Rangers title hopes & pivotal summer - your questions answered

[BBC]

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your questions on where Rangers are as we enter the business end of the season.

Will asked: Do you think Rangers' long-standing issues come down to more than just what's happened on the pitch? For years, it's felt like Rangers have been playing catch-up with Celtic, both on and off the field.

Tom answered: All Rangers' on-pitch problems throughout the years of Celtic dominance originated off the field with awful decision-making that led to poor performance, turbulence and financial waste.

They were in that vicious cycle for a very long time. Chairmen, chief execs, sporting directors, heads of recruitment, managers, players - it was a relentless churn.

All of it was brought about by a desperation to catch up with Celtic in the face of ferocious pressure from fans. They're in a better place now, I think. Celtic have in recent times lapsed into poor decision-making themselves and you can see the consequences.

Stewart asked: Do you feel the current ownership/investors will bring long-term success to the club?

Tom answered: You can't predict the future. Rangers, clearly, have money to spend and everything hinges on how smart they are in spending it. The same goes for Celtic and, in a different way, Hearts.

Hearts won't spend fortunes but their hopes depend on the accuracy of Jamestown Analytics in finding them some gems. It all comes down to decision-making.

Rangers have spent a lot of cash already and they'll go again in the summer, I believe. They'll have to because many loan players will leave and others are out of contract.

The summer will be pivotal for them. Money won't be a major problem for Rangers. They're okay on that front. It's getting the big calls right, it's recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. Only then can you begin to answer the question about short, medium or long-term success.

Ronald asked: Are Rangers good enough to win the league after that horrendous first half at Falkirk. Any repeat in any of our five games would be disastrous.

Tom answered: Can they win the league? Yes. Might they finish second? Yes. Could they fall away to third? Yes. And I'd say the exact same thing about Hearts and Celtic.

Against Falkirk, Rangers showed their split-personality. That first half was unreal. Rangers were appallingly bad. Properly hopeless with the ball, timid, lacking in every conceivable department.

Second half - everything turned about. They ran over the top of Falkirk like a team possessed. It was extraordinary.

So a team that's capable of such lows and highs is hard to predict. I'd say, right now, Rangers' ceiling is higher than the other two. But their floor? Worrying.

Celtic are just about getting by, just about staying in the fight. Hearts are looking very nervous to me. It's about nerve now as much as quality. The psychology of the whole thing is absolutely riveting.