Brutal honest truth time – no Rangers fan expected the title this season under Steven Gerrard. We hoped, of course we all hoped, but none of us truly believed the financial gulf between Celtic and Rangers could be closed on the pitch purely by having a legendary player turned manager on the sidelines.
But, we did have a sense of at least one expectation – at least, we did here on Ibrox Noise:
A clear and isolated second place where we would be understandably behind Celtic but have a significant gap down to third. After all, we are financially way behind Parkhead, but way ahead of absolutely everyone else.
And as we head into March, for all the mistakes Gerrard’s made, and he’s made a few in his rookie year at Ibrox, he is potentially managing to deliver that reasonable expectation at present.
This, folks, is the business end of the season – the split is only six matches away and we’re getting into the serious stuff now, and our Rangers side sit a clear five points beyond Aberdeen now and eight behind Celtic.
A win on Wednesday extends the gap to McInnes’ men to eight and gives Rangers real clear sailing in second – exactly where this site and some others in the fanbase demanded Gerrard delivered us to.
We’ve certainly had the knives out for Stevie at times, and we make no apology for always demanding the highest standards at Ibrox. We Welcome the Chase for a reason.
But at the same time this man has delivered far more than any other post-2016 manager at Ibrox, including one who had more money than him, and we’d have to say that assuming we finish the season in second, Steven Gerrard has lived up to our expectations, if not our hopes.
Hopes, naturally, were sky high – he’d bring in world class players, he’d take us to the SPL title and all the rest of it. That didn’t really happen. It won’t happen this season.
But the expectations, more grounded, were that second place, an honourable run in Europe and a decent fist at at least one cup competition. On those he’s smashed it.
We want to place clearly on record – at no point did we ever advocate sacking him when things went badly – we just called them as they were and suggested it was a failed experiment – we were far from alone. Readers may have accused us of asking for his head – but they were wrong.
Things have matured though, including our opinion, and while long term we can’t tell if Gerrard will bring us the title any time soon we can say there is absolute progress this season and that’s all we could ever have realistically asked for.
It’s a start.
yep hes been a tad unlucky with suspensions ,i was a bit tough on him ,but you can see he is building a strong team ,still a chance for 55 this year ,but next season smelltic are in for a proper fight ,also what a education for mr gerrard rangers have been good for him , w,a,t,p
Never thought we would win the title this season. Do you remember how bad we were last season? I've stood by Gerrard all season knowing that there would be bumps on the road, some transfers would work and some wouldn't, and some mistakes would, and still will be made. But on top of everything I've always believed we are a much better team now than we were last season. And next season we will be better again. Enough to win the title? Time will tell but remember Ceptic won't stand still and will continue to be a moving target.
We are still in a title race but I don't expect us to make up the 8 points but we should have a good shout at the Cup if we can hit our best form.
Steve G will be grateful your giving him another chance.
You have on occasion been too hard on Gerrard. He has been hit by injuries as well as suspensions not to mention some poor ordering off( Aberdeen-Morelos at start off season) decisions. Nice to see you are coming right at last. Too often your comments are knee reactions and don’t see bigger picture. Still you too are learning. We must balance books and become a world brand. SG is taking us there despite all the corruption in Scotland.
Great article I.N it kinda sums it all up nicely except you forgot to mention the 1-0 victory over celtic that gaves us all the best new year for a long time👏👏👏
ARISE SIR GERRARD WATP🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
STILL WINNING💪👏🇬🇧
Agree with most of the inputs today. We are a much better side this season . We are competing with the Rotten Mob even given the external pressures from SFA etc. and the injuries Murphy Dorrans .We can win the cup if we keep believing and 2nd is ours to lose . Next season will really be interesting especially if Brenda goes …Lennon or Clark are not mentally strong enough to beat Steven Gerrard .Onwards WATP GSTQ
We've all suffered due to injuries and the hate and different treatment, shown towards Alfredo. But SG has done a great job, for the most part.
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