Rangers’ confession about Celtic comes directly from the Ibrox dressing room, with a ‘significant’ demand made.

A candid assessment of the gap between Rangers and Celtic has come straight from the Ibrox dressing room, with Leon Balogun acknowledging that inconsistency has hampered the team’s domestic ambitions.

Balogun, who was part of the squad that won Rangers’ 55th league title, has reflected on the current state of the team, which finds itself far off the pace in the Premiership. Celtic currently sit 13 points ahead, with Rangers out of both domestic cup competitions. However, the Ibrox side has progressed to the Europa League last 16, a competition where they reached the final in 2022.

Speaking to Sportsboom, Balogun didn’t mince his words when describing Rangers’ domestic performances.

“Too inconsistent. I think that’s the most honest review I can give. If you look at Europe, we’ve been pretty good. We got direct qualification to the Round of 16, but domestically, too inconsistent,” he said.

“I mean, I don’t want to be short or shy for words, but that’s just the perfect description. We’re too inconsistent. That’s why we are where we are in the league, which is sad. I’ve been fortunate to be part of a team that successfully broke Celtic’s dominance in the past, and I’d love to experience that again,” he continued.

The defender stressed that the squad understands the scale of the task ahead, calling for a significant uplift in performance if they are to challenge Celtic again.

“However, at this moment, it’s clear that we have a lot of work to do to challenge Celtic for the title. As things stand, we’re behind in the race, and this season has highlighted the need for significant improvement,” he added.

Balogun emphasized that the players are determined to address the shortcomings and are fully aware of the effort required to close the gap.

“We’re fully aware of the challenge ahead, but we’re determined to put in the hard work necessary to close the gap and compete at the highest level to reclaim the title,” he said.

Despite the domestic struggles, Balogun pointed to Rangers’ continued confidence on the European stage as a source of optimism.

“When I’ve played for Rangers, we’ve always been pretty good in Europe and I think there’s a level of confidence that we don’t have to really be afraid or hide from anyone, as long as we stick to what we want to do,” he explained.

“And obviously, sometimes you need a bit of luck. But we’ve played some big teams like Tottenham, Manchester United. Man United was a close call, we lost in the end. Unfortunately, probably a draw would have been fair. We got a late equaliser against Tottenham. But overall, Europe has always been, I think, a well of joy for Rangers, in recent years at least.”

As Rangers prepare for the next stage of their European campaign, Balogun’s words underline the squad’s recognition of the domestic challenge that lies ahead — and the significant improvements needed to reclaim their place at the top of Scottish football.

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