Rangers must quit playing to the gallery and Michael Beale has to take responsibility as fans aren't fooled - Chris Sutton

Celtic are well clear of Rangers at the moment.

There is a gap. One look at the Premiership table tells you that and the outcome at Hampden on Sunday is not going to change that fact. You only need to go back 12 months for evidence of that. Rangers won the Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic last season and went on to secure the trophy after reaching a European final into the bargain. At that stage last summer’s talk was all about them becoming top dogs again.

Fast forward a year and the chat remains the same – new manager, same rhetoric. Every time Rangers lose an Old Firm game we’re told we’ll see the real Rangers the next time. And while Ange Postecoglou appears to have a laser vision when it comes to Celtic, there is too much looking over the fence from those at Ibrox. Talk of closing gaps and getting closer to their rivals is all you seem to hear these days from Ibrox.

I’m pretty sure the Rangers fans aren’t interested in closing gaps. This is Glasgow we’re talking about. The gap could be one point or 100 points. If you’re second, you’re second. I’d imagine the Ibrox supporters aren’t interested in anything other than being first and Rangers have to think about Rangers alone if they are going to overcome Postecoglou.

I’m not going down the lucky quip road again from Michael Beale. It’s old news now. But my only reason for bringing it up is to point out that in saying it the new manager was hardly in the door and he was talking about Celtic’s spending. What for? When Postecoglou was facing a 25-point deficit to Steven Gerrard’s team upon taking charge, my recollection is he basically kept his sole focus on his club, his team, his work – not on what anyone else had in their kitty.

He didn’t talk about