What exactly were Rangers up to exactly one year ago today?
On this day exactly 12 months ago, Dundee had just completed their first home victory against Rangers for the first time since 1992.
The game marked then caretaker manager Graeme Murty’s second game in charge of Rangers after Mark Warburton’s dismissal, as well as the third Gers game in a row without a win.
Murty was only in the Rangers hot seat for six games during his stint as caretaker, winning three, drawing one and losing two. One year on however, Murty, who is now in charge of the club on a permanent basis (at least until the end of the season), and his Rangers side are looking much healthier and are beginning to grow into a formidable outfit.
But what was the exact situation one year ago?
On 19th February 2017 Dundee took an early lead against the Gers, only to double it through Kevin Holt just before the half time interval.
Joe Garner’s second half goal was not enough to spur a Rangers comeback and remained the Ibrox side’s only consolation from the defeat.
With Rangers’ attempts to bridge the gap between Celtic, the loss at Dundee on this day last year is a great talking point when it comes to comparing the fortunes of the club then and now, to gauge exactly how far the club has progressed in exactly one year.
Following the Dundee game, Rangers sat in third place behind Celtic and Aberdeen with a goal difference of five and on 43 points, 30 behind the leaders and eventual champions Celtic.
One year on, however, and the Gers are now in second place, with an impressive goal difference of 22 and a drastically improved number of points on 52. The gap between the Old Firm clubs now only stands at nine points, which is testament to the good work of Murty
If the Ibrox club, and Murty himself as a young manager, have progressed this much in just one season since their time under Warburton, this can only be a promising sign for the years to come.
All Rangers can do is continue knocking on the door behind the Celts. They have done a remarkable job thus far of quickly re-establishing themselves as the nation’s stand out club behind Celtic.
When they inevitably manage to leave Hibs and Aberdeen behind, which they now appear to be doing so, they can then begin to think about mounting a title challenge in their desperate attempt to put a stop to Celtic’s hopes of 10 league titles in a row.
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