HAVING endured the agony of eight long seasons without a single league title victory, Ally Dawson welcomed the arrival of Graeme Souness as much as anyone at Rangers.

The former club captain appreciated the appointment of the former Liverpool and Scotland great as manager, and the imminent acquisition of new signings, could restrict his first team chances.

But having endured one of the leanest spells in the entire history of the Glasgow institution the defender was just happy that, at long last, the tide was about to turn.

Souness, of course, brought in a raft of big name players, including England internationalists Terry Butcher, Graham Roberts and Chris Woods.

And his extensive signing spree helped to ensure that Rangers lifted their first Scottish title since way back in 1978 at the end of the 1986/87 season.

Dawson, a Rangers Hall of Fame member, knows only too well the pain that supporters must currently be experiencing.

The 2-1 defeat which Rangers slumped to against Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday was their third this season and sent their city rivals 19 points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

It is inevitable that Brendan Rodgers's side win their sixth consecutive league this term - and there seems little chance of them being caught any time in the near future.

But Dawson believes it is vital that the current Rangers board continue to build gradually to avoid any recurrence of the horrendous off-field problems they have endured in recent seasons.

"The supporters will expect things to be sorted out as quickly as possible and will feel they shouldn’t be in the situation they are in," he said.

"The fans enjoyed the Graeme Souness era and the subsequent success the club enjoyed, but things have to be done differently from now on.

"I don’t see anything like the Souness Revolution happening again. I don’t see anybody coming in and taking the club on. It is down to the people who are there now.

"I think it will take a number of years to get back to the level we were at before, but that is the right way to do it.

"Rangers will get there. When it does come it will be joyous and the fans will appreciate it far more. But there is still a long way to go.

"I stayed at Rangers for another year after Souness took over and a better quality of player came in. It was great to be playing with really good players. The club went from strength to strength.

"But they can’t afford to go back down that route and hopefully they won’t go down that route. Doing that was the cause of all the problems in the first place.

"I can understand the fans’ frustration. Rangers should be spending more money and have better players given the size of club they are.

"But they have to resist the temptation to spend a lot of money and try to fix things right away. They might not bring the right players in, they might spend a lot of money and still not enjoy the success they want to.

"What they are doing, building slowly, is far better in the long run. It will mean the club is on far more solid foundations. I know that is difficult for some fans to accept, but they can’t just throw millions of pounds into it.

"I actually think they aren’t a million miles away from it. I think it only needs two or three players to come in and click.

"They are a good bit behind Celtic, but they aren’t a good bit behind the rest of Scottish football. They have something to build on."

Dawson broke into the Rangers first team just the Ibrox club was, under the guidance of Jock Wallace, winning their second domestic Treble in three years in 1978.

However, the team struggled after John Greig had succeeded Wallace as manager and the defender, who was made captain, can sympathise with what the current players are enduring.

"John was very unlucky at that time," he said. "There was a lack of investment in the squad, senior players were in the twilight of their careers, some left and he was also inexperienced as a manager.

"John was unfortunate in his first season. He won the League Cup and the Scottish Cup and then we lost the title decider against Celtic at Parkhead in our third last game. If we had drawn that game we would have won the league.

"There was nowhere near the same investment as when Graeme Souness came in. It was difficult for him to make an impact. You also had the great Aberdeen and Dundee United teams emerging at that time.

"I do remember it being difficult, really difficult. John made me captain and I went through a couple of seasons when I didn’t play as well as I could because of injuries I picked up. I wasn’t fully fit. But the fans weren’t slow in voicing their displeasure."

Dawson added: "But I played through it. With hindsight, I should have stopped and recovered. It was hard. The younger players who came into the team found it difficult. Even Ally McCoist.

"He went through a spell where he bore the brunt of the supporters’ frustrations. But, to his credit, he showed great resolve to overcome that. It was a very difficult time for him.

"I fractured my skull in an end-of-season game against an Italian club in Canada and was out for quite a bit of time, five or six months, with that. I also had a pelvic injury shortly after that. In time, I got over them.

"I only have partial hearing in my left ear because of the head injury I suffered – which was a good thing as well as a bad thing. It meant I didn’t hear the stick I was getting from the stands when I was on that side of the park."