Thursday 12 April 2018 20:12, UK
Kris Commons says Rangers need to spend "tens of millions" of pounds to keep up with his former club Celtic.
Celtic meet Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Football, as they aim to complete successive domestic trebles under manager Brendan Rodgers.
Celtic need one more victory to win the Scottish Premiership title this season and are currently 13 points ahead of Rangers. Last season, champions Celtic finished 39 points above their Glasgow rivals.
Rangers chairman Dave King said earlier this week the next manager needs to win the league next season.
Commons, who played for Celtic between January 2011 and July 2017, said the claim was "ambitious" and was surprised King didn't refer to current manager Graeme Murty, who will remain in charge at Ibrox until the end of the season.
"It's quite ironic he's not singling out Graeme Murty for that role, " Commons told Sky Sports News. "The next manager, whether it's going to be Graeme Murty or someone else, needs to have ambitions to win the league.
"I think it's very ambitious. I heard [Rangers defender] James Tavernier say he wants to win a treble as well.
"There's a lot of noise coming from Rangers of what they want to do. Put quite simply, they need to invest in the squad to give them the best opportunity for that. That's going to take tens of millions in my opinion.
"They've got a lot of loanee players returning to their old clubs. And then they're back to where they were about 12 months ago.
"At this minute in time, they're a little closer to Celtic but in the grand scheme of things they're still way, way behind winning a title."
Commons, 34, also described Celtic manager Rodgers as "one of the best coaches in Britain" and downplayed suggestions he could leave the club.
"No, I think Brendan said before he's in his dream job," Commons added. "He's supported Celtic as a boy and certainly has a connection there. I think what Brendan wants to do every single year is to try and improve.
"It's very difficult to improve on last year's unbeaten treble. Adding another treble would be a unique achievement."
