GRAEME SOUNESS managed Rangers in an era when money was apparently no object. And you don’t need a degree in history to know just how that free-spending philosophy panned out. Still, old habits die hard and, upon a flying return to Glasgow to promote an event he is appearing in, Souness surveyed the position the Ibrox club find themselves in and prescribed greater levels of financial investment as the medicine needed to cure their ills.
A second loss of the season to Celtic – albeit by a far smaller margin than the first defeat – has been enough to prompt an immediate and thorough analysis of Rangers’ shortcomings. There have been questions asked about Mark Warburton and the business he undertook in the summer transfer window but Souness believes any criticism of the manager at this juncture would be unreasonable. Instead he looks to the financial gulf between Celtic and Rangers and wonders aloud just where the funds might be to start to bridge it. The obvious answer would be to look to chairman Dave King but there has been little indication that the once-promised millions will be forthcoming from that quarter any time soon.
Warburton believes Rangers cannot afford to “spend recklessly” but Souness was adamant that only by splurging more money in the pursuit of better players will the Ibrox club one day be able to compete with their greatest rivals as equals once more.
“They need to get better players and that will take money,” he said. “The owner [King] needs to find some money for the manager because he's operating with one hand tied behind his back at the moment. As a Rangers supporter, we can feel disappointed about losing to Celtic again but I think it's to be expected. They're five years ahead of us.
“That doesn't mean it'll be like this for the next five years but certainly in the last five years they've had far more opportunity to strengthen than we have. We're playing catch-up, we'll need some clever buying, we'll need some money and we’ll need some luck.
"You [King] can't come out and say you're going to spend this and spend that if you haven't got it. If you end up not spending it, that is a mistake because it raised the expectations of the support. Rangers supporters have proven themselves over the last few years, turning up in the numbers they have done to home and away games. They expect, and now the owners have got to support the manager.
“These two results against Celtic are, I think, quite predictable. But hopefully we'll get better and in the next three or four transfer windows Rangers can be lucky and can find some money from somewhere. Because that's what it's going to take. There's no magician out there who could come in and do things any differently. There's no super coach who could do things any differently. It needs better players, simple as that.”
Souness felt any criticism of Warburton at this juncture would not be merited, believing the manager needs more time as well as more resources to steer Rangers in the right direction.
“I would not be looking to heap too much pressure on the manager as that comes with the job,” he added. “Not winning Old Firm games even when we're on a level playing field, even when we're all working on the same budgets - that's an enormous pressure in itself. Mark's working with a very limited budget and these two results haven’t been unexpected.
“I wouldn't be critical of him because he’s working on a very small budget. I think Mark's done a good job to date. I'd give him more time, certainly. It borders on being mission impossible for him.
“Celtic get 30 million quid from their Champions League this year. What do Rangers get from TV rights? A couple of million. And that's not just this year, that's previous years as well. You've got the unbelievable expectation from the Rangers supporters but anyone with any common sense must look at it and see the reasons why they're better than Rangers right now.”
Souness felt that parallels could be drawn between the step-up Celtic are facing in the Champions League and the challenges the rest of Scottish football must overcome every time they take on the Scottish champions.
"The Champions League is another level,” he added. “Look at Celtic going to Barcelona and getting beat 7-0 going on 10 because Barca pulled up at seven. It's a good analogy - the gulf in Scottish football right now between Celtic and the rest.
“But with Hearts and Aberdeen - the expectation isn't there. Mark [Warburton] is having to put up with the history that's gone back over 100 years. That's what he's having to deal with, that and the expectation from the Rangers supporters, “Oh, we're back [in the top flight], we're going to win it”. That was never going to happen.”
Souness will return to Glasgow again next week, sharing a stage with Joe Jordan to discuss their football experiences, thoughts and memories.
"I'm looking forward to coming here with Joe next week. I'm sure people will find it very interesting. It's my life story, it's his life story and there will be a few laughs in there too, I'm sure. If there are any young guys in then hopefully it will encourage them to pursue their dreams as well. Joe and I were very lucky. We played our football at a time when the national team was quite strong. We also got the chance to play for big clubs in England and in the most glamorous league in the world, in Italy. There are parallels between our careers.”
- Graeme Souness and Joe Jordan are appearing at the Royal Concert Hall in the first Legends of Football event on Thursday, November 3. For more information and tickets visit http://legendsof-football.com
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