Jack Butland warns critics: People have a habit of writing Rangers off

Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland has warned people not to write his side off in the title race, saying their whole season has shown the ability to bounce back from adversity when “written off”.

Sunday’s 3-2 defeat in Dingwall was Rangers’ first ever loss to Ross County and it carried a heavy price, with the Ibrox side remaining four points behind Celtic in the Premiership table.

Wednesday night’s game in hand against Dundee offers the opportunity to reduce the deficit but Rangers have gone from a strong position to being second favourites in a two-horse race for the title.

Butland says it’s well within his side’s ability to beat Dundee and that the following matches still hold the chance to deliver success.

“We’ve done extremely well to get back to where we are,” he said. “We’ve come from behind, we were way adrift.

“One point behind if we win the game tomorrow. It’s not something that’s unachievable or unattainable. It’s not something that can’t be done and hasn’t been done before.

“People have had a habit of writing Rangers off for a long time. People wrote us off at the start of the season, they wrote us off before the manager came in and didn’t give us much hope.

“Not by our words but everybody else’s words. Everyone else is saying ‘title race’ and that’s what it is. That’s a credit to what the boys have done and what we need to remember that we’ve done as well.”

Butland admitted that the defeat to county was a blow but said that it had to serve as a reminder of what is required if the team are to finish the season as champions.

“It’ll be easy after the game on the weekend to sit there and think everything has gone out the window, it hasn’t,” he said.

“It’s a game we need to learn from, it’s a performance that we can’t allow to happen again.

“We know it wasn’t good enough and it’s a reminder to everybody of the standards and what’s required here but people have written us off before – not just this season but I’m sure many seasons gone by.

“But you see it no matter where you are in the (training ground) building and at Ibrox.

“There’s history, there’s stories, great quotes from previous managers and senior members of the club of what this club’s all about.

“You don’t get the numbers up on the wall that we’ve got here without having to come from behind, without being out in front and being chased down.

“It’s a club of immense history and success and it’s not always easy. That’s the message. Do we expect it to be easy, did we think we’d be in this position earlier on in the year when we were eight points adrift?

“Not sure, but we believed and we pushed and we are where we are.

“It’s almost like the start of a new season now, starting tomorrow night with a good result, with three points and then we push on and we finish with five strong games.”