For those prepared to consider the reality of our position, the harsh truth is Peter Lawwell has out-thought and out-fought Rangers for the best part of 20 years. He has succeeded is establishing Celtic as the pre-eminent club in Scotland and has done so by removing Rangers from any position of influence it had in Scottish football. Celtic has been better run in every respect, to the extent they are now far better financed and much better connected than Rangers by a country mile.
Since returning to the SPFL, Rangers has succeeded in making second place its own but remains far behind Celtic in almost every respect. If we are ever going to shake off our current mantle as second best and step out of Celtic's shadow, we will need a far better calibre of leadership and it's far from obvious to me that we currently have the people on board to provide it. Clearly, we're now heading in the right general direction but if we don't improve and get it right, we could spend the next 20 years heading in the right direction without ever arriving at a destination.
I remember when Rangers was recognised by everyone as the gold standard in Scottish football, when Celtic was the perennial bridesmaid. But we got lazy and careless and frittered away every advantage we once had. I don't think we can just assume Celtic will do the same. There's a tacit understanding that we have to stop Celtic winning ten in a row but, seriously, I'm more concerned about them winning 15 or more in a row and, frankly, nothing I've seen so far persuades me we yet have what it takes to stop them. My hope is that recent boardroom changes will pave the way for new and more aggressively competitive investors/directors and that that will translate into something more than the half-hearted challenges we've mustered in recent years. Something significant has to change and I hope the current directors are smart enough to realise that.