RANGERS fans have counted the seven in one by one this summer. Come the end of the window, many more will have been counted out at Ibrox.
There was a sense of impatience, perhaps even of panic, amongst some supporters a couple of weeks ago as they expressed concerns over the pace of the recruitment drive that Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ross Wilson, the sporting director, were overseeing.
Those fears were allayed in a flurry of business. Once the prolonged deal for Antonio Colak was completed, the wheels turned quickly as deals were done with a regularity that showed a strategy at Ibrox.
Van Bronckhorst has been backed in terms of numbers but it remains to be seen if the additions, following the losses of two Ibrox stalwarts, have the required quality to allow him to repay the investment and deliver the silverware required to consider this summer a job well done.
Ben Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz will fill the spaces at centre-back and left-back that Calvin Bassey operated in so impressively last term before his record-breaking move to Ajax, while Tom Lawrence and Malik Tillman will be expected to provide a creativity and goal threat now that Joe Aribo is turning on the style for Southampton.
John Souttar has taken the place in the squad vacated by Leon Balogun after his contract was not renewed at the end of the campaign and the arrival of Rabbi Matondo is an attempt to address an issue that has been glaring for some time on the right flank.
This is now a squad that has Van Bronckhorst’s stamp on it. In terms of personnel and style, it looks and feels like a group built in his image after he inherited a side that was assembled to suit Steven Gerrard’s needs and wants.
The Dutchman would downplay that situation last week. He was, of course, responsible for the highs and lows, the successes and the failures, from his appointment in November to the end of the campaign in Seville and at Hampden but he was operating in difficult circumstances.
Van Bronckhorst has never been one to look for excuses or get outs. Now that the situation has changed, he has no avenue away from any failures and the dispiriting defeat in Belgium on Tuesday night will hurt him more than many of the difficult times he has endured as a boss.
The Champions League presents the first real test of the season and Rangers are now just 90 minutes away from failing it once again after a lamentable, lacklustre performance against Union Saint-Gilloise that has put the pressure on just a week into the campaign.
This is a squad with a fresh look and it should have had a fresh impetus. The early signs have been worrying, though, and following up a narrow win over Livingston with such a wretched outing on the continent has not been the start that was expected.
Questions will be asked and concerns raised but Van Bronckhorst has the courage of his convictions and the coming weeks must bring improvements at an increasing rate if the summer recruitment drive is to prove its worth.
In Souttar and Davies, Rangers have cultured defenders who are comfortable on the ball and more adept to the philosophy that Van Bronckhorst is installing at Ibrox than the likes of Nikola Katic and Jack Simpson. Yilmaz has an exciting profile and his £5million move from Besiktas could prove to be a sound investment.
At the other end of the park, Colak has all the attributes that Van Bronckhorst has repeatedly sought in a striker and the Croatian – so starved of service and support in each of his outings so far - provides a physicality as well as a penalty box presence.
Matondo has shown flashes of speed and has a track record that offers hope for the future and Lawrence and Tillman should provide numbers from central areas and cure a concern that Van Bronckhorst has long since held.
Having added seven, Rangers must now continue to clear the decks and the focus will be more on the outgoings rather than the incomings during the next stage of the window as Van Bronckhorst continues to implement ideas on the training pitch.
The squad and wage bill are now unnecessarily sizeable and unworkable, and Van Bronckhorst is cognisant of both issues after holding talks with several players and informing them of his preference to see them move on this summer.
Glenn Middleton became the latest to depart when he joined Dundee United and the aforementioned Katic and Simpson are very much surplus to requirements.
Rangers have already ticked a few boxes in terms of offloading players and that process began when Aaron Ramsey and Amad Diallo departed. Like Balogun, Andy Firth wasn’t offered fresh terms, while Cedric Itten and Jake Hastie were sold to Young Boys and Hartlepool United respectively as youngsters Lewis Mayo, Kai Kennedy and Josh McPake secured loan moves.
Time will tell whether Alex Lowry follows suit to secure regular game time and Robby McCrorie needs to leave for the sake of his career after again finding his route to the number one jersey blocked by Jon McLaughlin and Allan McGregor.
Most of the potential departures are obvious ones but the situations with the likes of Filip Helander and Kemar Roofe are intriguing. They are established figures at Ibrox, but their injury records mean they cannot be relied upon and there is no return on their wages once again.
That process of offloading unwanted assets, as always, will be easier said than done. But that is now the challenge for Van Bronckhorst and Wilson as Rangers conclude their business in a summer that has been more evolution than revolution.
Ten have been counted out so far. Another handful must now follow as Van Bronckhorst fine tunes a squad and a side that is all his at last and prepares to win or lose on his own merits at Ibrox.
This is now the team that Van Bronckhorst built. It is the one that must deliver at home and abroad for him and for Rangers.
