WILLIE Henderson, the former Rangers winger, claimed last night that the Ibrox side require £50m in investment on players to be properly competitive with Celtic. Speaking at the launch of this year's nominations for the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, the 73-year-old said that Pedro Caixinha will need to make wholesale changes to his squad during the summer and the Parkhead side recording a historic 10 top division titles in a row was inevitable unless there is serious outlay of cash on the first team. While his assessment tallied with comments made by Rangers owner Dave King upon his arrival at the club, that "the minimum it would take would be £30m but it would probably be £50m", Henderson feels it is high time the board of directors put their money where their mouths are.

"I don't think there has been £50m spent on players," said Henderson. "And we need £50m spent on players to give us a chance of competing with Celtic next year. I don’t know enough about what’s going on at the top of the club and what their plan is but the plan must include investment in players. The fans have been sensational and are paying their money every week but how long are they going to take it?

“If money is not invested in players it would be very difficult to stop Celtic doing ten-in-a-row," added Henderson, part of the Rangers squad who battled with Celtic's nine-in-a-row players during the 1960s and 1970s. “But, one of the things people forget is the doors were ready to be shut on the club. That’s how far down the road it was. People tend to forget just how close that was. If you look at it from that angle then from a business side of things it is a bit better. But, now it has been stabilised there needs to be real investment to take it back to having a team that can compete with Celtic and even Aberdeen."

This, of course, is easier said than done, with the club still operating in the precarious Scottish football market and impacted by numerous courtroom wrangles. “Any businessman that comes into football would accept that you are not going to make money," said Henderson. "I would open the club up to an investor from overseas if they want to put the money. However, as a business investment who would want to invest in Scottish football?"

Henderson attended the Ibrox side's player of the year dinner on Sunday night, a rather sombre affair considering the events at Hampden just hours earlier. Despite what was a rather eccentric game plan from the club's new Portuguese manager, he reserved judgement on the abilities Pedro Caixinha. He knows that football ultimately comes down to the players on the field, and the really bad news is that he feels less than a handful of this squad are capable of taking the club back to a truly competitive level.

"How many should the manager keep this summer?" asked Henderson. "Maybe four? We need a lot of players. What is happening just now took me back to the early sixties when the Rangers team I played in were so much better than Celtic and then the genius that was Jock Stein came along. He was able to turn players such as Jinky [Jimmy Johnstone], Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Murdoch into stars and then, the masterstroke, bringing Bertie Auld back from Birmingham to be the maestro in midfield. That’s what I see happening at the moment but back then these players were available to Jock Stein. I don’t see too many Rangers players right now being able to be turned into players we need. Players get a level and I think for a few of these players that was their level, when they were in the Championship. They are now into the Premiership and they are not good enough."

To complicate matters further, asked to name a few players to build around, the former winger pinpoints the name of a 37-year-old striker who was freshly named player of the year but is one of the few first team players at this club not under contract.

"The manager is just in the door," said Henderson. "The game’s all about players and a manager can only do so much with what he’s working with. He has just arrived and it would be very unfair to judge him just now. Next year would be the time to do it when you see what squad he has and then you can have a fair judgement on him.

"Who can he build around? The keeper is very good. I think the left back which has been brought in, the young boy [Myles] Beerman, looks a good prospect. Kenny Miller would be the first to say that he is is the wrong side of 30 but he has had a great year.

"Kenny has been a great player in Scotland - some of these players will never reach the level of Kenny Miller. I don't know what the situation is, whether he has been offered something by other clubs which is better. But he is player of the year, he is a great professional and maybe we should build the team around Kenny. Just for another year, and pick the games where you play him. Because he has been unbelievable."