Graeme Souness: 'Strong Rangers needed to stop Scottish football from dying'

Scottish football could die if Rangers fail to again challenge Celtic for the title, former Ibrox manager Graeme Souness has warned.

Celtic have won the league six years in a row while their city rivals have suffered financial problems.

"Scottish football needs a strong Rangers and a strong Celtic to create interest outside of Scotland," Souness told BBC Scotland.

"If that's not the case, Scottish football would die."

• Match preview: Rangers v Kilmarnock

Rangers' financial woes forced them to work their way back up from Scotland's bottom tier and they are in their second season back in the top division.

Souness, who won the title three times with Rangers, believes worldwide interest in the Scottish game has waned during that period.

"As much as Celtic supporters and other supporters of clubs in Scotland have enjoyed the moment, it has damaged football in Scotland beyond belief," he said.

"I live in England and there was always an interest in Scottish football from football fans in England. That's no longer the case.

Pedro Caixinha is under pressure while his side trail Brendan Rodgers' Celtic

"So everyone who rejoiced at Rangers' problems, I hope they've had a rethink and they now see the consequences of that."

Rangers lie third in the Scottish Premiership, already six points behind Celtic and Aberdeen, and Sunday's League Cup semi-final defeat by Motherwell has led to further media speculation about the future of Ibrox manager Pedro Caixinha.

"I've been a manager and I know how difficult it is and I know how difficult that job is," said Souness, who also lifted the League Cup four times with Rangers.

"His job now is 1,000 times more difficult than the job I had, and the expectation is still the same.

"It is a difficult time and it's been a very difficult time.

"I don't think there's a quick fix to it other than someone coming along and writing a big cheque."

Souness pointed out that he took over in 1986 at a time when Rangers had greater resources.

"My job compared to the current manager's job, it couldn't be any further away," he said.

Terry Butcher (second right) was among Souness' big-name signings for Rangers

"I was so lucky and in football management you need a lot of luck.

"My luck was that, at the time, the English clubs were having to rebuild their stadiums post-Hillsborough.

"We had had our disaster at Ibrox and our stadium was finished, more or less paid for, and I could outbid English teams in the transfer market.

"I signed the England captain, Terry Butcher, and what a statement that was."

Caixinha is in his first full season as Rangers manager after taking over from Mark Warburton in March and a poor result against Kilmarnock on Wednesday would put more pressure on the Portuguese.

"My take on life at Glasgow Rangers when I was manager - we could be playing the best football, but because we had drawn a couple of games and were second to Celtic, we were getting all the flak although we might have been the best football team - and the same would apply to Celtic," he explained.

"To avoid any criticism, you have to be sitting top of the league here.

"But the vast majority of Rangers supporters are realistic."

You can hear more from Graeme Souness on Sunday Sportsound from 12:00 GMT on BBC Radio Scotland