Keith Jackson apologises after what he said about Rangers

Rangers are not in the Scottish Premiership title race with Celtic, Keith Jackson says.

The Daily Record journalist has apologised for his "silly" claim that the Gers were back in the mix with their Old Firm rivals before Christmas.

Jackson went on to predict that Philippe Clement's team would lose to the Hoops at Ibrox on 2 January.

Speaking on Hotline Live (29 December), the journalist said: "Let's start with Mea Culpa and a hands up. I may have said something as recently as a week ago, something silly about the title race being officially back on.

"I did mention a caveat, and it was if Rangers took nine points from their three fixtures over the festive period. Now they've obviously taken one from the first six. And they'll probably take nothing from the third one."

Rangers can't pip Celtic to Scottish Premiership title

The Light Blues are 14 points behind Celtic in the table after the 2-2 draw against Motherwell on Sunday (29 December).

Clement made seven changes to his starting lineup at Fir Park, baffling many with his decision.

Cyriel Dessers started up front for the first time in a while but was taken off at half-time after the Light Blues went two goals down.

Hamza Igamane, along with Vaclav Cerny, came off the bench to save the day for the Gers.

Rangers surprised many in their fixtures against Tottenham in the Europa League and Rodgers' team at Hampden Park, but that feels like lifetimes ago.

The Bears were unlucky not to win the Premier Sports Cup final after VAR failed to award them a penalty in extra time.

Since then, the Belgian manager has regressed to his old ways, losing to St Mirren and dropping points against Stuart Kettlewell's team.

The 50-year-old head coach is lucky to still be in a job at Ibrox, and failure to win a seventh Old Firm derby could be the final straw for him at the Glaswegian outfit.

In other Rangers news, Clement made an "unfathomable" decision once again against Motherwell.

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