“Couldn’t lace his boots” – What has Steven Gerrard done to Rangers…

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“Couldn’t lace his boots” – What has Steven Gerrard done to Rangers…


One of us here at Ibrox Noise remarked to yours truly today praising ex-striker Jason Cummings for another goal at Greg Docherty’s old stomping ground of Shrewsbury.

Even as one of Cumdog’s biggest fans, nevertheless I found it hard to justify his return in place of Jermain Defoe and Alfredo Morelos, which reminded me similarly of just how standards at Ibrox have changed, almost invisibly.

Regular readers will know that over the past two, maybe three years we’ve spoken very highly of currently on-loan Fleetwood midfielder Jordan Rossiter.

Some of his displays as a Rangers player were quite impressive to say the least, and of course we all remember how he stood out with his cameo at Easter Road when Scott Allan tried to half him.

And yet, nowadays, Rangers have Steven Davis in that position.

It’s safe to say Jordan Rossiter, bless him, couldn’t lace Davis’ boots in a month of Sundays.

This is just how subtly Rangers have creeped back to our old standards – how we used to justify a Jordan Rossiter or a Jason Cummings or suchlike, while nowadays we have Steven Davis and Alfredo Morelos.

Steven Gerrard, for his faults and mistakes, and he’s made more than a few, has had a revolutionary effect on Rangers very similar to that of Souness in the 80s.

Of course, that was a different world, and Rangers didn’t have a titanic Celtic to overcome back then – the First Division, as it was then, was ripe for a quality team to dominate it, and SDM and Souness did exactly that.

But the situation of a recently-retired (former Liverpool) player who’s come to Ibrox and had a colossal impact which has seen a Rangers-level midfield restored, and an end to trying to defend Jordan Rossiter, Andy Halliday or Jason Holt as good enough for this club.

This is not to smear any of these guys – they’re all honourable gentleman and they’re doing their things these days, but when we see Steven Davis, Alfredo Morelos and Borna Barisic as standard fare at Ibrox at present, it gives some idea of what we tried forgive and justify back in the day as being good enough.

Once upon a time we even tried to big up the Fraser Airds and Barrie McKays of this world – two players who couldn’t even get in our development squad these days, but once upon a time looked like the future.

No, the players we have now, while not quite the finished article, are infinitely closer to Rangers standard than anything we’ve had since 2011.

And that really is thanks to Steven Gerrard.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Also worth mentioning Dave King and the Board – they got SG in and have had the confidence to back him big time. Like SG, they've made some mistakes along the way too e.g. Pedro and a weirdly misjudged dalliance with McInnes, but we're now on our way. Got to start winning trophies this year though.

  2. Fair comment, it has been quite a distance travelled. The journey is not yet over, but we can see the finishing line.
    As FilledField says, credit must also go to the board. They backed Warburton with their own money, they backed Pedro with their own money and they kept trying, looking for an answer when it would have been easier, and cheaper, to have given up. Thank God we didn't get McInnes!!
    Onwards and upwards
    RTID

  3. I'll give them all extra praise, when they smash Celtic, next time we play them. Quality, rises to the challenge.

  4. What a fitting tribute to Fernando Ricksen it would be to see the League Title won this season.A bit of Karma for all Teddy Bears worldwide.Here's hoping. Come on yeezy Fers.

  5. McInnes showed real ineptitude today. Dodged a bullet! We have a real chance this season. I really believe our players are at least on par with the dirty mob's. Our only threat is mongo rangers 'supporters' on twitter wrecking our players confidence. Look how much BB has improved with backing. I'm sick of reading that Kamara is this or Tav is that, there's a reason they're in the team and coveted by others. Support the team and we might just do it!

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