Rangers are trying another road to stop Celtic from collecting the trophies again.
After Philippe Clement and Barry Ferguson watched Celtic lift the title this season, as well as the League Cup, those at Ibrox have now turned to Russell Martin to try and stop Brendan Rodgers.
Added to that, Rangers have new investors in town, in the form of the 49ers Enterprises, as they bid to back Martin in the summer transfer market.
Before all of this was confirmed, the Rangers supporters were getting giddy at the type of manager that could come in, with Jose Mourinho mentioned, and the players, as Luka Modric’s name popped up.
But, in the end, it’s former Southampton boss Martin in the dugout, and a summer ‘warchest’ of £20 million, as Ross McCormack has a simple message for those trying to compete against Celtic.
- READ MORE: Philippe Clement shares the Rangers board’s bizarre ‘idea’ to get ‘to the level of Celtic’
Rangers’ new owners warned about trying to catch Celtic
After Rangers’ statement, from their new investors, stating that there is ‘£20 million’ on the table, it was quickly swatted away by McCormack.
The former striker doesn’t think it’s enough, and he noted how Celtic paid a club-record transfer for Arne Engels.
But, most importantly, McCormack warned those coming in at Rangers that it’s going to take at least ‘two seasons’ just to get close to Celtic, as he told Clyde1 Superscoreboard.
“I did say that they will not come into Rangers and throw hundreds of millions of pounds at it,” said McCormack. “They didn’t do that at Leeds in the Championship, when you have got a carrot of £250 million to get promoted to the Premier League.
“They didn’t do it then, so I couldn’t see, for the life of me, why they would come into Rangers and invest that amount of money.
“They are going to have to invest. Personally, I don’t think £20 million is going to be anywhere near enough when you think £4.5 million is going to be gone because they need to buy Cortes right away.
“You look across the city. Celtic have bought Arne Engels for £11 million, and he has sort of divided opinion, so there is no guarantee that if you do buy big that it’s going to work out.
“I think the most important thing for Rangers is to get a bit of stability and get to a place where the club is sustainable. For years, they have been losing a hell of a lot of money.
“They have to give them enough ammunition to go in, and I am not going to say ‘catch Celtic’, because I don’t believe they will. In their first season or their second season. I think it will take time, but they have to close the gap.”
Celtic’s trophy dominance
At the end of the day, this isn’t just about the present, or what has happened during the last five years or ten years.
Glasgow has seen dominant periods – from both sides – many times before, but Rangers’ issue is that their last period came over 25 years ago.
During that time, Celtic have wiped the floor with everyone, including winning 14 out of the last 15 titles, and the signs suggest that it will continue.
- Celtic’s major trophies since 2000 – (42)
- Rangers’ major trophies since 2000 – (18)
- Celtic’s titles since 2000 – (19)
- Rangers’ titles since 2000 – (6)
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