Steven Gerrard's Rangers transfer prophecy has come true + Ibrox chiefs will rue the day they didn't listen

Rangers were patient in their approach and gave Steven Gerrard enough time to grow into the managerial role without being panicked into pulling the trigger.

Now Ibrox officials must do the same with current boss Philippe Clement who is expected to front another extensive turnover of players this summer after witnessing their title dreams fade away at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The Belgian has confessed he is facing “quite a rebuild” as he looks to shapes an unbalanced squad for the challenges that lie ahead both domestically and in Europe next season.

The club’s recruitment drive is already ongoing to identify the right type of profile Clement wants to bring to Glasgow, but Rangers should never have found themselves in their current predicament in the first place.

When title number 55 was secured by Gerrard’s side during the Covid-affected 2020/21 season, the Liverpool legend spoke about how they needed to build for the future.

Speaking at the time, Gerrard stated: “It’s about the club, it’s about what’s next. This is a club where you can’t stand still, it’s about the future. This has to be a launchpad.

“We have to fix the roof now. The sun is shining, everyone’s happy, but it’s my job now to find the tweaks, find the little malfunctions in the group that we need to iron out.

“The recruitment is key now. You could see in the last few games we were short in certain areas. I’ve had some really interesting meetings with the board and they’re with me. They’ll back me and we’ll go again to try and build on this success.” Fast forward three years and Rangers have failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining and now there’s large thunderstorms overhead at Ibrox. After shattering Celtic’s 10-in-a-row dreams, it was time to kick on.

Instead, Rangers splashed out permanent fees for only two players - Juninho Bacuna and Mateusz Zukowski - both of whom failed to make any significant contribution during their short-lived spells in Govan. The large sum of money wasted by previous manager Michael Beale last summer has had a knock-on effect and Clement was left to pick up the pieces. To his credit, he did manage to get a decent tune out of the squad he inherited despite facing a backlog of injury problems.

And while the wheels have fallen off at a crucial stage of the season, Clement must be given the unwavering backing of the Gers board to put a greater stamp on the current crop of players at his disposal. After all, Clement’s hands were tied during the January window due to the lack of finances available to him.

The former Monaco and Club Brugge man hasn’t played down the size of the task facing him once this season is concluded, admitting there will need to be a judgement on how to replacement those heading for the exit door.

Players who can build a resale value in years to come are being targeted as well as those who have been over the course before. But any future activity will require some further investment from club hierarchy, with changes also afoot behind the scenes.