THE enormity of the task which lies ahead of Pedro Caixinha in Glasgow will be driven home to the new Rangers manager shortly after he takes his seat in the stand at Parkhead tomorrow.

The Ibrox club should certainly give a better account of themselves than they did the last time they travelled across the city to face their traditional rivals back in September.

On that occasion, fielding Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos, three ageing signings whose distinct lack of match fitness meant they were unable to live up to their considerable reputations, proved utterly disastrous.

Mark Warburton's side fared better against Brendan Rodgers's team in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden in October and in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Ibrox on Hogmanay than they did in that heavy 5-1 defeat. But they were still comfortably beaten.

The gulf in quality with Celtic, even with the arrival of Bournemouth playmaker Emerson Hyndman and Arsenal midfielder Jon Toral on loan in January, remains yawning. Simply avoiding another trouncing will be an achievement of sorts for the visitors this weekend.

Caixinha, the former Uniao Leiria, Nacional, Santos Laguna and Al-Gharafa manager whose appointment has come as a complete surprise, could be forgiven for heading straight to the airport and jumping on the first flight back to Portugal after seeing his side and the team he is expected to catch next term go head to head.

Ally McCoist, the former Rangers manager, was talking perfect sense this week when he stressed that serious investment, not an exotic foreign manager or a director of football with an extensive contacts book, is what is required to bridge the gap in quality that currently exists.

But that is unlikely to be forthcoming any time soon at a club which continues to wrestle with serious historical issues as a result of years of corporate vandalism and gross financial mismanagement. Nor should it be. Spending money they did not have is what landed Rangers in this predicament in the first place. They must build sensibly and slowly. It will be a long time, several more seasons in fact, before they can compete.

Caixinha may surprise the many doubters and prove himself to be a coach capable of lifting the performance levels of honest journeymen players. He may, too, use his knowledge of football in Central America, Europe and the Middle East to bring in signings who can improve the team.

But the simple truth is that in football money talks. Celtic are operating at a different level to Rangers both on and off the park as a result of years of prudent stewardship. That should be underlined once again tomorrow.

Rangers will certainly go into the league game with high hopes of ending their three game losing streak against Celtic having won their last two games against St. Johnstone and Hamilton at home.

Graeme Murty, the Rangers under-20 coach, has done well in difficult circumstances since taking over from Warburton on a temporary basis last month. Hyndman and Toral have also improved them significantly. If they perform to their best of their abilities and their hosts have an off day they can certainly record a favourable result.

However, they will be coming up against opponents who have won 33 and drawn just one of their 34 domestic fixtures so far in the 2016/17 campaign and are exceptional in every department; in goals, defence, midfield and up front.

The goal which Rodgers's charges let in early on in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against St. Mirren last Sunday was the first they had conceded at home in over two months. The Scottish champions had kept eight consecutive clean sheets at home since Marcus Haber of Dundee scored against them away back on December 17.

Their opponents will not be short of confidence up front after banging in six against Hamilton. But it is one thing getting the better of Remi Matthews, Giannis Skondras, Michael Devlin, Georgios Sarras and Blair Adams, it is quite another to find a way through Craig Gordon, Mikael Lustig, Dedryck Boyata, Erik Sviatchenko and Kieran Tierney.

Both James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths are available again for the home team after recovering from injuries. Rodgers will therefore be able to choose from Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Dembele, Forrest, Griffiths, Callum McGregor, Patrick Roberts and Scott Sinclair in the advanced positions. That is an embarrassment of riches.

Murty will, after the appeal against the red card Rob Kiernan received in the St. Johnstone match last week was rejected on Thursday, probably field Clint Hill and Danny Wilson at centre back. How that duo fares against such a formidable forward line will determine the outcome of the match. But it is a particular contest that few of their follower will relish watching.

If Rangers do repeat their Scottish Cup semi-final triumph of last season and prevail their supporters will savour the moment. A victory will end their adversaries' hopes of going the entire domestic season undefeated.

They will still, though, trail Celtic by 30 points. A triumph will simply delay the Parkhead club's sixth successive Premiership success for another week or two. They will remain firmly on course for their fourth treble.

It is said that winning in the Old Firm game gives the victors bragging rights until the next game. But there is precious little for anyone at Rangers to gloat about at this particular moment in time. A win will do little to change that.

Regardless of what happens during the 90 minutes tomorrow, it is to be hoped the latest instalment of this fixture isn't marred by any of the unseemly events which dominated the headlines after the last meeting between Celtic and Rangers at Parkhead in September.

Sectarian chanting, bigoted banners, toilets being vandalised, effigies hung from the stands; it was all highly regrettable. The whole of the world, not just Caixinha, will be watching a game which is broadcast around the globe. With a bit of luck, it is the football which people will be speaking about afterwards.