Ally McCoist believes Michael Beale has already closed the gap on Celtic with the Rangers boss boasting an 'absolutely excellent' league record so far.
The Light Blues boss is still unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership since taking over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Ibrox with his only defeat on his CV coming against Ange Postecoglou's side in the League Cup Final. His only dropped points in the Premiership are against the Hoops with the champions firing a late leveller at Ibrox through Kyogo Furuhashi.
Rangers hero McCoist believes the 42-year-old has already chipped away at the gap and hopes he will get plenty of time to make changes and build his own team and squad. He said: "I definitely think the gap's closed. [The] League Cup Final, there wasn't a lot in it, Celtic probably just the better team. The league game at Ibrox, Celtic started well but Rangers should have won the game.
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"There's maybe a train of thought that Celtic have slightly got the advantage at this moment in time. But I don't think the gap's what it once was."
He continued: "I think Michael has done well. I hope he's given the time - and I'm sure he will - to get a couple of transfer windows behind him where he can make changes and build his own team and his own squad.
"In 14 league games, he's won 13 and drawn one, which is absolutely excellent. But it's a fact now that when you're manager of the Old Firm, the games between the two teams are probably as important as they've ever been, maybe even more important, because when you look around the rest of the country, other teams are not taking points off the Old Firm as perhaps they once did.
"To back that up, Motherwell are vastly improved under Stuart Kettlewell, but I don't think they've beaten Rangers in the league for about 20 years. That's incredible.
"I can remember going to Fir Park and getting a 3-0 beating, and I remember Celtic losing the league at Fir Park. Those days seem a long time ago.
"Celtic lost at St Mirren earlier in the season, but those results are few and far between now. I don't think it's great for the league.
"Rangers' two best performances away from home this season were arguably in Edinburgh, against Hearts and Hibs, and then Celtic went to Tynecastle and were excellent. Bearing that in mind, the importance on the Old Firm games is great, if not greater than it's ever been.
"I'm not saying they're the only four games that matter, but they have become so important. Michael Beale is doing a good job but the time will come when he's got to win Old Firm games."
Ally McCoist was promoting Viaplay's live and exclusive coverage of Scotland v Cyprus and Scotland v Spain. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.
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