MARK WARBURTON believes his Rangers squad are good enough to mount a challenge for the Premiership title this term.

The Light Blues will make their top flight return this afternoon when Hamilton travel to Ibrox for the first league outing of the new campaign.

After four years working their way through the lower leagues, many Gers fans are confident Warburton’s side are capable of lifting the silverware at the first attempt.

And the Ibrox boss knows Rangers will have to live up to the demands from the stands as they get set for a title battle with Celtic in the coming months.

Warburton said: “It’s about your own self-belief. Everyone wants to start on a good note but it’s a long, hard season.

“As someone once said, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

“Teams are capable of putting late runs together although it goes without saying we want to get off to a good start.

“That will get the self-belief and confidence flowing through the team. Hopefully, touch wood, we can do that.

“Everyone asks me where we’re going to finish, how well will we do?

“If I turn round and say to the players, ‘let’s finish third’, then what kind of message is that?

“It’s the same as telling the fans we want to finish in the top six. They are not going to buy that.

“We want to finish as high as we can, to turn round and say we’ll win it is naive and foolish, but do I think we’ve got a good enough squad to do it? Yes, I think we have.

“All the teams will feel the same but we’ve added another layer of quality and we’re in good shape.”

Chairman Dave King will unfurl the Championship flag ahead of the Accies clash before a sold out Ibrox look to inspire Warburton’s side to an opening day victory.

And the Gers boss knows the supporters can have a key part to play in helping his players during the course of the Premiership campaign.

Warburton said: “It can be [a help or a hindrance]. We’ve said it before.

“The funny thing is, I watched the Burnley game three times - twice on Saturday night and once on Sunday.

“I watched the game with no sound and it was a completely different game. You watch it and you think we were really, really poor in the first half, much better in the second.

“When I watched it back with no sound I thought: ‘Hmmm....’. You realise the fans’ expectations and their demands.

“We understand them but we hope also they understand the effort going in to take the club back to where it used to be.”