Kris Boyd believes Rangers are paying the price for lack of recruitment and ambition in their poor start to the SPL season and fears the title could already be out of reach. 

Defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday leaves Rangers six points adrift of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen with the Gers hopes of Champions League qualification already under threat.

While Boyd remains unconvinced by Phillipe Clement, he says the hierarchy must take some responsibility for Rangers’ plight.

Asked why Rangers are trailing in the wake of their fierce rivals, Boyd said: “Recruitment. When you look at Rangers under Steven Gerrard, he made it quite clear that the time to strengthen is when you’re winning and it just didn’t happen at Rangers.

“I felt as if the football club felt they had enough to go again, Celtic strengthened, brought in Ange Postecoglou who had fresh ideas and changed everything while Rangers stood still.

“They’ve paid the price for that and players that could have been moved on for big money, their price has depreciated or they left for free and the assets are no longer there.

“Giovanni van Bronckhorst had a great run in Europe with largely the same team, but domestically you could see that Celtic were starting to get back on top.

“The recruitment for Rangers has not been good enough while Celtic’s has been spot on. The structure right now isn’t where it should be for the size of clubs Rangers are. Ultimately it’s not been good enough.”

Marley Watkins’ late winner for Kilmarnock, another of Boyd’s old clubs, condemned Rangers to a second defeat in eight league matches as pressure mounts on Belgian boss Clement.

Despite their slow start, Boyd says there should be no concern of Rangers dropping out of the top two.

“There’s always time to turn it around but I think it’s going to be very difficult,” added Boyd, speaking at this weekend’s Copa Del Cure Leukaemia event at St. George’s Park.

“Celtic have started the season really well, as have Aberdeen. Rangers have had a sticky start. I think performances still have a long way to go to get to the level of championship winning teams.

“If you can just hang in there you never know, but I wouldn’t be betting any money right now on Rangers to win the league.

“Phillipe Clement said this season was going to be a transition, it was going to be difficult for the club but – perhaps because I was a part of a successful Rangers team – I find it difficult to process the whole ‘project’ idea because at the big football clubs you’re under pressure every single week and you need to win now.

“For Aberdeen, the turnaround has been unbelievable. You’ve still got to win the games but I think their fixtures have been kind.

“There’s going to be tougher challenges ahead for them and I would be astonished if it’s not a Celtic and Rangers one-two again.”

Cure Leukaemia is a UK-based blood cancer charity founded in 2003, working to accelerate the process of bringing life-saving treatments to leukaemia patients by funding specialist Research Nurses across the country