Charlie Miller was pulling on a blue jersey at a time when Rangers were so dominant he didn’t lose a single one of the 10 derby skirmishes he got kitted up for.
But he’s worried the Old Firm balance of power has swung so far in the other direction it won’t be long before Celtic overtake Gers and run off with their claim to be the world’s most successful club. Of all the Ibrox outfit’s achievements, their trophy tally of 117 major honours is the one the Light Blues legions take most pride in.
Michael Beale and his players don’t need to walk far to be reminded of that boast, with a huge display spelling out the numbers behind those successes the first sight that greets them as they walk through the Auchenhowie doors each morning. But 90s Ibrox hero Miller fears his old side will be forced to paint over that training ground mural if they don’t get their finger out and find a way to halt the Hoops’ relentless streak of silverware successes.
Sunday’s Viaplay Cup win was the Parkhead outfit’s 21st win in the competition. Add that to their 52 league crowns, 40 Scottish Cups and the Lisbon Lions’ 1967 European Cup triumph, well, you don’t have to be Carol Vorderman to realise the bitter rivals’ trinket count is getting tight.
Should Ange Postecoglou’s team go on to complete a domestic treble - setting a new Scottish record of eight domestic clean sweeps - they would also move to within one of Rangers’ cherished trophy benchmark.
But having helped Steven Gerrard’s Gers stave of Celtic’s charge for 10-in-a-row, Miller is hoping Beale can find a way to turn the trophy tide. He told Record Sport: “I played 10 Old Firm games and never lost any of them.
“That was great but believe me I know how this current Rangers team feels because it hurts us all as fans. It makes us sick to the stomach.
“They just have to pick themselves up, dust themselves down and go again. You can’t ever give up as a Rangers player and there’s still a prize to be won this season before we get down to work next season.
“We still believe we’re the most successful club in the world so it’s worrying to see Celtic closing in. We still take a lot of pride in that achievement, of course we should.
“But it’s getting mighty close now and as a club, from the board down to the manager and the playing squad, we really need to start thinking about how we get things right again.
“Mick has done well. He’d gone all the results we’ve been looking for since coming in before Sunday, which was obviously a let down. But we’ll stick by him, support him and take it from there.
“I hope Mick learns from this because we’ve got a good coach here. I really do. I want Rangers to be successful under him too.
“He’s got the next couple of transfer windows to get this right but the summer one coming up is vital because we can’t go another year without winning the league again. That’s just not on.”
Beale had to wait until the last week of the January window to apply the first brushstrokes to his Rangers refurb. But Miller reckons it’s vital the manager is allowed to act sooner as he begins his planning for next year.
He said: “We need to start working towards a position where we are the club winning trophies year on year. We’ve wasted a lot of money down the years on certain players who didn’t suit our style.
“We had to wait until late in the window to get the two new boys in, Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell, and that hurt us on Sunday with Beale admitting they weren’t up to speed yet.
“If you look at Celtic, they seem to always get their business done early doors, meaning they’re not running about at the last minute of the transfer window chasing their tail.
“We really do just need to get our house in order before the season starts next year. And we just have to trust the manager. Michael will get things right and I hope he does. He’ll learn from his mistakes from Sunday and we’ll see how it goes.
“The team I played in just knew how to get results in these games. It helped when you had the quality of player we did in those days too.
“It seems like Celtic are in a similar situation these days with the fact they’ve maybe got that wee bit extra quality. I don’t think there’s much difference but Celtic are obviously a wee bit ahead.
“But I do think Rangers have got their work cut out to close that gap as Celtic will be looking to strengthen again under Ange.”
The defeat has sparked another round of Ibrox introspection. Miller admits he was just as surprised to see Raskin and Cantwell starting on the bench at Hampden as the rest of the Rangers faithful.
But he was even more taken aback when the pair were left in their seats until 20 minutes into the second half as Gers struggled to match the intensity of Postecoglou’s side.
He said: “Losing on Sunday was heartbreaking and disappointing. The better team during the 90 minutes won the game.
“Rangers did OK during bits of the game but it was Celtic who had that control for longer. Things went wrong because we had two players in the middle of the park - Malik Tillman and John Lundstram - who couldn’t get about and trained for a week.
“For me, Raskin and Cantwell had to start the game. If you’re going to sign these guys then you have to start them. Every time these two lads have played since coming in, they’ve looked lively. They’ve got legs too.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like Malik Tillman, John Lundstram and Glen Kamara but Glen and Tillman might not be here next season. So I believe we need to be playing the guys who are going to be here next season. We’ve got Raskin and Cantwell on long term deals and these are the guys we have to start building a team around.”
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