RANGERS’ acquisition of two little-known players from English League Two club Accrington Stanley on pre-contract agreements last week was the source of great mirth to many.

Signing individuals from an outfit in the fourth tier of the English game? It was a clear indication for some of just how far the Ibrox club has fallen and how far behind Celtic they still lag despite a much-heralded change of regime last year.

“Rangers were signing Tore Andre Flo for £12 million 15 years ago,” remarked one online commentator. “Now they are shopping at Accrington Stanley.”

How Matt Crooks and Josh Windass fare will ultimately determine whether recruiting from the lower leagues down south was a shrewd or a stingy signing strategy. If just one of them establishes himself in Mark Warburton’s first team then it will have been a worthwhile exercise.

Yet, if Crooks, a defensive midfielder who can also be fielded at centre half, or Windass, an attacking midfielder who can be deployed in a variety of positions, do fail at their new employers then what exactly has been lost?

Crooks will cost Rangers virtually nothing if he comes in the summer. Windass, meanwhile, will set them back around £30,000 if he joins at the end of the 2015/16 campaign. It is hardly, even with the parlous state of their finances, a massive gamble is it?

Doesn’t being imaginative in a transfer market which has, given the eye-watering sums now swilling around the English game from the BT and Sky broadcasting deals, changed beyond recognition in the last few years make sense? Isn’t it preferable to lavishing hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds on some exotic foreigner who fails to settle and shine?

Celtic’s recruitment policy – scouring the globe to identify young players with potential, bringing them in for affordable sums, nurturing their talent over a period of several seasons and then selling them on for hefty profits - has proved fruitful.

They have, despite the absence of their traditional city rivals from the Premiership for the last three and a half years and their failure to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League for the last two seasons, performed well financially as a direct result while enjoying consistent domestic success.

Their approach is one which Rangers eventually hope to replicate. Dave King, their chairman and major shareholder, and other board members have publicly admitted as much on more than one occasion since taking power. They would wise to do so when able.

However, paying out the same fees for players as the Scottish champions at a time when they are operating at a sizeable loss, relying on loans from benevolent wealthy supporters to remain solvent and playing against the likes of Alloa and Dumbarton and in the Championship is unrealistic.

Anyway, who is to say Crooks and Windass will make any less of an impact than the likes of Amido Balde, Mo Bangura, Teemu Pukki or Stefan Scepovic, expensive signings who all failed miserably at Celtic and departed as quickly as they arrived, when they join Rangers? There are undoubtedly rough diamonds to be unearthed at football’s less glamorous outposts.

The example of Jamie Vardy was raised by several people – including Warburton, who was offered the striker during his time in charge at Brentford, himself – last week. Vardy was playing non-league football for Stocksbridge Park Steels in Division One South of the Northern Premier League not so long ago. These days? He has been the outstanding centre forward in the Barclays Premier League this term and has forced his way into the England set-up.

Vardy is, of course, an absolutely exceptional case. Still, the game is littered with examples of players who, for one reason or another, were offloaded or overlooked by clubs as kids only to, after dropping down to a low level, go on and enjoy long and distinguished professional careers.

Remember Steve Finnan? He won the Champions League with Liverpool and represented the Republic of Ireland on more than 50 occasions, including in the World Cup. But the right back started out with Wellling United.

Graham Roberts, too, was famously spotted playing for part-time Weymouth by Bill Nicholson who immediately implored Spurs to snap him up. The £35,000 signing went on to be a member of their UEFA Cup-winning team and played for England. There have been many others like them.

Warburton has done well with Wes Foderingham, formerly of Histon, and James Tavernier, who previously turned out for Gateshead, this term. It is not, then, inconceivable he won’t enjoy similar results with the latest additions to his squad.

An acceptance of the position they now occupy is no bad thing for Rangers. Failing to admit that and spending outwith their means was effectively what resulted in the predicament they are now struggling to extricate themselves from. Their supporters will be unperturbed by their frugality given all they have been through. The majority, in fact, will positively welcome it. If their new boys flourish they will be the ones laughing.