It's Win or Bust for Glasgow Rangers

The implications are clear for the future of Glasgow Rangers: failure to stop Celtics quest for four successive titles will result in terrible consequences for the ailing Glasgow giants.

After this weekends capitulation at home to Heart of Midlothian, whereby the Edinburgh side clawed back a two goal deficit to salvage a point and dent Rangers title aspirations, it was from behind the sofa that fans of the Ibrox side watched Celtic take on Dundee United at Tannadice.

A win for the Hoops would see them storm into a five point lead with only nine matches left to play.

Celtics inability, however, to assert their dominance should not detract from the problems at large for Glasgow Rangers. A 2-2 draw at a tough ground like Tannadice can be viewed as a point won, and not points lost, in the greater scheme of a title race.

Surrendering a 2-0 lead at home cannot be viewed in the same context.

In fact such a result, coming on the back of an even worse 1-0 defeat at home to relegation fodder Inverness Caledonian Thistle, is nothing short of suicidal. And that word, ‘suicidal’, is not to be used lightly in reference to Glasgow Rangers.

The repercussions are surely unthinkable for Sir David Murray should Celtic succeed in their quest for four in a row.

Rangers are in financial meltdown, that much is clear. The club is in dire need of cash- and fast. The situation is simple: win the SPL, and win a guaranteed £10 million from participation in next years Champions League group stages. Finish second, and begin downsizing.

That downsizing would have begun in earnest in January, were it not for the potential suitors of players like McGregor, Mendes, Bougherra, Ferguson, Boyd and Davis smelling blood and cut price deals in the summer.

Kris Boyd may have commanded a fee of £3.5m in January, but in July, when the banks are knocking on the gates of Edmiston Driveafter yet another fruitless SPL campaign?

Think half that figure, and ditto for Ferguson, Mendes and the rest. Add to this the current situation with JJB Sports and the situation becomes even more bleak.

If as reported the firm are close to going under, then the marketing rights for Rangers merchandise will be handed back to the club. However, seeing as Rangers have no retail outlets, this will be catastrophic.

Who will lease premises to a club currently £25 million in debt to sell merchandise to supporters who simply cannot afford it?

Celtic may have squandered the opportunity to extend their lead to five points at the weekend, but they remain light years ahead of their rivals off the park, if only three points ahead on it.

The Bhoys may be guilty of doing just enough to stay ahead on the park, but off it they are cementing their superiority for years, perhaps decades. Contrast a turnover of £47m and debt of just £1m to that of Rangers, which reads £27m and £25m respectively, and the evidence of Rangers demise is truly damning.

Celtic fans will naturally be upset and angry should they lose the SPL this year. They will also be furious also at the opportunity afforded to Rangers to pull themselves back from the brink of administration that the injection of Champions League cash, but it will not be catastrophic for them.

Celtic have a sound financial base from which to regroup and galvanise themselves for next seasons campaign, and for many campaigns to come.

The situation will be far, far worse for Rangers. That much is irrefutably clear. In fact, the theory mooted in some quarters that failure this season will knock them back ten years seems laughably charitable. Failure this year could lead to the ultimate nightmare scenario for a fan of any ailing football club.

Administration, and thereafter, the point of no return.