John Kennedy has challenged Rangers to prove they have the staying power to cope with Celtic’s Ten in a Row title charge.
The Hoops assistant boss believes their Ibrox rivals lacked the stamina to deliver a sustained challenge to the champions last term as the campaign was brought to a premature end with the champions crowned 13 points ahead with eight games remaining.
Kennedy admits Steven Gerrard’s men have a distance to go from being pretenders to their throne to becoming the real deal as he threw down the gauntlet for when the new Premiership season gets up and running.
And he's convinced Celtic will only get better again this term.
Kennedy said: “We’re the best team in the country and have been for a number of years. We intend to make sure it stays that way.
“We trust the players that over the course of a season they’ll prove they’re still the strongest team.
“As much as everyone else will come and have a go, we’ll be fully prepared.”
“Rangers have improved over the past few years.
“They’ve had good spells and up until the New Year they were on our tails, which was fine. They were pushing us all the way. We had no problems with that, it didn’t bother us in the slightest.
“Our players responded to any questions that were asked of them and silenced the doubters in the second half of the season.
“I think for periods in the campaign Rangers did well. But over the course of a season they’ve not really fully delivered on that.
“We’ll see what next season produces, if they improve again.
“But one thing’s for sure, we will certainly be better again.”
