Colin Stein backs Rangers to make right impression in Premiership

Former Rangers hero Colin Stein believes Mark Warburton has the basis of a title-challenging team.

Stein has been impressed with Warburton's transformation of Rangers and feels their William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final triumph over Celtic showed the team is ready for the step up to the top flight.

Stein, who scored in Rangers' 1972 European Cup Winners' Cup final triumph, said: "If you told me two or three tears ago that Rangers would be playing three games at Hampden this year, I would have said they maybe had another two or three years to go. They are in front of schedule.

"I do a bit of hosting at Ibrox and I've been there against the likes of Annan, but the manager now has got them working as a team and you can sense the atmosphere is a lot different in Ibrox this year.

"He has the basis of a good team. They are all saying he needs to get in six or seven players to compete with Celtic but I don't think that's the case.

"I think he has to build his squad up, because he only had five subs against Celtic. They have certainly got to improve a little bit but they proved against Celtic that they can live with the best in Scotland."

Stein, who was launching the latest search for nominations for the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, added: "It's a big ask to win the title but in the games I've seen them against Premiership teams, they don't look out of place.

"I'm not saying they will be as consistent as Celtic, Celtic get a lot of one-nothings, but Rangers are certainly a great team to watch when they are on song.

"Celtic will definitely be favourites but I wouldn't say strong favourites."

:: Fans can log on to www.sfmhalloffame.co.uk and nominate their choice for the 2016 inductees.