Things at Ibrox have been a little patchy of late, and we admit we’ve been a grumpy lot on the site too, so in this entry, we’re going to discuss some of the best aspects of Rangers since Steven Gerrard took the reins in 2018.

Europe:

There’s no doubt Gerrard was brought to Rangers, in part, to restore our credibility on that stage. He admits this himself. And guess what? He’s done better than any Rangers manager on that front since 2008. Rangers being in Europe after Xmas is a rarity these decades, and to not only manage 8 qualifiers and some points two seasons in a row but hit the last 32 as well in the group of death? It’s been extraordinary and utterly underrated.

Beating Celtic:

Not only has Gerrard taken Celtic apart 3 times now, but it included the first win on their patch in a borderline generation. That win in December was up there in significance with winning the league in the east all those years ago, and the famous 0-1 in 2007 courtesy of Ugo. Rangers couldn’t dream of beating Celtic in 90 minutes only 18 months ago, now we’ve done it 3 times.

Bringing back respectability:

Rangers, while form can be patchy, are mostly back to their pre-2012 selves – Celtic have had a 7-year head start yet Rangers are getting closer to surpassing them. We certainly have the better XI, but a little more work on the squad and this would be the complete Rangers package.

Players benefitting:

No doubt two of the biggest benefits of Steven Gerrard have been Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos. These two had so much talent and potential, but the manager has nurtured them into the best they can be. One is a world class star now, on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest teams, while the other is Alfredo Morelos. BOOM! But seriously, the effect Stevie has had in getting the most and more out of players has been outstanding.

Signing marquee talent:

Scott Arfield, Jermain Defoe, Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent just wouldn’t have come to Ibrox without the manager we have. It’s a high-quality level of signature Stevie is attracting to Rangers, and while we maybe never quite managed the ‘earth shattering’ signing we anticipated with Gerrard’s arrival, we’ve still done really rather well. This isn’t patronising, we are the Famous Glasgow Rangers, but money is still the end game and we have less of it than Celtic do. And yet here we are with some top class players now coming to Govan.

Those are just five of the outstanding improvements under this manager. We’ll not always agree with his calls, but while January was pretty awful in many ways, the achievements of December were astonishing.

And that’s purely the manager.