Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson is backing manager Steven Gerrard’s side to challenge Celtic for the league title this season.

The ex-midfielder stopped short of saying the Gers will win it, but he is backing his former side to give their Old Firm rivals a serious fight:

“The next step for Gerrard – and he’ll want to make sure it happens this season – is to lift some silverware and from what I’ve seen so far I genuinely believe he is capable of doing that.”

“I’m not going to get carried away and say Rangers will win the title next season. But they might. And that’s a sign of progress in itself. What I will say is they will give Celtic a serious run for their money.”

There’s no doubt that Gerrard has transformed the squad, not only in terms of quality but in mentality over the past twelve months.

As Ferguson says, the team has not won anything yet, and they will have to prove they are able to sustain it over an entire campaign.

Two wins out of four Old Firm derbies does show significant progress, but Rangers will have to be consistent if they are to mount a serious title challenge under Gerrard.

The difference in terms of competitiveness is, though, pretty sizeable between the current regime and the previous reigns under Pedro Caixinha and Graeme Murty.