RICHARD GOUGH is confident the Ibrox board will provide Rangers boss Mark Warburton with the funds to bolster his squad for a crack at the Premiership next term.

The Light Blues are on course to clinch a top flight return this season as they close in on the Championship title and also look to end the campaign with cup success to their credit.

Warburton added Michael O’Halloran to his squad on deadline day as he completed a move from St Johnstone, while Accrington Stanley pair Matt Crooks and Josh Windass have already agreed pre-contract moves.

And former Ibrox captain Gough insists chairman Dave King and his fellow investors will be prepared to fund another shopping spree during the summer.

He said: “Mark Warburton has done a fantastic job with the players that are there.

“Yeah, we have missed out on a couple of players, but clubs are always going to do that.

“Do Rangers supporters want to get back when we pay a lot of money for players and get back into the situation we were in a couple of years ago? I don’t think so.

“The team this year has done better than I thought it was going to. It was a fantastic start they had, they had a wee bit of a stumble but they seem to have picked up their performances again.

“I have always said that it is not easy playing at Rangers and a lot of the people that are playing there now are new to this but they have taken it on board.

“Mark will go to the board at the end of the season. No-one knows what he is thinking in terms of players but, of course, if we are to challenge at the top of the Premiership next year, if we manage to get promoted, I would imagine that we would need to [bring players in].

“There has been a lot of talk of five or six or seven players. I am not sure if Rangers need that.

“The board will have to somehow come up with the finances to fund that. I am sure they will have been thinking about it and they will jump that fence when they come to it.”

Next month will mark the one year anniversary since King was successful in overthrowing the former Ibrox regime and bringing about boardroom change after a lengthy power struggle.

Gough played his part in the push for change and has now put his name forward for election to the board of fan organisation Rangers First ahead of a proposed move to unite several supporter groups.

And the nine-in-a-row legend is pleased with the progress that is being made as the Ibrox hierarchy continue the rebuilding job on and off the park.

He said: “No [I didn’t have any doubts about Dave]. I was just worried if he had the backing to get the board as it was then out because they seemed very entrenched when Dave came to me and, with the help of Paul Murray, John Gilligan, Douglas Park, set out what he was going to try and do.

“Of course there were doubts, you would be crazy not to have any doubts. It was a big step by me to do that, but I backed my judgement.

“I don’t know all the ins and outs with Mike Ashley and paying back Ashley. Judges have come out and spoken about the bullying that Rangers have had to put up with, Dave King in particular, and [Ashley] going to court to put him in jail.

“This is stuff that is incredible, really. But it is all being dismantled bit by bit and hopefully that keeps going.”