THERE is no Old Firm any more. Not in a competitive sense at least. Judging Celtic or Rangers’ form has always been done historically by matching one up against the other. If Celtic had won the league, then it meant that Rangers had endured a poor season. And vice versa. Rarely did any other criteria ever come under consideration. A more accurate barometer of progress is now required. Celtic and Rangers can no longer be considered equals worthy of a fair comparison. If the Parkhead club lost their way a little in the Ronny Deila years – albeit still winning the title in both seasons – then they have rediscovered their mojo under Brendan Rodgers. The accelerator has been pushed to the floor once more. Reaching the Champions League group stage was an obvious highlight but they have excelled domestically as well, winning all but one league game and collecting the League Cup. They will look to continue their dominance in the second half of the campaign by completing the club’s first treble since 2001. Off the field, too, they remain in rude financial health, a legacy of regular European football and a successful “buy low, sell high” policy in the transfer market. Like Bayern Munich in Germany, Celtic stand alone in front of the rest. Scottish football’s former duopoly has become a single-club state.

There is little Rangers can do about that right now, despite the hubristic noises that came out of some corners of Ibrox in the summer – if not from manager Mark Warburton himself – that pushing Celtic for the title was a viable and immediate goal. Realistically, it was never going to happen.

Rangers remain a curiosity of a club, burdened by the hopes and expectations of the pre-liquidation era but no longer boasting the financial muscle to see them through. Having taken two attempts to get out of the Championship, this ought to have been a campaign of gradual assimilation but the demands placed upon them by many of their supporters meant any kind of bedding-in period was never going to be deemed acceptable.

Warburton has tiptoed around this debilitating paradox as adroitly as he can, acknowledging the fan-led pressure to be the best while also making clear, always respectfully, that Rangers no longer have the resources to do so. When he interrupted a question after Saturday’s defeat to Celtic about the size of the points gap between first and second - believing it was no longer pertinent to his team and their targets - it was further acknowledgement that the old rules no longer apply. Rangers can no longer be measured against what Celtic are doing.

That is not to say that Warburton and his players should not still be judged but that different factors should be applied. Rangers may be in Celtic’s shadow financially but Warburton still presides over the second-biggest budget in the country. And that money has not always been put to good effect. While he barely put a foot wrong in compiling a squad good enough to win the second tier by a country mile, most of Rangers’ recruits this term have been flawed to some extent.

Everyone with a degree in hindsight was quick to point out Warburton had been wrong to sign Joey Barton but Barton had just come off an exemplary season with Burnley. It was a risk worth taking. The problem was, therefore, not in signing the midfielder but in not dealing better and quicker with him when he stepped out of line. Niko Kranjcar and Jordan Rossiter have both toiled with injury, the former having been drawn out of semi-retirement at 32 while the other arrived brimming with promise but burdened by a history of time spent on treatment tables.

Joe Garner’s cult hero status has been insufficient compensation for a return of just three goals – just one more than the much-maligned Filip Sebo by the same stage of the Slovak’s maiden season – while Matt Crooks, Joe Dodoo, Philippe Senderos, Matt Gilks and Lee Hodson have been used only sparingly. Perhaps only Clint Hill and Josh Windass can be considered partial successes, although neither would feature in any SPFL Team of the Season to date.

With many of last year’s stellar performers, including James Tavernier, Rob Kiernan and Andy Halliday, struggling to return to those same heights, Warburton has his work cut out following the winter break. He needs to coax more out of those players already on the books – and Barrie McKay’s mid-season transformation shows it is possible – and ensure any January signings are equipped to hit the ground running. He will need to continue to demonstrate the sort of tactical flexibility that was the foundation for recent home wins over Aberdeen and Hearts, and finish clear of both in the race for second place. That is the benchmark for Rangers these days. Celtic should no longer feature on their radar.