Former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae has rubbished suggestions that his old club should be aiming to just finish above Aberdeen next season, claiming that overhauling Celtic should always be the aim at Ibrox.

Rae feels that the relentless will to win, which is still present at Celtic Park, has been watered down at Rangers in recent years.

And he believes it is time for Pedro Caixinha to make sure that the old Rangers mantra of winning at all costs from his own time at the club is brought back before Celtic steamroller their way to 10-in-a-row.

Read more: Alex Rae: Pedro Caixinha is right to add steel to Rangers' soft centreGlasgow Times:

“Celtic will always be the yardstick for Rangers,” Rae said. “I don’t subscribe to this theory that they are now competing with Aberdeen, I don’t buy that in the slightest.

“If Rangers use Aberdeen as their yardstick when the fans are using Celtic as theirs, you’ll end up miles off. You have to aim high.

“That should go right through the club. Having played for Celtic as a kid at boy’s club level and Rangers too, it was programmed into your DNA to win matches. That was in your blood.

“I think the people at Murray Park have allowed it to just become about development. I know one thing, Celtic haven’t lost that winning mentality.

“I look at their 17s and their 19s, and I know Celtic didn’t win the under-20s this year, but they’ve won 10 of the last 14.

“They still have that will to win at all costs, and I think that has been diluted at Rangers a little bit.

“The quicker the people at Rangers can get it back to that winning mentality throughout the club the better.

“They are probably one of only eight or nine clubs across Europe that have to have that, where if you don’t win on a weekly basis it’s a crisis.

“That has to be in the club, right the way down to the youths. They have to get back to that ethos – whatever it takes.

“The identity of the club has been watered down a bit in recent years, there’s no doubt about it.

“They have to get back to the ethos of what Rangers is all about, that unrelenting appetite to win.”

Read more: Alex Rae: Pedro Caixinha is right to add steel to Rangers' soft centre

Rae was interviewed by Caixinha for his coaching staff before Jonatan Johansson landed the position as his number three, but he hopes he was able to help the Portuguese understand a little at least of the traditions of the club.

“I think that whole process was probably a good exercise for Pedro at the time, to speak to the guys who were steeped in the club and knew what the club was all about,” he said.

“He would have quickly realised what was required. I said to him in the meeting we had, that he could in no way comprehend what was coming his way in terms of the media scrutiny and the pressure.

“If you lose, it is a disaster, and if you draw, that’s not good enough either.

“I supported the club as a boy and I played for them as a kid, but nothing can prepare you for what it is to play for Rangers or manage them. Nothing.

“All of a sudden you’ve got journalists and columnists having their say, they’ve all got the baseball bats out, and you have to learn to deal with that.

Read more: Alex Rae: Pedro Caixinha is right to add steel to Rangers' soft centre

“Having been in the media for the last few years as I’ve been in and out of football, I understand the dynamics of it now better than I did when I was playing.

“I used to think it was personal, and don’t get me wrong, there will be the odd guy that writes something a bit over the top, but in the main, you have to learn to live with this stuff.

“That’s when the mental toughness is required, and players coming in will have to adapt to that too.”