FROM administration came the slide into oblivion, a new start in the fourth tier of the game and a phoenix-like rise to the glory days of old.

Sounds like a script already written by the Rangers marketing department in anticipation of future Christmas DVD sales.

Unlike the Ibrox club, though, Fiorentina even had to spend a season playing in the lower reaches of their national league system under a different name.

When Serie B was expanded from 20 to 24 teams in 2003, the year after their bankruptcy and shortly after they had won Serie C2, the owners of Florentia Viola successfully argued that they should be granted a place on the basis of ‘historical merit’.

They also won the rights to re-name the club ACF Fiorentina and now find themselves riding high at the top of Serie A, awash with plaudits over their style of play and boasting an impressive tally of 27 points from 12 fixtures.

This is a club and, more importantly, a set of supporters that understands the folly of erratic spending in search of success. They racked up unsustainable debt in the 1990s under the leadership of the Cecchi Gori family, who chased Champions League football through signings such as Argentinian forward Gabriel Batistuta, Portuguese midfielder Rui Costa and a certain Brian Laudrup.

Marco Negri believes, however, that they can now go on to win their first Scudetto since 1969 under current head coach Paulo Sousa. What he has no doubt about is that their story gives supporters along with the new regime at Rangers firm hope of re-establishing his former club as the dominant force in Scotland in time.

“For me, it is almost the same story with Fiorentina as Rangers,” said the 45-year-old Italian, whose Ibrox career quickly crashed and burned after a whirlwind start following his arrival from Perugia in 1997. “What has happened in Florence this season can give all Rangers supporters hope.

“They are proof that you can get the right results if you stay focused on the right road.

“Fiorentina supporters were very passionate about building their club back up again as well, so there are lots of similarities.

“Rangers fans are the blood coursing through that club. They have had their problems and troubles in recent years, but they will complete a journey back to glorious times as long as they accept that things take time.

“If they do go back to the Premiership next season, it will not be easy for some people to understand that when the Old Firm rivalry is back again. They won’t want to be second to anyone, but you have to keep your feet on the ground and think about the longer-term project. Buy the right players, mix youth and experience, rebuild the youth system and stick to that.

“I played against Fiorentina when they were a really big team with Batistuta and Rui Costa. They really did go to rock-bottom, but they got themselves a new chairman in Diego Della Valle and he took it step-by-step.

“He loves the club and the city. He is a fan, but he is a serious businessman with a family history in the leather and textile business and had a long-term objective for Fiorentina.

“I think that they can win Serie A this season because they are playing some great football, but it has taken them 13 years or more to get to this stage. There have been setbacks and struggles.

“What has happened is about the project, but no-one can say with certainty how long it takes to succeed. You cannot take shortcuts.”

The Fiorentina Project certainly took a step forward when Cesare Prandelli was appointed as manager in 2005. He turned them into a Champions League side and was voted Serie A coach of the year in 2009. Even a 15-point penalty imposed during the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 could not stop him from finishing sixth and securing a place in the 2007-08 UEFA Cup, where a certain team from Glasgow knocked his side out at the semi-final stage.

Prandelli left in 2010 to replace Marcello Lippi as head coach of the Italian national team. Negri believes Rangers can also serve as a similar springboard to greater things for the current Rangers manager, Mark Warburton, following a promising start to his tenure.

“Prandelli helped drive the club forward at an important time,” said Negri. “He was in love with the club and wanted to rebuild it into a known European team.

“Warburton can really make a big step in his career from Rangers, too. I hear plenty about the way he has the team playing and there are more young players on display.

“I know they are playing an attractive passing game at the moment and that is the most important thing. If you have a set system of playing that the players are familiar with before returning to the top division, it gives you a firm foundation to build on.”

Negri is also encouraged to hear of Warburton’s determination to place the academy system at the heart of his plans to redevelop the Ibrox club.

“Youth development has got to be a huge part of what Rangers are trying to do,” he said. “If you don’t have the money you had to spend in the past, you must create your most treasured players yourself.”