The thought of Rangers hammering Celtic seems like a lifetime ago, especially with Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe still in the squad.
Two years ago in a repeat of todayβs fixture, Rangers fans would be basking in an Ibrox demolition as we coasted to the title and went 23 points clear at the top, a 4-1 victory reported by The BBC.
The goalscorers on that famous day were Kemar Roofe x 2, Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe.
The irony is, out of the four senior strikers we had available that day, it is Cedric Itten who now looks like the one we should have kept β 22 goals and 10 assists for Young Boys at the last count.
Rangers have fallen miles behind Celtic from a position of strength
In just two years we have seen more than a 30-point swing at the top, which could rise to 40. The negligence in recruitment has been staggering.
Kemar Roofe has missed considerably more games than he has played over the last two years, including almost all of this season, whereas Morelos has long since checked out.
We didnβt even replace Defoe as a backup option, instead, signing him again on a player/coach contract.
A decision that saw us end last season with no fit strikers and a midfielder running the forward line on his own.
Michael Beale has a massive job on his hand and rebuilding our forward line to be more incisive, more clinical and more cohesive is one of his biggest challenges.
There are plenty of players out there.
Jean-Phillipe Krasso and Josh Maja are tearing up Ligue 2 in France and both available on free transfers in the summer.
Further afield there is Petar Ratkov and Nicolas Krstovic whilst Gue-sung Cho has also been mentioned.
Domestic options like Kevin Nisbet and Lawrence Shankland should also be considered given how prolific the Edinburgh based pair have been throughout their respective careers in Scotland.
Beale needs variety and flexibility but, perhaps more importantly, ne needs whoever he brings in to be available.
Too often in the last two seasons the Rangers manager has only had one striker to call on.
Fashion Sakala likely to lead the line today by default.
Steven Gerrard, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and now, Michael Beale.
Rangers strikers should always be picked on form and on goals, not because they are the only one not in the treatment room.
