Former Rangers striker Tore Andre Flo believes Russell Martin’s swashbuckling style could see his new side take the Premiership by storm and win the title as soon as this season – if he gets the right players in.
The beanpole former Norwegian frontman remains a record Scottish football recruit after Dick Advocaat splashed £12million to sign him from Chelsea and Flo insists major investment is needed again at Ibrox to end Celtic’s dominance.
Rangers’ only recruit so far over the new era under American owners is Lyall Cameron who was signed on a pre-contract from Dundee before Martin was even appointed – but they are close to a loan deal for Max Aarons to kick things off.
And Flo, in an interview with BestBettingSites.co.uk, said: “They obviously need to invest in the squad, but they also need to develop a style of football and identity under the new coach.
“There’s no doubt that if you buy good players, you’ll have a good chance to do well in the league. So I think the supporters would like to see some players that they know are very good, so they would have a chance.
“I do think that the new manager is very exciting. I know that a lot of supporters wanted Steven Gerrard and that would have been great, but I think with this guy, with Russell Martin, I like him, I like the way his teams played football.
“It would be something a bit new in Scotland and I think if they get going, start well, he could be a very good thing for Rangers. Russell Martin deserves credit for sticking to his principles. But if he wants to do that at Rangers and succeed, then you need the right players for his style as well.
“And if Rangers could get that in, with his playing style, I think they could be very good and challenge Celtic. It could work. And I think it’s something new and I think if the players buy into it, if they understand it, and do it the right way, I think it could be an exciting surprise for Rangers and for Scottish football.
“And you will see offensive, good football that will excite the supporters, at least. I like that style. And I heard him say that he wanted to play with his team, and to play the way that he’d like to play football himself, and I like that attitude.
“Rangers is a very big club. With all the passion from the supporters and all that. So if they get going, they could be really good quite quickly.
“I know the gap was quite big and it maybe has been for the last few seasons, but Rangers will get back up there again. Rangers will win the league soon and it could already be next season.”
Flo knows better than most about the pressure of being the main striker for Rangers after coming in for huge criticism, not helped by his enormous price tag.
He had an impressive strike rate of 38 goals in 72 games, including a debut strike in a 5-1 Old Firm derby romp against Celtic at Ibrox.
However, he was seen as a big money failure and he has sympathy for current frontman Cyriel Dessers whose Rangers career could be coming to an end with AEK Athens in talks over a move.
Flo, with a nod to his own time at Ibrox, laughed: “You can score goals and fans still don’t think you’re any good! But that’s the nature of football.
“I speak to quite a few Rangers supporters throughout the season, and they seem to be a little bit frustrated over him. Then suddenly he scores and he’s playing well.
“But in general, it seems like he needs a lot of chances to score. He gets a lot of chances but misses quite a lot. I think it’s a difficult question to say whether he should go. It sounds a bit harsh.
“At the same time, I think a lot of the supporters feel that someone else could maybe do an even better job there, that Rangers could have a possibility to sign even better players. But in this situation, it’s really hard to ever think a team should sell a player who is scoring that many goals.”
