The Rangers masterplan for reining in Celtic as 'driving force' and transfer strategy forms optimistic Ibrox forecast

A comprehensive victory over Celtic made everything in the Bisgrove Garden a little bit rosier this week but Rangers’ new chief executive knows the hard work is just about to get started.

And James Bisgrove has enough on his plate without having to bring interior designers to the Rangers Training Centre next season to pull down and replace The Most Successful Club In The World logo that dominates the reception area. Yet, that’s exactly the scenario facing the man who is about to become the new CEO if Celtic’s domestic dominance is allowed to continue and their collection of cups keeps on growing.

Rangers might have 117 trophies in the bag but Celtic’s silverware surge will bring them to within one of that haul if they win the Scottish Cup - and a repeat of what would be a Treble next term will see the Ibrox club overtaken. Bisgrove is smart enough to know that won’t look great on his watch and he insists he’s ready for the challenge to make sure it doesn’t happen.

There was no grandstanding as the 38-year-old spoke to the media on Friday, but he was slick. Said the right things without giving too much away as he spoke of the need for Rangers to engage more with bodies such as the SPFL and their rivals across the city when it comes to ticket allocations for Old Firm games.

But ultimately, Bisgrove and his first team manager will be judged on results and the recruitment they believe will lead to those results being better than those that have resulted in another trophyless campaign. On Celtic breathing down their neck in the trophy race, Bisgrove admitted: “It is another driving force behind our ambition to be successful to ensure we return the club to winning trophies, being successful and ultimately being the dominant