A couple of weeks back in this column, I predicted that Celtic would win the title this season with something to spare. I stand by that prediction, but the opening to the season has pointed to the race being a fair bit closer than I had expected.

That is mainly down to what has gone on at Celtic Park in the last 10 days, but you also have to say that it looks like a tighter fight than what I had envisioned due to what has been happening at Ibrox over the summer too.

I think Brendan Rodgers is protecting himself in some of his public utterances, but you have to say that he is at least partially to blame for the situation at his club just now.

He is clearly annoyed with what he perceives as a lack of support from his board, and I sympathise with that view to a point, but it could be argued that he has spent what money he has got in the wrong areas - and at times on the wrong targets. Marvin Compper being chief amongst those.

When you contrast it with the recruitment job that Steven Gerrard has done at Rangers with less money to spend in this window, then you can clearly see how different an approach each club has taken when it comes to reinforcing their squads.

The priority for Rangers this pre-season has been shutting up shop at the back. They recruited Connor Goldson for just £3million, and he looks a real find, while Nikola Katic looks a great prospect too.

I’m not saying that Jack Hendry isn’t a prospect as well over at Celtic, but for a player to go from the bottom end of the Premiership to being one of the centre-halves tasked with getting them into the Champions League was always going to be a huge ask, and he just wasn’t up to it.

I touched upon it last week that Celtic’s failure to strengthen in the backline may come back to haunt them when they stepped up from the domestic game, and that complacency has now come home to roost. It was hardly a revelation, people have been talking for the last two years about the need for Celtic to strengthen at centre-half and at right-back. Mikael Lustig has been great over the years, but there’s no doubt that his form has dipped. He doesn’t look the same player these days.

Domestic dominance has perhaps masked those weaknesses, but they were laid bare by the goals that AEK Athens managed to score against Celtic in both legs. It was just far too easy for the Greeks to find the Celtic net.

Odsonne Edouard is a cracking player and may go on to have great success at Celtic before earning them a shed-load of cash down the line, but surely the priority this summer had to lie in addressing a defence that continually ship goals from set-plays and looks shaky whenever they play against a half-decent side.

Celtic haven’t got the balance of their recruitment right yet, although there is still time before the end of the window, while the business that Rangers have done at least looks to have struck the right balance in terms of quickly fixing areas – most notably the defence – that were clearly needing to be improved.

With Borna Barisic and Jon Flanagan coming in as well as James Tavernier looking like a proper defender for perhaps the first time, Rangers suddenly have the making of a really good back four, while the same really can’t be said about Celtic.

On the flip side, there is no doubt who has the stronger attack. Rangers are heavily reliant on Alfredo Morelos, presuming they can keep a hold of him, and Kyle Lafferty may come in too, but when you look at the options Celtic have in attacking areas then it blows Rangers out of the water.

Edouard, Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths are vying for two positions up front, and you have the likes of Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Scott Sinclair supporting from behind. So, it is a bit early to be writing Celtic off just yet or for Rangers fans to be dusting down their ‘Going for 55’ display.

What would have to be said though is that for the first time in a long, long while, the prevailing wind seems to be behind Rangers, and not behind Celtic. The in-house disputes have blown them off course a little, and all the momentum is with the Ibrox side at present.

There hasn’t been a period of positivity around Rangers like this in years. Yes, they have had the false hope in seasons past whenever a new manager has come in and brought a raft of new players with him, but without jumping the gun, there does appear to be some genuine weight behind the hype this time around

Whether this is another false dawn for the Rangers supporters remains to be seen, but as things stand, it makes the Old Firm game in a couple of weeks' time a mouthwatering prospect.