Mark Hateley reckons Rangers can win a domestic treble this season. Apparently, getting knocked out of Europe helped him reach that conclusion.

The former Ibrox striker believes Derek McInnes has made significant progress and stands by his prediction that Rangers could collect all three domestic trophies.

It is November. They have not won one yet.

Kick-off, TV and form for the Glasgow derby are all in one place.

Celtic lead the Premiership by four points, although Rangers have a game in hand and could reduce that gap to one. There is a title race, and Celtic’s performances leave plenty of room for improvement.

But talk of a treble already feels familiar.

Hateley said: “I think we’ve made massive strides under Derek in a short space of time. So, you know, fingers crossed we keep doing that.

“I was at the game when we got knocked out of Europe and my first thoughts of that was this could be, you know, this could be a blessing in disguise.

“More time on the training ground, getting to know your players.

“I came out when we got knocked out of Europe, said I would probably do a treble now, just like that.

“Probably stand by that.” [Clyde1 SSB]

More training time can help a manager. Turning a European exit into grounds for predicting a clean sweep is quite the leap, though.

We only need to look back a few months for a reminder of how quickly confident predictions can unravel.

In March, Kris Boyd backed Rangers to win the league, declaring: “I think Rangers will win it. I’m back to Rangers this week!”

They finished third.

Rangers lost their first four games after the split, against Motherwell, Hearts, Celtic and Hibs. A final-day victory at Falkirk came after their challenge had already collapsed.

Celtic won all five post-split matches and lifted the title, finishing ten points above Rangers.

That should be recent enough to encourage a little caution.

Rangers have reached the League Cup final and remain within touching distance in the league. McInnes has improved their position, and Celtic cannot afford to assume they will fall away.

Equally, Celtic winning their last two matches does not resolve every concern surrounding O’Neill’s side.

There is plenty of football left for both teams, but to predict a treble – when Rangers haven’t even won a double in over 15 years and a treble in over 20 – is quite something.

Celtic fans still remember the last treble… that one wasn’t a generation ago… neither is the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that, or the one before that.