HENDERSON OFFERS HARSH DOSE OF REALITY
HIS lifelong attachment to Rangers makes it so difficult to mention. His grasp of realism tells him it should be easy to admit.
Willie Henderson acknowledges Rangers must be happy this season with being a distant second to Celtic and it will be a long time before they can match their bitter rivals over the course of a campaign.
And the Ibrox icon doubts, on the evidence of the two Glasgow derby clashes so far in 2016/17, that Rangers will be capable of exacting any revenge in upcoming meetings.
Henderson said: ‘I think it’s a case of saying things you never thought you would say. But you need to be realistic at this stage. To get second, I think would be great.
‘Hearts have a good plan in place and are progressing well, Aberdeen have got to another final. It will be tight getting to second place.
‘I think Rangers are going to be up there in the top-four scenario. But if you are going to look at winning the league, I don’t see it.
‘And it’s not going to be a situation where everyone is geed up at the start of next season, under the present circumstances, with a huge chance of winning the league. I just don’t see that.’
Henderson remains a firm believer in manager Mark Warburton and the board’s current policy of financial prudence.
The stark warning, however, is that it will probably be too late to stop Celtic claiming 10 titles in succession.
‘What people tend to forget is that the doors were nearly shut at the club,’ stated Henderson. ‘Probably a lot closer to being shut forever than what people realise.
‘So I can understand those running the club at the moment wanting the proper business plan in place to make sure that never happens again.
‘Until the investor — if there’s one out there — wants to come along and put a lot of money in, then there’s going to be slow progress.
‘The juggernaut will be hard to stop on the way to 10 under the present situation at Ibrox.’
When asked if Rangers could chalk up an Old Firm win this season, he replied: ‘The way things are now? No.
‘That would be very difficult. Things happen in games but if you’re being realistic about it, then it’s going to be hard for Rangers to beat Celtic at the moment.’