It may have taken four years and three promotions but Rangers have finally secured their place back in Scottish football’s top flight.

With all the drama off the field, on it, they will once again take their place at the top table and do battle with their Glasgow rivals Celtic.

Many felt that when Rangers, or Zombie Rangers, or new Rangers, whatever they are being referred to, were liquidated back in the summer of 2012 and relegated to Scotland’s bottom division, it would be a blessing for the game.

It would allow a team from outside of Glasgow to challenge for the title and the duopoly would be broken. A new team could be crowned champions of Scotland.

Instead, Celtic have dominated and while there were brief periods in which it looked like a Motherwell or Aberdeen would nip in and clinch the title, in truth Celtic were too powerful.

It may have been more exciting at times but when you know at the start of the season that one team is going to win the league, it turns away fans and sponsors. Part of the reason why Scottish football has struggled to attract new sponsors and spectators.

Rangers’ return may not bring an immediate return to the days of old but it won’t be long before the Old Firm are battling it out for the top two spots and it is difficult to know whether this is a good or bad thing.

It has been billed as the saving of Scottish football. Having two teams battling it out till the end is better than one but as the Premier League has shown, nothing is more exciting than new teams fighting for the title.

A Scottish Premiership title race between Rangers and Celtic is not fun, yet it is what we will soon get.

It may make a few more television companies tune in to the Old Firm derbies and could possibly put a few more bums on seats.

But for the rest of the teams, it is a worst case scenario. Rangers will need to strengthen in order to challenge for the title and will start picking off their best players again.

Any time Dundee, Hibs or any other team in Scotland has had a very good player over the past three years, Celtic have snatched them up in a jiffy to strengthen their vice-like grip on the title. Now that their old enemy Rangers are back, there are now two clubs who will jump in and horde all the best talent the league has to offer.

Yes, they will be paid for the players but it prevents any team from mounting a serious challenge. And how long before the Old Firm get bored of Scotland and ask to move south of the border?

Rangers will enjoy winning the Scottish title for a little while but they still harbour dreams of competing in the Premier League.

The argument was raised at the start of the season and Celtic’s majority shareholder Dermot Desmond said it was inevitable that his club and Rangers will move to England in the next decade.

English clubs voted against that proposal in 2009 but this hasn’t stopped the idea being brought back to the table and it won’t go away until they get their move.

Once they do move, I feel they would regret it instantly. Celtic have shown that they struggle against some of the weaker sides in Europe and that doesn’t bode well if they want to come up against the stronger sides in England.

While in Scotland, they are able to guarantee European football and league titles. Players want to join them for that and after a while, seek out a move to the Premier League with the experience of European football under their belts.

However, the moment both clubs join the English football pyramid — and it should be in the bottom division, under no circumstances should they be fast tracked to the Premier League — they will be competing with mid-table clubs for players. That’s what they would be, just another mid-table club.

Celtic and Rangers would struggle to fight their way to the Premier League and I feel they would be lost in the Championship and League One for years, struggling to come to grips with the physicality of English football.

Can you honestly say that the current calibre of players at both clubs would challenge Tottenham and Leicester at the top of the league?

Would this Celtic team defeat a poor Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City side?

Or the other clubs who are fighting for European football, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, West Ham, Southampton.

Are the Old Firm better than those clubs?

Not really. So what makes them think they could stand toe-to-toe with teams in the Premier League?

Ibrox and Celtic Park can be special stadiums on big European nights. So maybe the first time they play a Manchester United or Liverpool it would be rocking.

Fans will pay for that inaugural meeting but come the fourth, fifth, sixth time of Celtic v Liverpool at Celtic Park, it will lose the glamour.

When you know that you are guaranteed to play these teams at least twice a season, the lure of going to the game lessens because you can go next season.

It remains to be seen how beneficial Rangers’ promotion will be to Scottish football.

But once the next season kicks off, it would be best for all involved if the Old Firm didn’t dominate for the next decade.