Monday 26 September 2016 15:07, UK
Mark Warburton was right when he said after Saturday's humiliating 5-1 defeat to Celtic to “judge us in May” but he has certainly spent long enough in Glasgow's goldfish bowl now to appreciate that his team is assessed, dissected and critiqued on a weekly basis.
Even when you're flying high in Glasgow with a successful Rangers side the fans will still want more, that's the harsh reality of life as a Rangers manager. So of course we'll all make a judgement on him and his team in May but it's perfectly reasonable to gauge what kind of team Warburton has put together right now after more than half a dozen league and cup games on the back of a summer transfer window.
The simple truth is that everyone witnessed a huge gulf in class between Celtic and Rangers at the weekend. Celtic have pace, power, strength and a depth of squad that will see them regarded as strong favourites for every domestic trophy up for grabs this season.
Rangers, with the second biggest budget in Scottish football should be their nearest challengers but are finding it tough on a weekly basis competing at a much higher level than in previous seasons. Draws against Hamilton and Kilmarnock have been disappointing while 2-1 wins over Dundee and Motherwell have been the type of games that could have gone either way.
At Celtic Park on Saturday, Rangers played like a side who had just gained promotion and found out what it was like to play against the champions of the last five seasons.
That's the reality. Rangers have just been promoted and in my view, it's completely unrealistic to ask them to seriously compete for the title. As I said before a ball was kicked this season, this Rangers squad will do well to finish third in the Scottish Premiership. Given their financial muscle, competing with Aberdeen and Hearts is a much more manageable prospect than overcoming a strong Celtic side who have improved greatly under Brendan Rodgers. Crucially, Celtic have also spent at a level that Rangers struggle to meet.
While we all accept that Rangers as a club are growing after a whole host of dubious characters took control over the last few years, I don't think anyone really knows how comfortable and well-off they are behind the scenes financially.
Rangers chairman Dave King promised an investment of between £30m and £50m when he was attempting to gain control of the then Championship club in 2015 but with the summer transfer window long gone, he has not provided any significant sum to date.
Speaking to Sky Sports after watching his new-look side draw 1-1 with Hamilton at Ibrox on the opening day of the season, King claimed he would hold money in reserve until January "after increasing our investment in wages very considerably".
On the evidence of Saturday's contest with Celtic, Rangers fans should have expected a better contest but every one of them will know it's going to take a lot more investment to seriously compete at the top end of the Premiership. Leicester City showed last season that you don't have to be the biggest spenders to win the top prizes but my goodness, it helps.
AND ANOTHER THING
If I was Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson, I would seriously consider appealing the ridiculous yellow card given to his striker Tony Watt at Tynecastle on Saturday for an apparent act of simulation. It was as blatant a penalty as you're likely to see all season and yet referee Craig Thomson saw fit to caution the striker for what he must have thought was a dive.
He did the same a few weeks ago when he booked Leigh Griffiths at McDiarmid Park when there was clear contact. I have no idea what's got into referee Thomson this season. I have consistently regarded him as one of our best but after his extraordinary refusal to comply with simple TV schedules on top of his needless yellows for imaginary offences, he has to improve to keep getting the big games.
