Former Rangers number two Archie Knox thinks that even Sir Alex Ferguson would be unable to catch Celtic with the group of players currently at Ibrox, and he sees no end in sight to the champions’ domination.
Knox, who was assistant to Ferguson in his trophy-laden spells with Aberdeen and Manchester United, believes that even the greatest manager Scotland has produced would be unable to bridge the current gap in quality between the sides.
And the 70-year-old, who worked under Walter Smith as Rangers equalled Celtic’s nine-in-a-row title winning run in the 90s, thinks the record could well be under threat if things continue as they are.
Read more: Rangers legend John Brown describes Archie Knox as the ultimate football man
Asked if Sir Alex, one of Govan's most famous sons, would struggle if he was in charge of Rangers today, Knox said: "Well he would.
"Unless you have the players and you recruit well or be lucky enough to have good players then you are not going to do it.
"For Rangers to get back to what they once were then they need to have the same level of player as Celtic. Celtic have better players - it is not rocket science
"There is no magic formula for it - you simply have to have better players who have better attitudes than the rest of the teams and then you have a good chance of winning.
"I don't see anybody [knocking Celtic off their perch] in the near future.
"There is no question that Celtic can deliver at the moment. There is no question about that.
"The level of player that Brendan Rodgers is bringing, getting the likes of Patrick Roberts back and Kieran Tierney being a phenomenal player, Stuart Armstrong improving all the time and Leigh Griffiths scoring goals as he does, and having six players in the Scotland team, is great for Celtic.”
Knox, despite that gloomy assessment from a Rangers point of view, tried to offer some crumbs of comfort to the Ibrox support by saying that perhaps a side could push Celtic close.
Read more: Rangers legend John Brown describes Archie Knox as the ultimate football man
It was quite telling though, that it is another of his former teams that he fancies to provide the greatest challenge for the title this season, and that Rangers could even be out of the reckoning by the time of their first clash with Celtic towards the end of the month.
"You never know,” he said. “I think Aberdeen might run them close this season.
“I don't know enough about the players at Rangers. Whether those players can come in and lift Rangers, I am not sure.
"What I will say is that they have to win their next two league games before they play Celtic.
"That will always be the case at Rangers. No matter how you are going or anything like that then a draw is no use. You have to win games.”
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 here