Former Rangers star Mark Walters has admitted he would have settled for a second place finish in the Scottish Premiership for the Gers at the beginning of the ongoing season.
Steven Gerrard’s men return to action in the Premiership at Parkhead on Sunday, when they face rivals Celtic in the third Old Firm derby of the season.
The Gers, who recorded a 1-0 win over Celtic in the last derby contested ahead of the winter break, have struggled to maintain a consistent run of form since the turn of the year.
And they now find themselves 10 points behind Celtic, who have been unbeaten since their last defeat to Rangers, in the race for the Premiership title.
Despite coming in for criticism for their dip in form in the second half of the season, Rangers have the backing of Walters, who admits he would have settled for second in the league at the beginning of the season.
However, the former Ger conceded the Light Blues’ poor form has taken the shine away from the Old Firm clash in terms of being a heated battled that could have had serious implications in the title race.
“Rangers had a couple of bad weeks and dropped a lot of points, whereas Celtic have just carried on right through”, Walters was quoted as saying by the Evening Times.
“It’s not going to be as important a game as it might have been in terms of the top of the table.
“That’s a little bit disappointing because Steven Gerrard has done a fantastic job generally and raised expectations.
“They have played really well at times, so much so that I was thinking this could be the year.
“In saying that, at the beginning of the season I would have settled for second. But the way things were going I thought there was a possibility we were going to do it. Now it’s looking unlikely.”
Rangers are now without a win in their last four outings in all competitions after being unceremoniously knocked out by Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup earlier this month.
