FORMER Rangers star Kevin Thomson believes his old club are on their way back to the days when he won medals at Ibrox.

The Dundee captain, who spent three trophy-laden years with the Light Blues, would love nothing more than for his old team to get past Motherwell in the play-off final, even if he believes the experience of the Fir Park squad may prove to be the decisive factor.

Thomson hopes that now Dave King has been given the go-ahead by the SFA to begin his work, it won't be too long before the years of lower-league football are only a memory.

He said: "I have never been one to read into all the politics of what's gone on, it's never really interested me. I can only speak from the time I was at Rangers. It was an amazing club with amazing people and, unfortunately, it went through a real hard time that everyone knows about.

"If they can get promoted with the new board that has come in, there seems to be a bit more stability there and I'm pretty sure in the next few years that Rangers can hopefully get back to something of the club that I remember."

But Thomson has a warning for Rangers.

Motherwell have a squad that, to some extent, have been there before. Stuart McCall has, bar a few, an inexperienced team when it comes to seriously big games.

Thomson said: "The current Rangers squad, apart from maybe Lee McCulloch and Lee Wallace - I don't want to disrespect anyone - but the bulk of the squad have maybe never played in cup finals or won titles or whatever.

"This is a massive game for them and a massive game for the club's future. It's a massive game for Motherwell as well because the side-effects of getting relegated is tough.

"I would have thought Rangers would have been a certainty a few months ago. But since Scott McDonald has come in, they've signed Stephen Pearson and they've got a bit of experience about them. It's going to be nip and tuck."

Thomson spoke of his admiration for Paul Hartley, his manager at Dens Park, who he has enjoyed working for over the last season, and revealed a recommendation from best mate, Celtic captain Scott Brown, sent him on his way to Tayside.

Thommo said: "The gaffer was a pain to play against. We had a couple of battles in our time. I phoned Scotty and told him Paul had been on the phone wanting me up at Dundee.

"I asked his advice because I never knew what Paul was like. I just knew him as an opponent. Scotty said he was a top man, so I went up there and it's been great.

"The gaffer has been brilliant with me. I feel pretty much the way I've felt my whole career, apart from when I was under Terry Butcher [at Hibernian]. It's a nice feeling when people appreciate you. Paul sees me in training every day and he sees the way I am with the young boys.

"Sometimes when you fall out with a manager or have a sticky six months at a club, then people seem to think you are a bad egg or a troublemaker. But if you ask the 150 players I have played with in my career, they would say the opposite."