Terry Butcher has warned devastated Sevco fans that they are staring at back-to-back trebles for Celtic.
While the rest of the footballing world has been aware of the chasm between the two Glasgow clubs a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park in March restored levels of delusion with Sevco supporters not seen since the signing of Joey Barton.
Two emphatic defeats within the space of a week has delivered a terrifying reality check to those fans with Butcher realistic enough to acknowledge that things are more likely to get worse than better at Ibrox.
The gap between the two clubs has grown over the course of the season with the one time Rangers (IL) captain issuing a warning about how next season is shaping up.
“It’s all about the money he receives in the summer, the war chest that chairman Dave King has promised before,” Butcher told The Scotsman as he assessed next season. “The ball is in the board’s court right now. The manager can’t plan for improvement without a budget which gives him a chance.
“To stop Celtic dominating so much again and maybe winning another treble next season, he will need at least five signings which increase the standard of play at Rangers. He needs that just to have a go at Celtic, never mind beat them which looks impossible at the moment.
“None of the Celtic or Rangers teams from the past, who won nine in a row or dominated other periods with runs of successive title wins, did it under the current circumstances. Rangers are having to come back from the abyss.
“A lot of people got carried away talking about stopping Celtic winning the treble this season and there’s a lot of talk about stopping them winning ten in a row, which might not happen.
“Rangers have to look even longer term. That might hurt a few people but if you are going to build the club up strongly and properly, there has to be a time factor. It’s clearly exasperating for Rangers fans to be back in the Premiership and find their team so far behind Celtic but I think it was pie in the sky to think they could challenge Celtic for the title this season, rather than realistic hope.
“Rangers have done okay in terms of stability but it’s about what they do in the summer that will decide whether they can now kick on.”
With the rift between the players and the manager growing week by week there must be some doubts over whether Caixinha will be around long enough to get his hands on the transfer war-chest.
After the back-to-back defeats from Celtic it seems that only a Real Manager Man in the dug out will be able to lift the despair that has settled over Ibrox.