DAVE KING believes Rangers would be set up for the next ten years if they could win their first Premiership title in a decade this term.

King famously claimed two seasons ago that Celtic would collapse ‘like a pack of cards’ should they miss out on just one league crown given their financial structure and commitments.

That scenario could be put to the test in the coming months as Steven Gerrard’s side look to turn their promising start and lead at the top of the table into a long-awaited title success.

And former Ibrox chairman King knows breaking Celtic’s stranglehold on the silverware could have a transformative impact on Rangers going forward.

King said: “I think if we conclude by winning the league title, we are obviously in a strong position, but Celtic still have good players and their motivation levels can be turned around.

“The league is far from being over but if we can conclude the league title this year then that change wouldn’t be permanent, but I think we would be reasonably solid for a period of time.

“It has already happened because of our European performances being better than Celtic’s, more recently, that cash-pot that Celtic had built up from doing well in the Champions League has been taken away.

“If we can just win a title then I think we will be there, I don’t think it will be a one-off. I think it could be for the next ten years.”

Celtic enjoyed a free run at several Premiership titles as Rangers worked their way back to the top flight and their Old Firm rivals have been too strong in recent times as they have swept the board in terms of trophies.

There is now an equilibrium in the Glasgow power battle and King believes there will be no period of dominance like the current one as Celtic bid for ten-in-a-row this term.

King said: “If you ask me at this stage I would say more back and forth. Celtic are still coming from a position where they have resources.

“It is really going to be up to the Celtic investors to react to the Rangers’ resurgence. We are in a strong position and we are well-funded and we would be going from strength to strength.

“The question is what would the reaction of the current Celtic’s shareholders be to that?

“At the moment, I can certainly see it being more balanced over the next couple of years. It certainly wouldn’t be the level of dominance that Celtic enjoyed because we were so far away from them.

“When I re-joined the club, we were still in the lower leagues and hadn’t even got back to the Premiership. Celtic had a really good run, probably six or seven years where they had no competition effectively whatsoever.

“Aberdeen did a reasonable footling job of staying close to them for a couple of seasons but Aberdeen, clearly, don’t have the financial resources to be a sustained threat to Celtic the way we are.”