Steven Gerrard’s concession over the weekend that Rangers simply haven’t spent enough cash in the past calendar year was designed to do two things:

Bring in realism about where this club is right now, and gently nudge the board to try and find more funds at least for January.

Ibrox Noise preached for months in the Spring how important spending serious cash was to retain momentum and give fresh blood to the squad, something which some of our readers scoffed at – signing new players was critical, but signing high quality ones even more so, and that’s something we didn’t manage to do.

Stevie G, for his faults this season, was definitely on the same page as this, explaining that to compete in Europe you need to spend big, spend millions.

In reality that’s proven, because every previous summer we’ve spent £10M-£13M and been able to punch above our weight on the continent with quality additions.

This summer has been different. Barely a bean to spend, and a tired-looking squad which has been undone in 4 of 6 European matches so far.

What does this mean?

It’s really pretty simple – every summer Rangers need new blood, new players, and crucially we need to have money to spend on them.

That’s not been possible this year, and it means that much the same squad is expected to repeat the titanic feats of 55 without all that much help.

Is that feasible?

In reality, barely. Even Walter Smith used to spend big every summer to sustain 9IAR and 3IAR, and Stevie only just got that winning momentum last season. We don’t want to lose it this campaign.

That said, it’s not impossible – a team can do it with minimal resources, and with a similar squad. It’s just much harder than it needs to be.

But this is the hand our manager has been dealt, and tomorrow’s match v Hibs might give some indication of our chances this season.