Philippe Clement says an earlier than expected return to Ibrox for Rangers is ‘a possibility but not a certainty.’
The Light Blues are using Hampden Park as their temporary home due to the delayed refurbishment of one of the Ibrox stands.
The Govan club’s chairman John Bennett had targeted the home game against Hibernian on September 28 as “aspirational” for a return but reports claim Rangers could be back home for the Premier Sports Cup tie against Dundee a week earlier.
“Nothing can be confirmed until it’s sure but people are working really hard to make it as fast as possible. So there’s a possibility in that way, but not certainty,” Clement said ahead of Saturday’s William Hill Premiership visit of Ross County to Hampden.
“It’s what I said during recent weeks so maybe people don’t believe me, but everybody’s been working really hard for them to make it as fast as possible.
“And, like I said, you don’t have everything in your own hands, or a lot of things, not in a case like that.
“But all the club have been pushing to make this transformation period as short as possible, that we could go back to Ibrox as fast as possible. And they’re still doing that.”
Asked about the task facing his side against the Staggies this weekend, the Belgian boss said he was looking forward to the match with “excitement” as he noted the Old Firm game against Celtic the following week.
“Yeah, it doesn’t happen so much that you have a full week (training),” said Clement, who revealed midfielder Nico Raskin, out since pre-season with an ankle injury, has returned to training while defender Leon Balogun is fit again.
“So that was interesting that we could train on things, that we could work also with players coming back out of injury so in that way, positive.
“Nico Raskin could train today for the first time with the squad. Hamza Igamane trained also for three days in a row with the first team.
“Leon is fit again, he trained all week. Robin Propper is a doubt for tomorrow but 200 per cent sure he will be fit for next week.
“We don’t want to take risks for the longer term. So we will make that decision tomorrow.
“Oscar Cortes, I expect, is also in training next week. So that’s the plan also with him.
“There’s a small muscle thing also with Scott Wright, so he’s also in doubt for tomorrow.
“But towards next week – and I touch wood, because we still have a game – but next week I expect everybody back apart from Ridvan Yilmaz.”
Clement also quashed rumours about a serious wrist injury to utility player Dujon Sterling.
He said: “Yeah, he made a bad fall, but that was already before the last game when he played. So he played with that.
“Again, there are so many rumours here, and some people came to tell me that he was out for months, and panic around that. Totally not true.”
Clement recalled last season’s 3-2 defeat to Ross County in Dingwall which damaged Rangers’ title hopes, as he looked for a similar performance as the one put in against St Johnstone in last week’s 2-0 Premier Sports Cup win at Hampden Park.
He said: “We should have killed the game (against Saints) off much earlier.
“But there were indeed a lot of positive points in the way we did our building, in the way we could find space, in the way we created chances, in the way we defended.
“So there were a lot of positive things from that side. And I want to see confirmation of that tomorrow again against a tough opponent.
“I still have pain in my stomach if I think about our game last season against Ross County.
“So we know it’s a tough opponent who will do everything to take us out of the game.
“So I want confirmation from the players of the things they showed last week. That’s what we’ve been working on during the week.”
