FORMER Rangers manager Mark Warburton believes that the club must take a patient approach and lower their expectations in order to close the gap to league leaders Celtic.
The former Brentford boss left Ibrox in February 2017 with the club 24 points adrift of their rivals and behind Aberdeen on goal difference.
And Warburton, who was sacked by Nottingham Forest on New Year’s Eve last year, pointed to the financial gulf between the clubs as the biggest obstacle facing the Light Blues after another season of failing to keep pace with the Bhoys.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "You have to recognise that Celtic have been in the Champions League for the past few years and have done well to get to the group stages and with that comes the financial rewards.
"All that does is increase the gap between Celtic and Rangers and every year you're fighting now to close that financial gap.
"The longer that Celtic are exposed to Champions League football, the greater the financial divide becomes so Rangers need the investment and they need to dampen expectation and recognise you've got to build the club back up because it is an outstanding club, it's a football institution and it was a privilege to manage up there.
"But you've got to be patient with it. Be honest with the fans and give them clear communications as they aspire to get the club back to the top of Scottish football but it will take time and it will certainly take investment."
The Gers eventually finished 39 points behind Brendan Rodgers’ side last season, but Warburton thinks the gap has closed this term as a result of Celtic failing to reach the same level they achieved in their Treble-winning campaign.
He said: "I don't think it was more difficult, the keyword is expectation, Rangers with their history and tradition - the most successful club in the world, 54 league titles, the fans have suffered going down to the third division and are desperate for success.
"They crave success so going back up there the job in my mind was to consolidate in the Premier League, keep developing the squad and keep taking it forward but such is the expectation in Scotland that you'll always be compared to Celtic and that, last season particularly, was a big issue.
"The gap to Celtic, who had a record year in so many respects, and it was too much for people to stomach. Rangers is in their blood and to have that gap so wide was a painful time.”
He continued: "I was actually mocked by a couple of pundits, I referred to clubs regressing to their mean. They had an outstanding season last season and this year they've dropped many more points and all they've done is go back to an average season. So clubs or individuals have these outstanding seasons and it's how they maintain their standards in the season ahead.
"So all Celtic have done is regressed to their mean and the gap to Rangers is tighter but the key word in Scotland will always be expectation.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel