club, if you don’t know that and you only look to the results then you live in the emotions. That is also part of being a fan. 

“What we have in control is getting better results. I think we were really close in this cup final and that we were the better team, everybody said it also after the cup final. 

“A lot of people have forgotten that already now because the result was not there. You first need to get the quality at a certain level and then the results follow. It is always the way. 

“You can have luck in moments when you get results with less quality but not in the long term. It is really important now that the club works on something long term. 

“It is not only the short term and looking at that because then you always come into the same problems that have been in the past. A house is not built in one day, Rome was not built in one day. Rangers will not be rebuilt in one day also. I can say to all the fans that everyone is working day and night towards that.

“We need to build that up to make them stronger, make them better, make them better collectively, better individually, to get good signings in, to get less injuries, to have better prevention, to make them more robust, to score more goals, get less goals against. All these things. Everybody is very busy with that.”

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This summer window was billed by Clement as the end of a cycle. Yet the changes have not been as widespread as many expected to date as five players were released at the end of their deals and Robby McCrorie left to join Kilmarnock.

Liam Kelly arrived from Motherwell as his replacement and linked up with the squad on the continent this week. The latest recruit will be waiting for Clement’s side when they return to Glasgow as Hamza Igamane finally gets down to business after his £1.5million switch.

The profile of those that have been added points to a change in direction and a change of philosophy at Ibrox. Now the fortunes much change for the better as Clement and Nils Koppen, the director of football recruitment, continue to search for the right players at the right price.

“It’s not a point now to rate,” Clement says. “The one thing I have learned is to work hard, work hard with the players who are there and you never know how fast things go. You are not in control of that. 

“With players you want you first need to convince them to come and then you need to convince their team that you pay the right amount of money. You can only make an evaluation on September 1.

“That is my reality. Sometimes you do business early, sometimes it can be the last day. It depends on the market. Also, my experience tells me that in the years you have World Cups or Euros, the market starts slower. We have been really busy already with watching a lot of players. Already we have done really good things for the future of the club.

“I said at the end of last season it was the end of a cycle because we had six players out of contract. We signed Leon Balogun, so that’s five players going out of the building.

“I knew Robby McCrorie was desperate to go in January. I stopped him in January. We helped him to act fast in this window because it’s important with European games to come he trains with his new team.”

That deal that took McCrorie to Rugby Park this week will not be the last one that Rangers complete in this window. Signing and selling players is easier said than done, however, and progress has slowed somewhat after a positive start to proceedings. The clock is now ticking towards the start of the season.

Rangers remain a work in progress. A friendly with Ajax on Saturday is the next marker post that will be reached but Clement’s side still have some way to travel before they are ready to begin their Premiership title challenge and ready to embark on a Champions League qualification campaign.

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“We have some players who have come in who are longer term, like Clinton Nsiala,” Clement says. “He has a lot of talent, but he needs the experience and he needs to learn a lot of things. I don’t expect him to be a starting player.

“The same with Hamza Igamane. He will not be ready to start. He’s never trained or played physically at this level. He comes out of a holiday too, so we need to build him up. We have other players like Connor Barron and Jefte who can get there faster.

“It is not easy to replace five players and Robby also without money coming into the club. That is not an easy thing.

“It’s focusing on everyone to get the best out of them. We have players coming back from long-term injury, several in fact. We cannot train them in the same way.

“Several won’t be ready for the 90 minutes, I know that so we still have a lot of things to do. We have to focus on every single individual story and how to get the best out of them.”