Forget free-flowing attacking football and winning in style.
The first few weeks of the new season are all about getting the job done for Rangers.
That's the message from former Ibrox skipper Barry Ferguson.
He's told the club's new boys they're likely to be in for a rude awakening when they take to the field at Rugby Park on Saturday evening.
The Light Blues will make the short journey down the M77 to Kilmarnock for their Premiership opener.
Michael Beale has endured a busy summer recruiting new players and bedding them into his first team.
Ferguson reckons the Gers boss will wish he had more time to work with his fresh signings on the training pitch.
But the former Scotland international insists fans shouldn't expect too much from the new-look team too soon, as it's all about results at this stage, not performances.
He wrote in the Daily Record: "In a perfect world, Beale would want all his best options available. His squad would have more time to bed in and the new players would have had a chance to properly get to know their team-mates.
"The football would be open and expansive and all the parts of the jigsaw would have clicked into place. Without reading too much into pre-season friendlies, that’s not what I expect to see at Rugby Park at tea time on Saturday. I expect it to be a battle. Maybe even a bit of a slog.
"But the first step for Beale and his players is to get out of there with three points on the board and get back up that motorway. I’d go as far as to say this is likely to be the story for these first few weeks of the season heading into the Old Firm derby at the start of next month. What Rangers need to do is get through it without suffering a bloody nose.
"Take maximum points from three league games and assume that Celtic will do the same. Bite and scratch your way through the Champions League qualifiers to secure group stage football. And take care of business against Morton in the Viaplay Cup.
"Once they’ve got all that out of the way they can start to feel the confidence build along with the momentum. That’s when the relationships will start to flourish and it’s at that point when the kind of football Beale wants to see will follow.
"But, for the time being, it’s about substance over style. Rangers have the month of August to send out a message they’re up for the fight of reclaiming the title. They don’t have to open up looking like world-beaters. But they do have to find a way to be winners.
"Some of these new guys might have an eye-opener waiting for them at the other end of the 77 this weekend. They are about to discover for the first time what Scottish football is all about. The pace of the game, the sheer intensity, and the physicality of the opposition.
"Having listened to Derek McInnes talk the other day, I fully expect Kilmarnock to be in the faces of the Rangers players from the first kick of the ball.
"There will be no time for looking good or playing your way into it. It’s going to be hell for leather from start to finish on a difficult plastic pitch and if Beale’s men are to get out of town with their credentials intact they’re going to have to work their socks off for it."
