Barry Ferguson has reacted to Brendan Rodgers' imminent Celtic announcement insisting Rangers fans should be "delighted".
The Hoops have been on the hunt for a new boss since the Australian sealed his move to Tottenham last Tuesday.
After being linked with Manchester City assistant Enzo Maresca, Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen and West Ham manager David Moyes, among others, the Celtic board have now homed in on Rodgers, with whom they met in Majorca last weekend to initiate discussions.
The Northern Irishman left Celtic to take over at Leicester almost four and a half years ago, but he now appears set for a return to the club at which he won all seven domestic trophies available to him while laying the foundations for a remarkable quadruple-treble that was completed by his successor Neil Lennon.
Ferguson reckons Rodgers appointment is a good one for Celtic and he hopes it will spur on his former side to become Premiership champions next season.
He told the Daily Record: "It looks like Brendan Rodgers is about to become the new manager of Celtic and if Rangers have anything about them they will be absolutely delighted.
"Why? Because to become the best you have to beat the best and for my money, Rodgers is the best man Celtic could have appointed to replace Ange Postecoglou. Look, I said a couple of weeks ago that I was disappointed that Postecoglou had left for Spurs. I wanted him to stay at Celtic and was looking forward to seeing how Michael Beale carried the fight to him next season. I had no doubt that Rangers would go toe to toe with them.
"So, in that respect nothing has changed. Rodgers will come in with his reputation as an elite manager intact despite suffering a difficult season with Leicester last season. Don't forget he still won them an FA Cup and had two top six finishes with them since leaving Celtic back in 2019.
"He nearly won the league with Liverpool and built a really strong reputation at Swansea before that, so he is top class, no question. He is inheriting a very good squad from Postecoglou and will no doubt be given a more than decent budget to enhance it. But does that mean Rangers should fear them? Not if it's the Rangers I know. And certainly, that wouldn't have been the feeling inside Ibrox when I was there and a new gaffer was coming in across the city.
"Beale's team will be looking forward to the challenge and let's face it, if Rodgers is back working in Scotland, the profile of our game down south will rocket again, just as it did when he and Steven Gerrard were going head to head in 2018 and 2019. That can only be good for Scottish football.
"Rangers have been gearing up for the new campaign by getting their signing work done early and I don't think Beale will be changing anything because Rodgers is coming back up the road. He will be thinking: 'Bring it on' because it's the only attitude you can have. Embrace the challenge.
"There were signs last season that Rangers weren't a million miles away from Celtic but the bottom line is that Beale and his players won nothing while Postecoglou's men won the lot. If that didn't hurt everyone at Ibrox, it should have. And it should be the driving force behind everything that happens next season."
