RICHARD GOUGH, the former Rangers captain, is confident the club are well on the road to recovery on and off the park thanks to the Ibrox board and new manager Mark Warburton. Rangers have impressed in their cup wins over Hibernian and Peterhead in the first fortnight of the season and will face St Mirren on Friday evening as they begin their bid for the Championship title.
The Premiership play-off defeat to Motherwell in May was the culmination of a wretched few years for Rangers as boardroom issues dominated the agenda and the team suffered a series of embarrassing results in Scotland’s lower leagues under Ally McCoist and then Kenny McDowall. The appointment of Warburton and David Weir has energised the Ibrox crowd once again and nine-in-a-row legend Gough is more optimistic about the future.
“Progress is maybe going to be slow, a bit by bit approach, but the management team now look like a good fit,” he said. “It is still very early days, of course, and it’s not going to be a quick fix. It’s just a natural progression to slowly get back.
“The club had the heart ripped out of it for three years. But I think we’ve been on the right track back from March. And getting the trust of supporters with 32,000 season tickets, that’s incredible after what has happened here. The supporters have given that trust again. There can’t be many place in the country would do that.”
Rangers head into the St Mirren fixture having scored nine goals in their first two competitive matches of the campaign and playing a new, attacking brand of football under Warburton and David Weir. The Ibrox boss is keen to see his side make a quick start to the campaign and Gough hopes they can make the most of their home advantage as they bid for promotion at the second time of asking.
“I do feel that fear factor coming back [at Ibrox] but you only get that by winning games at Ibrox by four to five nil,” Gough said. “Rangers could quite easily have win 10-0 against Peterhead. Their goalkeeper has five outstanding saves and Rangers missed some golden opportunities. If you start beating teams by six or seven goals to nil here then that creates a fear factor.”
*Family Stand season tickets are on sale now priced £312 for adults and just £53 for kids and are available from www.rangers.co.uk, 0871 702 1972 or by visiting the Rangers Ticket Centre
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