Even a cup win may not be enough to save Murty if Gers need binoculars to see Celts waving seven flags in a row

RANGERS Ibrox men much closer this term because Rodgers is 16 points down on last year’s tally

THERE are lies, damned lies and Scottish football statistics.

Celtic have failed to match the standards of domestic excellence established in Brendan Rodgers’s first season in charge at Parkhead.

If Rangers are to close the gap on their rivals at the top of Scottish football they must run faster than before and hope their arch rivals continue to regress.

They shouldn’t hold their breath. With a sackful of Champions League cash in the bank and the lure of a fabled 10 looming ever closer this season is likely to symbolise a clearing of the throat from Parkhead rather than evidence of long-term wheezing in the chest.

Rangers are only closer to Celtic at this stage of the season because Rodgers’s squad are 16 points down on the 83-point tally they had accumulated after 29 games last time around.

Rangers are seven points better off than 12 months ago, which is progress of sorts, but is still not a sizeable enough return on player investment of around £10million.

The botched Pedro Caixinha project – the Portuguese was appointed 12 months ago this week – has a lot to answer for and while Graeme Murty has steadied the ship his naivety and lack of experience was exposed by Rodgers on Sunday afternoon.

It was less the introduction of Odsonne Edouard that turned the match as the instructions from his gaffer still reverberating in his ear among the bedlam of that raw meat fixture.

Rodgers spotted the positional indiscipline of James Tavernier when Celtic were reduced to 10 men and the Ibrox full-back took that as his cue to rampage into the final third in the hope of assisting in a winner.

Tavernier has enjoyed a fine season but with central defensive cover thin on the ground – sub Fabio Cardoso was towing one of his former gaffer’s infamous caravans – space was easier to find.

Edouard was clearly told to drift left, exploit the pockets of space that opened up behind Tavernier, and responded with a winner fit to win any Old Firm clash as the Rangers defender was caught woefully out of position.

The Ibrox defence has never looked convincing since its