Glasgow Rangers are a long way adrift of the Scottish Premiership leaders.
Ibrox legend Walter Smith has told Rangers that they need to take a financial gamble that may result in them going into debt if they hope to close the gap to Celtic and get back challenging at the summit of the Scottish Premiership, the Daily Record reports.
The Gers may be second in the table, but are some way adrift of the Hoops and appear to already be out of the race for the title this term.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
And Smith – who guided the Light Blues to 10 league titles during his spells as manager, including seven in a row in the 1990s – believes that the club need to get the chequebook out if they hope to bridge the gap to their Old Firm foes, or even prevent it becoming wider.
“Even allowing for Celtic’s circumstances in the early 90’s they still had some good players. They still had a decent enough team,” he told the Record.
Walter Smith
“I think the gap is bigger now than it was in those early stages. And some of the other Scottish teams – Hearts, Aberdeen and Dundee United – were far better then than they are at the moment.
“But for Rangers to get access to Champions League money they may have to take a gamble and risk going into debt.”
Though Gers supporters would love nothing more than Mark Warburton’s men to show signs of improvement in the coming months ahead of the new campaign, and are likely to trust Smith’s advice over most given his contribution to the club, the Ibrox faithful would be forgiven for being slightly hesitant about splashing the cash.
The team are arguably still paying the price for the previous financial problems at the club, and the last thing the supporters will want is to see Rangers have to go through anything like what has happened since their demotion in 2012, so the Gers hierarchy will surely need to get the balance spot on between spending ambitiously and ensuring that the long-term future is in no danger.
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