The reality of Steven Gerrard

When
Rangers fans look at the arduous task of replacing Walter Smith with
something even half as good, such intentions led to an acceleration of
managers the like we have never seen before at Ibrox.

It
led to almost as many managers in seven years as we’d had the previous
100+. 13 managers up till Walter Smith (if we exclude the brief liaisons
such as Tommy McLean and take into account Walter’s second spell) and
eight after he retired.

All because no one could hold a
candle to the Grand Master Walter Smith. No one in the modern game
seemed to be able to deliver the patriarchal domination and respect
Walter commanded, and no one had his aura.

No one, that is, until Steven Gerrard.

Last
night Steven Gerrard’s Rangers, fielding close to a ‘fringe’ side,
aside a rocky first error-strewn 10 minutes, completed a consummate
Rangers performance, putting in their place a very fine
Championship-leading Ayr side.

And standing
authoritively on the touchline, was one Steven Gerrard esquire, exuding
class, assurance, and sheer dignity as his illustrious predecessors from
the golden age did.

Rangers’ board were in a pickle
the past few years – whoever wore the suits, they could not, for love
nor money, attract the right manager, the right established boss who
would come in and turn Rangers back into Rangers.

They
nearly made the biggest mistake (well, the latest mistake after yer
Pedros and Murties) by appointing Derek McInnes, only for the Aberdeen
boss to wimp out. We didn’t want him in the first place, and were
delighted when he did a 180.

But it left Rangers’ board lost – who the hell was big enough for this club?

Well,
the truth is, restoring Rangers to the top of Scottish football must be
close to the hardest job in world football, and it was going to take
someone truly extraordinary and special, with a big personality, and
revered by all.

It is starting to look like the gamble
to make that man Steven Gerrard, a U18s coach without a minute of senior
management experience, has been the biggest, ballsiest, and most
incredible gamble in Rangers’ history and amazingly it seems to be
paying off in abundance.

We are quite staggered by how well this new era is going, and just how Rangers and Walter-like Gerrard is starting to become.

It’s
not over, sure it isn’t – we didn’t show up against Celtic and that
remains the fixture the currency of the Old Firm is measured. But for
Charlie Nicholas, of all people (who said Rangers were only in the group
stage for the money and to make up the numbers), to admit true concern
at the state of things at Parkhead and concede the evident momentum at
Ibrox is quite something.

Last night Rangers swept Ayr
aside, with a second-string side and we lost genuine count of the men of
the match, there were that many (more on that later) – and Steven
Gerrard remains the architect of all that is good at Ibrox right now.
And there’s a lot of it.

Sure, again, there are some
errors – he remains a rookie boss learning on the job – but like
Zinedine Zidane, this lad is learning, and learning fast.

It took someone big, someone with self assurance, and a true icon of football to achieve results at Ibrox.

Steven Gerrard is the big icon Rangers needed – and what he is achieving in only three or so months is becoming remarkable.

Absolutely staggering.