Rangers shouldn't bee too concerned about the defeats against Celtic this season, because they have two more games against Aberdeen to come and in many respects, those stand to be more meaningful than any match against Celtic.

Rangers direct competitors this season are the likes of Aberdeen and Hearts, and I think there are probably many Rangers who recognise that, but the loudest voices tend to be the ones who want to return to what they knew a few years back.

The story from the Rangers point of view in the second half of the season is two-fold. Firstly, I think they have to try to get the better of Aberdeen, who I think will be their closest challengers for second spot based upon what I’ve seen in the past few weeks, and who have hit a bit of form going into the winter break.

At times, Rangers have looked good this season, and at times they’ve looked not so good. But they are in second place with Aberdeen breathing down their neck, and I think that’s why those matches between the two teams will be absolutely pivotal and where Rangers should be placing their focus.

Secondly, they have to get into Europe. I’ve seen a lot of Rangers fans on Twitter saying that if they can get into Europe that will solve a lot of problems, but I think that the clubs’ absence from European competition in recent years has led to a lack of awareness about how difficult it is to get to a group stage nowadays. It’s not what it was four or five years ago, it’s really challenging.

I’m assuming that Rangers will make the Europa League qualifying stages, but I think anyone who has covered the qualifying ties with other Scottish teams will certainly know the pitfalls.

It can end very early and unceremoniously. Rangers will go in there with a very low seeding as well, so there will be some very difficult teams for Rangers to face straight away.

Look at Hearts for example, who were knocked out this season by Birkirkara of Malta. On paper, you might think that could never happen, but times and budgets have changed around Europe.

Even when Rangers were in a stronger financial position they were eliminated from Europe by Malmo and Maribor in quick succession. I’m sure there are Rangers fans who will look on at other Scottish clubs and think they wouldn’t fall at the same sort of hurdles, but they should be careful, because there are pitfalls.

I think Rangers fans will enjoy being part of Europe again, even just in qualifying. As Aberdeen and Hearts have discovered, these are challenging games, and recruitment will be key to managing them.

That doesn’t mean splashing the cash. Rangers have spent £1.8 million on Joe Garner, and being kind, the jury was still out on him even before his shoulder injury.

There are ways of building a team without splashing huge amounts of cash, and Mark Warburton certainly did that when he was at Brentford.

This January is important and the summer will be important, but Rangers will know that they have to do it on a budget.

Fans always like somebody they’ve heard of, and there is a little bit of an obsession with names from south of the border who have maybe played in the Premier League and are now coming to the late autumn of their career.

Patience is a virtue that is often in short supply in Scottish football, but I think that Rangers fans are going to have to be patient and look to their youth system to help eventually bridge the gap to Celtic.

They can take some positives from the game on Hogmanay. I thought in the first half they were very good and they began the game well. They took the lead through Kenny Miller and were really up for it. Ultimately though, the gap in quality which has been such a topic of conversation in Scottish football throughout the last few weeks was there for all to see.

It’s difficult in the short term to envisage what Rangers can do to bridge that gap, but one thing in the long term that has to be looked at is the youth system.

Youth development is not something we’ve been great at in Scotland as a whole, but it is one area where a team can definitely make up ground on richer rivals. I’ve seen it happen many times on the continent, and especially covering German clubs. If you have a proper youth system and it is producing players, then it does become a clubs’ biggest asset. That’s what Rangers are in need of at the moment.

Now, I realise that fans want jam today rather than worrying about something that may only bear fruit years down the line, but it is something that Rangers can look at now and take steps to try to improve now safe in the knowledge that there will be a dividend paid out much later.

These are testing times for Rangers, but I hope their fans can take a longer-term outlook, and it all starts with building a productive youth system.