CHRISTIAN DAILLY hopes Rangers can make the most of their second season in the Championship to ensure they are fully prepared for a top flight return.

The Light Blues missed out on a Premiership place last month when they crashed to a play-off final defeat against Motherwell, losing 3-1 at Ibrox and 3-0 in the return leg at Fir Park.

It capped a miserable campaign for the Gers after they saw Hearts romp to the second tier title and were then edged out by Hibernian in the battle to finish best of the rest.

With the likes of captain Lee McCulloch and striker Kris Boyd now off the books following a summer clear-out last week, Rangers face a huge rebuilding job ahead of the new campaign.

A Petrofac Training Cup clash on July 25 is looming large on the horizon and former Ibrox defender Dailly knows there can be no slip-ups at the second attempt as the Gers get set to battle it out with Hibernian and St Mirren for the title.

He said: "I think that's vital; the way the game is now you're going to have to have your finances in order. You can see what has happened to Rangers and that has obviously been made clear.

"It is true, you get more chance to build while you are in the slightly lower division, you can bring some younger players through and you get a chance to keep slightly out the way a little bit.

"You are not going to have so many defeats and you can keep the confidence up, then you know that when you do make that jump up to the Premiership that you are fully ready to do it.

"It might just have been one year too early if they had gone up this year."