COUNTDOWN TO THE BIG KICK-OFF

Ibrox boss is urged to unite his new signings around club’s Scottish core

DARREN JACKSON reckons Rangers would have a better chance of upgrading their status to potential Scottish champions if there wasn’t social media.

The former striker revealed his Celtic side stopped 10 in a row because they were allowed to go on the batter before the advent of Twitter.

If Pedro Caixinha reckons he has it tough in attempting to transform the fortunes of his club after years of financial chaos, he should have been around Parkhead in the summer of 1997.

Rangers had just equalled the Hoops’ fabled nine in a row, Tommy Burns had been sacked before the end of the season, assistant Billy Stark resigned after the last match of the campaign and skipper Paul McStay retired through injury. New general manager Jock Brown had to appoint a head coach and deal with the rebellious streak of star men Paolo di Canio and Jorge Cadete, who both failed to trap for pre-season training.

However, within weeks new boss Wim Jansen transformed his squad with the capture of eight new stars including Henrik Larsson – and the rest is history.

Jackson said: “‘I was Wim’s first signing and after that came Stephane Mahe, Marc Rieper, Craig Burley, Paul Lambert and Jonathan Gould. There were a lot of signings.

“We didn’t start well, losing to Hibs and Dunfermline. But after the first couple of games we pulled ourselves together. That was a reality check because we soon realised how tough the season would be.

“The players got together and, yes, we probably did what you can’t really do now, enjoyed a few nights out. Now? It would be all over social media but we were dinosaurs, we didn’t have that – and it was a good thing.

“We got together, we went out and it brought the foreigners into realising what this meant.

“By the way we had good players as well. You can have a good team spirit – but good players win you the league.

“I don’t think Rangers will be thinking about stopping 10 in a row just now. They can worry about it later. They just have to get back to the Rangers we know and where they should be.

“Rangers fans and Celtic fans will never accept second best. But if Rangers fans can see improvement this season and the club going forward, then they’d be happy with that. I don’t know anything about the boys they’ve brought in but can a team gel that quickly?

“The year we stopped 10 in a row we had a lot of new signings and there were a few Scottish boys in there as well.

“You need a good core of Scottish boys who know what it’s about and can speak to the other players to let them know.

“Maybe that’s why Caixinha has brought Jonatan Johansson into his coaching staff because he knows the Scottish market.

“You need it. People ask are the Scottish players good enough? Yes they are. You can only add to the talent that hopefully he is bringing in.

“You need a core of Scottish boys. I’m not comparing but when you see Celtic with Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths, Stuart Armstrong,

GARY RALSTON