Arthur Numan has become the latest EBT beneficiary to warn Ibrox fans about the new reality.
Brian Laudrup and Alex McLeish have spoken out recently about the problems that the new Ibrox club face without the elastic overdraft supplied from Bank of Scotland while paying income tax in line with their competitors.
Numan picked up £510,000 in EBT payment during his stint at Ibrox with the tax issue covered by a side letter.
In 2003 faced with a wages cut Numan retired from football but has popped up regularly since then to offer his thoughts on the clubs from Ibrox.
Last week’s 5-1 hammering from Celtic was the first taste of reality for the tribute act with Numan admitting that he struggled to keep tabs on the humiliation.
“I saw some of the match, not the whole game, and it was disappointing,” the Dutchman said at an event hosted by William Hill.
“Of course you try to find issues after the game. I’ve done that myself in the past. You can compare it with my first Old Firm game. I also lost 5-1 but at the same time you can’t compare that to now.
“Rangers are back in the top division but you can’t expect them to compete with Celtic — the gap is still too big. I think it will be two or three years before Rangers are back and can compete again.
“On Saturday Celtic were the better team. It was men against boys but it is only one game.”
With no chance of selling players or reaching the Champions League it’s difficult to see how things are going to change over the next two or three years but that sort of reality isn’t welcome by the gullibles.