In 2019 Rangers signed Ryan Kent for £7.5M. In 2020 we signed Cedric Itten and Kemar Roofe on the same day for a combined £7.5M.

Now, we look back into the not-that-distant past and recall the days where signing a £300,000 player was a big deal.

We asked maybe 6 years ago, about a year before the signing of Joe Garner; ‘were Rangers ready to sign their first £1M again” or words to that effect. He came in for £1.5M and we were shocked at Mark Warburton’s use of that money.

The days of signing players for the £4Ms, £3Ms and £7Ms seemed a lifetime away.

Yet here we are back into the same spending we were under Walter, under Dick, even under Alex McLeish.

That’s right, Walter Smith generally spent about £10M a summer, for his final three seasons at Ibrox – and that was about £30M-£40M between summer 2007 and 2011.

And now Stevie, with Rangers in a financially responsible place, is able to spend those same numbers again.

Players we couldn’t have dreamed of affording 6+ years ago are once again back at Ibrox.

Sure, we get in good Bosmans too, a tonne of our best players are freebies. But Helander? Kent? Goldson? Hagi? These guys all cost major money.

And it’s almost slightly surreal that we are in this position to make these acquisitions again.

It rather sneaked up on us and took us by surprise.

But yes, Rangers once again can sign the calibre of player of old, and have the quality of team of old.

We waited a long time to be here again. But we earned it.