KING’S CELTIC JIBE OVER GERS EXILE
Hoops failed to make it trophy blitz, says Dave
DAVE KING insists Celtic aren’t as far ahead of Rangers as they should be as he targets a Light Blue title challenge this term.
The Gers finished a distant third on their return to the Premiership last season and also suffered Old Firm heartache in the semi-finals of the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
Mark Warburton’s side were beaten 5-1 at Parkhead in September before Pedro Caixinha saw his first derby at Ibrox end with a similarly comprehensive defeat. The Portuguese has the task of overcoming a
Celtic side that went unbeaten in the league and clinched the domestic Treble under Brendan Rodgers.
But Ibrox chairman King believes Caixinha’s overhauled outfit can run the Hoops close as they gear up for the new Premiership campaign.
He said: “I think realistically running Celtic close would be good. They are coming off a high and it will be difficult for them to repeat what they did for obvious reasons.
“In footballing terms, I don’t think Celtic are as far ahead as they could have been – certainly with our new signings.
“Given that we were in the wilderness for four years I don’t think that Celtic did as much in that four years as they could have done.
“We are clearly behind them squad-wise, but I really would expect to give them a run. You never know how the season is going to go and I certainly don’t expect a repeat of last season.
“For the resources, we had relative to Aberdeen we should have been somewhere in between. If we had been 16 behind Celtic and 16 ahead of them that would be right in terms of us outspending.
“For us to finish so dismally behind Aberdeen was very disappointing especially as we had made resources available.”