Wednesday 20 April 2016 18:29, UK
Andy Goram says current Rangers boss Mark Warburton reminds him of the club's nine-in-a-row title winning manager Walter Smith.
The former Gers goalkeeper was a key player under Smith between 1991 and 1998 when a hugely successful spell for the Ibrox club brought a number of domestic honours.
Former Brentford boss Warburton has secured the Championship title, the Scottish Challenge Cup and was victorious in his first Old Firm encounter on Sunday, with his side beating Celtic on penalties to set up a Scottish Cup final meeting with Hibernian next month.
And Goram, who also won 43 caps for Scotland, has been impressed with what he has seen so far.
"Warburton's a clever man," he said. "The players he brought in like Wes Foderingham, Martyn Waghorn and Jason Holt, they have all started in a great way. He reminds me so much of the gaffer, Walter Smith.
"The way he talks, the way he comes across, the way he goes about his job, his respect and pride for the club, he is very similar to the gaffer."
Celtic have dominated the top flight in recent seasons as Rangers have fought their way back from the bottom tier of Scottish football after the club's financial troubles in 2012, and the Hoops cruised to a 2-0 victory when the teams met in the League Cup semi-final last season.
However, Warburton took over at Ibrox last summer and Goram thinks the level of performance in the semi-final win over Celtic on Sunday shows Rangers can now challenge again.
"There was a massive gap last season," he said. "Scott Brown just wiped the floor with the likes of Ian Black. It was a sore one. They could have taken five or six off us, we got away with it last year actually. But Sunday has laid down a marker.
"Everyone said that Celtic weren't great on the day but I thought we made them look that way. I thought that everyone did a great job. We are not the finished article by any means, I think everyone understands that.
"Mark Warburton is going to bring three or four players in, so we are not the finished article but everyone realises we are a real challenge now."
While Goram recognises that Warburton's exciting start at Rangers may prompt some clubs to try and tempt the manager away from Ibrox, he believes the Englishman will remain loyal.
"I'd be horrendously surprised if he left the club, I think he is a loyal man that way where I think he has got a job to do, a job to finish and I think he sees it that way," he said.
"I think he is desperate for a crack at it next season, obviously to get into Europe as well that would be a massive one. I don't see him walking away at all.
"Obviously clubs will want him but we can do that down the line. I just think he is one of these guys who will stay loyal. He has brought the players in and I think he will want to finish the job off he has come to do."
Goram was speaking at the John Hartson Foundation Golf Day at Mar Hall Golf and Spa Resort in Bishopton near Glasgow, an event being held to raise funds for testicular cancer.
