Lee Wallace: Celtic have invested in Brendan Rodgers out of 'respect' for Rangers ahead of title battle

The Northern Irishman became the highest paid manager in the Hoops’ history when he agreed a deal to succeed Ronny Deila at Parkhead last month.

And Wallace believes the Celtic hierarchy have taken notice of the progress Rangers made under Mark Warburton’s guidance as they clinched their top flight return.

Read more: Lee Wallace: I'll only look at Joey Barton the Rangers player and not the headline maker

He said: “Absolutely it’s a season to look forward to. The fact they’ve brought in a manager of that calibre is due out of respect to what we’ve done.

“They’ve had a look at the semi-final result. But also not just down to that one game, what we did throughout the season and how we’ve been moving forward as a club and the steps we’re making.

“Of course it’s going to be a great exciting league and we’re glad to be going back to good venues in front of good away supports at the top level of Scottish football.

Read more: Lee Wallace: Rangers have to aspire to reach the levels of the Ibrox squad I joined in 2011

“Now that we’re back we’ll make sure we’re highly competitive and that comes from every single day’s training at Murray Park, being the best we can as players.

“We have to make sure we’re in the best possible shape for every matchday. Then we’ll see where that takes us.”

Boss Warburton has made a handful of signings in recent weeks as he has bolstered his Ibrox ranks for a shot at title glory.

The likes of Clint Hill, Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar have added strength and depth to the Gers squad.

And Wallace knows the champions have to set their sights on the silverware as they get set to go head-to-head with Celtic once again.

He said: “We’re certainly not just going back into the top flight to bed ourselves in.

“That’s wrong, it would go against how we operate as a group and how we are as a football club.

“We’re going to make sure that we’re highly competitive next season. We know we’re not just there to make the numbers up.

“We’re going to respect the league. A big part of how we move forward is, of course, being respectful to the opposition.

“But the bottom line is we’re not going to change how we play. We had the critics, we had the questions through the course of last season that we wouldn’t be able to adopt that style of play as we move up.

“But let’s just wait and see. We’re not going to change our approach. We’ll of course tweak things here and there, but we’ve assessed things from the end of the season and so far in pre-season that we need to improve on.

“We’re our own biggest critic. We’ll self-analyse from here until midnight.

“So we’re well aware of what we need to do to get better moving into next season.

“The calibre of player we’ve brought in will help that and will also help us become highly competitive next season.”

After four years in the lower leagues and many highs and lows along the way, Rangers and Wallace will play Premiership football once again next season.

And the Ibrox skipper knows there will be huge expectation from within the club to ensure Rangers are competing at the top of the table as quickly as possible.

Wallace said: “We’re going to respect our opponents. It’s great that we’ve got ourselves back in the top flight, back to where we should be playing our football.

“I’m glad we can stop talking about where we should be — now we are and we can go and be competitive.

“It’s a case now of getting back to what Rangers should be winning, targeting what Rangers have done in the past.

“Historically, they’ve been a dominant force in Scottish football. So it’s about us making sure that we give all we can so we can get back to winning top Rangers silverware.”