Willie Miller believes Michael Beale now has "ammunition" to go to the Rangers board to ask for major support this summer transfer window.

The Light Blues were defeated 2-1 by Ange Postecoglou's side in the League Cup final yesterday as Celtic lifted the first silverware of the season at Hampden.

The loss was Beale's first as Rangers manager and he admitted after the game that his team were second best over the course of the contest..

Miller agreed that their was a "gulf" between the sides, and he reckons Beale will now ask for support from the recruitment department.

He said on BBC Radio Scotland: "The defeat tells him the improvement that is required.

"If you are Michael Beale you are sitting talking to the board of directors. He already said before the game that you need to improve 20 per cent.

"He knows that there is a gulf between Rangers and Celtic. The board knows that there is a gulf between Rangers ad Celtic.

"The personnel from 2019 is roughly the same. So he has to change it and he has to get that support from the board to be able to change it.

"Otherwise they are not going to reach that level to put the pressure on Celtic and overturn the domination that Celtic have got.

"It has maybe given him a wee bit ammunition to go to and say look this is what we need."

On the game itself, Beale admitted they had paid for a slow start as he suffered his first defeat in charge of the Ibrox club.

“We started the game really poorly,” he said. “We were always in the game but we never played with a rhythm that we wanted to or can do in the first half.

“There’s no complaints with the result. At the start of the second half we improved and had a big moment when Ryan (Kent) hits the post and we should do better with the rebound.

“If we score in that moment then it might be a momentum change but we find ourselves 2-0 down. We score and showed a lot of character and resilience to push the game but I was expecting more from myself and the team so it’s disappointing.”