Rangers manager Philippe Clement has been speaking to the media ahead of his side’s 2024/25 Premiership opening game against Hearts. Here is everything he had to say from the second part of the press conference.

• Hamza Igamane state of play explained
• Details on the time afforded to get job right at Rangers
• How far Dannilo remains from full sharpness

Will you get the time to do the job even if things become difficult?

Yes. That was also the reason of the contract, to do it from both sides. It was not to get much more wages or something. That was not the idea.

We were really fast agreed about that, from both sides. There is more clarity, it is more secure to work for the longer term and that is also what a club needs, that is also what this club needs. It is what has been done in the past in other clubs.

The most successful clubs in the world are the ones where the manager has five, six, seven, eight years, because there is consistency. If you are every year or every six months starts with a new story then it becomes difficult after a while because what is the story in the end?

The good thing is that I feel here that we are aligned about a lot of things and the club felt the same in these talks. So what is the reason not to go for a longer story together then?

Have you had to do anything differently in pre-season because there won’t be a game at Ibrox for some time?

No because we didn’t know that before the pre-season. In that way it was positive that we had so many away games in the pre-season. We need to make Hampden our home for the moment, it is like that. The best people to help us in that way are our fans.

We count a lot on them, like they count on the team to give their best every second that they are here in the building or in the stadium. We need to create this unique atmosphere now in Hampden. That is our target. I chose the preparation to play a lot of difficult games also, a lot of games against clubs with a budget bigger than ours. I wanted to have the challenges for this squad and wanted to see which mistakes we would make to learn out of and learn the squad in that way.

If we would have kept a core more together it would have been less faults but I see the team grow week by week and game by game. That is the target for the next couple of months.

What have you done this summer to change the injury situation?

We have done a lot. It is maybe some interesting thing for next time, I can show you things. I have some numbers in my head. We did 15 (*think he is 15 and not 50) per cent more distance in the training than the year before, we did 71 per cent more sprint distance in the pre-season, we did 70 per cent more high intensity runs, we did much more prevention work with the players.

We saw already less injuries this pre-season. We had several players who in the last couple of years never made a full pre-season who did it now. Does it mean it is a guarantee we won’t have injuries? No because that is not the situation, you cannot change the human body in five, six weeks. We made them stronger already, several of them, but there is still a way to go. I told the team that also this week, this is not the end of the pre-season.

It is going to last at least two, three months more but we need to combine it with the games and to make good choices around that to also win games because that stays the most important. Working in that way, also getting new people in – performance staff, medical staff – that will help also. It is adding all these things together to make a better total product.

Is that the biggest thing that had to change from last season to this season?

The amount of injuries for sure will be important. You cannot have 12 players injured, like we had in several moments. That is for sure an important thing but all the other things are important. There is not one thing you can take out that is more important than the rest. It is the combination of everything that will get you results in the end.

When can Igamane expect to play?

I have been really clear about that from the first second that he came in. This is a young boy with a lot of potential but who never trained at the level we are training now. I can make the fans really happy to put him directly in tomorrow and then he gets injured and they cannot enjoy him the next couple of months.

That is not the idea. For the moment he is more in an individual programme to make him better and then to get him in the first team squad training and afterwards to get him playing minutes. There is a way to go with him. His mentality is great. For him it is like a new world is opening up and every day he is experiencing something new for himself. He is really hungry and ambitious to become better and we see a really good evolution in the short time he is here.

Do you think you have enough goals with Danilo coming back?

I think with Dani we still need to get him to his best level. He comes back from six months with injury so we cannot expect miracles of him but he showed his quality before. If we can get him to a normal level from before and get him better he will score his goals.

I think Cyriel will kick on what he did last season and I only see him grow and become better. We need also in other positions to score goals out of that. Of course you can take four or five strikers in the squad, in the end it is one who starts and one coming from the bench then you have two or three sitting in the tribune and unhappy. That is also not a good situation.

What has Andries Ulderink brought to your team?

What does he add? Last season I always worked really good with the staff, they are working really good and I am really happy with Alex, with Brian, with Stef, how they are doing their role. I did a lot myself on the pitch, in the trainings, in the preparation also and because of that I missed some time to be all over the building and to be everywhere where I need to be in moments, and for sure in a rebuild.

In that way Andries strengthens the squad and he can take over some responsibility, same as Stef and Brian and Alex are doing and I can delegate a few things more. I can be busy with other things in that moment – recruitment, medical, prevention, the academy. I am not all the time in my office but I can be more around the building and have a better view of things.

James stressed his commitment to Rangers this week – you must be glad to have him?

Of course because he has been very important last season. As a captain of Rangers, it is part of the job and I have been there and done that in other clubs. Comparable also with Club Brugge, with a passionate fanbase and high expectations that you need to win everything. You know in the moments you don’t win everything everyone looks at the captain.

That is part of the job. He fits that role well because he can manage that. I have seen in the past a lot of people break in that situation also. I think he had one disadvantage last season that he played all the games and that is also my responsibility. Because of that I think in moments he was not as fresh as he should be and that is something we want to change for this season. The people who have to play that position also they need to be fit.

I think Tav can make a really strong season and he is really hungry for that. Pity that he has been out for two weeks in the preparation and missed a bit but I am very confident he will have a strong season. He has been very important with his goals and assists.

Will he lead the team out?

That is a smart question. Yes. I will give it one time a year so this the one time I say yes about selection and who is going to start.