Peter Henry
Former Rangers manager and striker Ally McCoist believes his former club are still not quite ready to challenge for the Scottish Premiership title.
Rangers are still trying to bridge the gap to bitter rivals Celtic after their demotion to the fourth tier of Scottish Football in 2012 and while McCoist has been impressed with the Ibrox outfit’s performances in the Europa League this season he reckons it is still to early in Steven Gerrard’s managerial reign to be expecting a title push.
“The European performances have been very good, some excellent. Domestically, which arguably is more important at this particular time, the home form has been very good,” he told Sky Sports.
“But they lost four points in the last couple of minutes at Aberdeen – where they probably should have held on – and Motherwell, who probably deserved something from the game.
“The away form hasn’t been as solid as the home form, but there has been a marked improvement in the level of performance, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
“Has there been enough improvement to go and challenge to win the league? No I don’t think so but I didn’t think there ever would be in the first season.
“Steven is still making his mark on the club and on his own team, and I think that would naturally take time.
“The league is definitely far stronger. We’ve got that again which is brilliant – Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen, but you look at St Johnstone, Kilmarnock too.
“Scottish football has become more competitive, and sometimes the quality leaves a little bit to be desired, but it’s enthralling.”