DAVID WEIR insists he and Mark Warburton will thrive under pressure of the Rangers rebuilding job and handle the heat from the Ibrox crowd.

The Light Blues fell 19 points adrift of Old Firm rivals Celtic as they headed into the winter break on the back of a derby defeat on Hogmanay.

It is the race to be best of the rest that Rangers must now win this term and Weir is confident the Gers can manage the expectation from a demanding fan base.

Read more: David Weir: Winning silverware is 'fundamental' to Rangers so we are eyeing Scottish Cup success

He said: “You’ve got to enjoy the challenge. Everybody talks about pressure being a bad thing but pressure is a good thing because it heightens your senses, in regards you know every decision, every game matters.

“You can’t go away to that game and know the performance isn’t going to get noticed, the result is not going to get noticed. You know you’ve got to go away and try and do the right things, try and be competitive.

”It’s not like you’re going to come back and nobody’s going to notice and you’re going to carry on with your work.

“It’s the reality of playing at Rangers. That’s a great challenge but it’s a good challenge and the pressure is a good pressure. You’ve got to enjoy it and the players fundamentally have got to learn as we go.

“We’ve got to try and heighten that and speed it up as much as we can but you can’t manufacture it, we’ve got to go through the process.”

Rangers have been beaten three times on league and cup duty by Celtic this term and will begin their bid for Scottish Cup glory when they face Motherwell this weekend.

The Premiership gulf to Celtic is a source of concern for supporters but Weir insists it won’t be closed by just splashing the cash on the next wave of Ibrox recruits.

Read more: David Weir: Winning silverware is 'fundamental' to Rangers so we are eyeing Scottish Cup success

He said: “It is what it is, it’s not ideal, obviously we don’t like it but there is a gap because they have invested and they’ve been playing at a great level, they’ve got a team full of international players that they’re constantly improving.

“Rangers haven’t been, Rangers have been in the backwaters for the last four or five years and haven’t really invested in the squad.

“So how do you bridge that gap? Well unless you’re spending £100 million or whatever the figure may be and even that doesn’t guarantee.

“You’ve got to do it slowly, you’ve got to do it through a process and by constantly improving players, the environment, the challenges you give the players, the youth department, you’ve got to constantly try to build up the whole structure of the club and the whole infrastructure of the club.

“It’s a big challenge. 19-points is too big a gap but it represents where we are.”