RANGERS were back. They were going for 55 titles. You couldn’t miss it. This confident message was on advertising boards all across Glasgow.
For good measure, a card display in the Sandy Jardine stand told the rest of Scottish football what this season was going to be about. In fairness to the marketing department at Ibrox, the words consolidation, runners-up and reality don’t help shift season tickets.
But did anyone of sound mind really believe Rangers could challenge Celtic right away? Warburton’s side have not played as well as they should have while few could have predicted how dramatic an effect Brendan Rodgers would have over the road. But the only surprise about a 16 point gap which could grow bigger on Saturday is that it’s happened before the end of the year.
In fairness to the Rangers manager, not once did he say his team would win the league and it seems that, after the draw at St Johnstone, there had been an acceptance inside the club that it was time to talk honestly about where the club is right now.
“I didn’t say ‘going for 55 in season 16/17’,” said Warburton. “The fact is that we have to, that is our aim. We have to take the club back to the top. Look around you, it is a world famous, top class football institution.
“But we are not where we were when we had Paul Gascoigne, Giovanni van Bronkhorst and Brian Laudrup. We are not there yet. We can’t go and buy £50million worth of talent. It is not going to happen.
“So how do we get back there? It is a different route to what the supporters are used to. I said right at the start to be honest with them because if you give them information about their club then they understand, there are less shocks, less uncertainty. Tell them where we are, where we want to get to and how we are going to do it.”
Most Rangers fans live in the real world, which can be a disappointing place. Celtic are lording it over them right now and that’s never enjoyable.
Warburton knows the road to redemption is a long one, and yet he genuinely believes that one day, soon-ish, Rangers will be in a position to have a crack at 55.
“This is the most successful club in the world,” he said. “We are not constantly in the shadow of Celtic. There is no hiding where the club has been in the last three or four years. Are we there yet? No we are not. Will we get back there? I have got absolutely no doubt that this club will get back to the top. I have got no doubts in my mind whatsoever.
“I’m sure you all wrote at the time about what happened to Rangers. The league the club went down to. Where they have been and played. Where they are now.
“Now the club is coming back and our job has to be to close that gap as quickly as we can, but to recognise there is a significant financial disparity at this moment in time. If we recognise it, and are honest about it, then hopefully the headlines get a little bit softer.”
The problem for Rangers is that Celtic have been given a clear run at the Champions League and the pots of money which comes with it. They also have players on their books which they will move on for serious transfer fees.
As things stand, Rangers are the Wile E. Coyote to Celtic’s Roadrunner. No matter what they plot, catching their arch nemeses won’t be easy.
“There is no inferiority complex, just a realisation,” said Warburton. “It is just a fact. Right now, the reality is important. A realistic approach, a true understanding of the situation, an honesty about the situation is far better. Right now, there is a gap, there is a disparity and everyone in this room would agree.
“Are we happy with it? Of course not. We have got to close it. We can’t go and spend our way out of it, so what do we do? The fact that the board, the supporters and the players are together… It is a long-term plan and we have got to put down strong foundations.
“I get mocked about that comment, but we have to. If we go and spend £20million on a striker, well that is not the way Rangers will get the long term health and wellbeing of the club. Rangers have got to get back to the top and stay there.”
But do the supporters understand that?
“I hope they do,” said Warburton. “People come up to us and say it is a long term project to build. The positive comments are really heart-warming to hear. You are always going to get different opinions, of course you are. But I think people know where the club has been.
“We got promoted last year and we have to go again in the summer and build again. They have to see us getting better. What they can’t see is us continually being on a flat line. If the supporters see us getting better, well then we are in a good place.”
And there you have it. Rangers have improved and are improving. But Celtic are way out on their own at the moment. This does not mean the home side can’t win this Old Firm game. Rangers’ home record is excellent and there are some good, if not great, players in the squad, and at least Warburton is telling it like it is.
If only such intelligence, reality and honesty had been about this football club 15 and more years ago they wouldn’t be in such a state.
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