Rangers WILL finish in the top two as former Gers defender can't see Aberdeen breaking up the Old Firm

Ian Murray was part of a Rangers squad that faltered to a third-place finish two decades ago.

But he insists there’s no chance of that happening again – even with upheaval in the boardroom and a big rebuild on the pitch. Hearts split the Old Firm in season 2005-06 as Celtic romped home 18 points clear of Alex McLeish’s strugglers. Now it’s Aberdeen who are surging while Rangers have dropped points in the early weeks and taken another Parkhead beating.

Murray watched Philippe Clement’s men brush Dundee aside in the cup then notch up an impressive win over Malmo in the Europa League. And he saw enough to suggest the Belgian will improve a younger, revamped side as the domestic season goes on. Murray said: “A lot of things have to go wrong for a Rangers team to finish third. It doesn’t happen often and back in 05-06 we weren’t a great side. We were a good bunch of honest guys who worked hard. We did well in Europe where we didn’t have the ball as much in domestic football.

“Hearts were a good team and finished second. Every time we played them it was tough. Over the 38 games, however, Rangers WILL be in the top two. But that’s par for the course.

“They need to be better. You cannot question that Celtic are streets ahead of them right now. And Clement has been pretty open about the fact that Rangers are on a rebuild.

“But it’s difficult because you can’t rebuild and lose games when you are Rangers. This team needs to be better at the back. They’re pretty open and if they come up against a good team – like against Celtic – they’re going to get beaten.

“But, on the flip side, they’re definitely building something. They’ve a lot of young players, including a few foreign ones. And that means taking time to adapt to our game,