Archie Knox is convinced that the Ibrox club can stop Celtic making it eight-in-a-row never mind get close to 10.
Back in 1997/98 Knox was masterminding the bid for 10 alongside Dave Murray and Watty Smith with no expense spared.
Lorenzo Amoruso, Marco Negri, Sergio Porrini, Jonas Thern and Rino Gattuso were recruited from Serie A to join local heroes Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant, Gordon Durie and Ian Ferguson while Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.
Nothing could possibly go wrong as Celtic brought in an unknown manager from Holland with Darren Jackson the marquee signing.
Incredibly Knox managed to screw up the helicopter parties planned to celebrate the 10 as Celtic took the title on the final day.
Hindsight and old age put a different slant on that momentous season with the 71-year-old former Forfar Athletic player manager taking comfort from those dark days as he looks at the current campaign.
Despite Kieran Tierney, James Forrest, Ryan Christie, Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard, Callum McGregor and Kris Ajer being signed up on long term deals Knox believes that Celtic are set to implode.
“That’s what beat us – the fact that everybody was going to be departing the scene at the end of the season,” Knox told The Scotsman about failing to win the Ten. “You don’t want uncertainty in football as you are always planning ahead.
“I would never have thought Rangers would be up there challenging and it would be this close at this stage. To be where they are, they are putting pressure on Celtic.
“I just thought that Celtic had the better players at this particular time. They have won two trebles, which is a fantastic achievement, but it’s still difficult to keep that going.”
As manager of Dundee in 1986 Knox sent Albert Kidd on as a late substitute in the final match of the season against Hearts.
