Former Celtic man Davie Provan has delivered a withering assessment of Rangers’ chances in the Scottish Premiership this season.
Steven Gerrard’s side have made a strong start to the campaign both domestically and in Europe, but Provan isn’t convinced by the Ibrox outfit.
He claims that Ibrox chief Dave King is very, very wrong if he believes that the Gers can get anywhere near Old Firm rivals Celtic – even though Gerrard’s men now sit top the Scottish Premiership.
“But here is the brutal truth — King is dreaming if he thinks he can compete with Celts. At the moment, Gers aren’t operating in the same ball park,” he wrote in his Scottish Sun column. “Forget the narrow gap between the clubs in the league, the contest between the Old Firm remains a mismatch.
“Believe me, if Steven Gerrard has Gers within ten points of Celtic by the end of this campaign, he’s had a good season. He’s done brilliantly getting Rangers into the group stages of the Europa League. But with the best will in the world, Gers won’t be involved at the business end of the competition,” he said.
OPINION
It seems far too early to be counting Rangers out this season. Gerrard’s team have made a good start to the campaign and are operating at a pretty high level in recent weeks. They have been tremendous in Europe and decent domestically, and there’s been nothing to suggest that they won’t be in amongst it at the end of the season. For Provan to claim that having Rangers within ten points of Celtic would be a good achievement is, quite frankly, ludicrous. Rangers may not overcome Celtic this season but they should be looking to run them close at the very least. Gerrard strengthened his team immensely in the summer transfer window and he will likely do so again in January, so you can’t count them out just yet. Financially Gers might still be a bit of a way off Brendan Rodgers’ side, but that’s not to say that they will be forever – or that that disparity will transfer to the pitch. Provan seems to be showing his Celtic bias here, nothing more.