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Alastair Johnston says Rangers are ahead of the curve

Rangers board member Alastair Johnston
Image: Alastair Johnston believes Rangers are ahead in their recovery

Rangers director Alastair Johnston claims the Ibrox club are ahead of the curve in their recovery, compared to the "dark days" when they were languishing in the lower divisions of Scottish football. 

Rangers were in the bottom tier of Scottish football in 2012 after their financial implosion but are now in their second season back in the Scottish Premiership.

However, the chasm between the Light Blues and rivals Celtic was again highlighted in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final 4-0 thrashing at Hampden Park that extended Gers' winless run against Brendan Rodgers' side to 10 games.

To add to Rangers' woes, club captain Lee Wallace and veteran striker Kenny Miller were suspended pending an investigation into claims of a heated exchange with Graeme Murty, who after a second spell as caretaker was in December given the manager's job until the end of the season.

Johnston claims the club have progressed, saying: "We are probably doing a little better than we would have imagined back in the dark days of running out at Brechin in the fourth tier.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 17: Rangers manager Graeme Murty looks on during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Kilmarnock at Ibrox Stadium on March 17, 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images).
Image: Rangers manager Graeme Murty's future will be decided at the end of the season

"So you have to look back. The fans have been terrific, as I would have expected them to be, to hang in there and hopefully they will be rewarded.

"In terms of looking forward from where we were four or five years ago at the bottom, the progress that has been gradually made, we are probably ahead of the curve in reality if we finish second or third.

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"We are making progress.

"Hopefully the curve will be fast but it is still going to be gradual, it is not going to happen overnight."

Rangers supporters, however, are still reeling from their side's dismal performance at the weekend and they see Celtic on the cusp of their seventh successive league title and a Scottish Cup final win over Motherwell away from an unprecedented successive domestic treble.

It is widely believed there will be a new boss in place at Ibrox for next season.

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Highlights of the Scottish Cup semi-final match between Celtic and Rangers

However, USA-based Johnston, who joined the Rangers International Football Club board last June having been chairman of the club between 2009 and 2011, insists the board will take emotion out of their decision on the future of the club's former U20s coach Murty.

He said: "We have had the discipline of saying that we will evaluate the situation at the end of the season and the reason that we chose that is that at any given time during the period of his tenure there has been a lot of support
for him and sometimes there has been not so much support.

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"We as a board have to take a very objective view and not be kind of swayed by the last result, whether it is positive or negative.

"Certainly the weekend wasn't a good weekend for us. I was there.

"But as I said we have to be disciplined as a board and not be swayed by the emotions at any one game.

"We have to look at the big picture. We owe that to the club, that's what we are in place to do."

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