KING WE’RE BACK
AS CELTIC CLOSE IN ON HISTORY..
DAVE KING has claimed Rangers are close to dominating Scottish football – as bitter rivals Celtic home in on a third consecutive trophy clean sweep.
King made the bold boast in a letter to the club’s season ticket
holders as he urged them to dig deep and help fund the next stage of Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox rebuild.
The statement was released less than 24 hours after Neil Lennon’s side took a huge step towards a historic treble treble with a 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen.
But King claims his club is now ‘within tangible reach’ of knocking eight-ina-row chasing Celtic off their perch at the summit of the Scottish game.
The chairman insists Rangers have made big strides under manager Steven Gerrard and director of football Mark Allen – and that they are now tasked with putting silverware back in the trophy cabinet.
He wrote: “It was never going to be easy and it is extremely gratifying to have witnessed the progress that has been made over the last year.
“We’re now within tangible reach of Rangers becoming the dominant force in Scottish football again.
“Much of the progress on the pitch can be attributed to Mark Allen, Steven Gerrard and their respective management teams. Turning to a young manager was a risk but it was one that Mark and the board felt we should take because of Steven’s football pedigree.
“Steven’s passion, professionalism and winning mentality has been inculcated throughout the football activities and we have seen strong benefits from this. Of significance was our first, strong European campaign for many years.
“The team was heroic at times in battling through four very tough qualifiers and went on to narrowly miss making the knockout stages. However, the inconsistency that inevitably comes with another new management team and a new group of players was also evident.
“We saw periods where we were rightly regarded as title contenders, followed by periods of varying quality.
“However, despite these periods of inconsistency it is clear that the playing squad is significantly stronger than in recent seasons and, importantly for future transfer activity, the overall value of the squad has greatly increased.”
And King – who revealed a five per cent hike in season ticket prices – says more money will be handed to Gerrard this summer as the manager gears up for his second campaign in charge.
He added: “The team requires a further upgrade and the board will continue to back Mark and Steven, who fully understand that Rangers must win titles and cups and plans are already in place for recruitment in the summer window.
“The institution that is Rangers FC is special and has a unique place in football history as having won more trophies than any other club in the world.
“We must now start adding to this record but can only achieve this by remaining together.” BY GAVIN BERRY AND MICHAEL GANNON ALLY McCOIST has told Dave King to give Steven Gerrard the cash needed to close the gap on Celtic if he really believes they are so close to becoming Scotland’s dominant force again.
But former Old Firm rival Frank McAvennie has dismissed King’s claims – and insisted the Hoops will be unstoppable on their march to 10-in-a-row.
Gers’ South Africa-based supremo King penned an online letter to fans as he announced a five per cent rise in Ibrox season ticket prices for next season.
He claimed the Light Blues are now “within tangible reach of Rangers becoming the dominant force in Scottish football again” despite another trophyless season.
Rangers trail Celtic by 11 points in the Premiership with five games left, with the Hoops just 90 minutes away from an astonishing treble treble.
McCoist played during a golden era for the club and was assistant when they last won the league in 2011 but he was then at the helm during the darkest days of their financial collapse.
And with their lengthy wait for major silverware, eyebrows were raised at King’s comments with McCoist insisting they are three or four quality summer signings away from challenging.
The 56-year-old said: “It depends how you define ‘tangible reach’ but I would certainly see the dominant force as being the No.1 team in the country.
“And in all honesty Rangers are a good bit off becoming the dominant force in Scottish football but I hope it happens sooner rather than later.
“I would guess Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister, who are very clever men, would know they’re not as close as Dave maybe has suggested.
“I don’t think Gerrard will be upset at all at the statement. If I was him I would be agreeing with him and saying, ‘that’s good, now let’s go and make sure it happens’ but he needs backing