Rangers have an enforced break, obviously due to deeply concerning reasons, but the last time the Ibrox men had an extended absence, the return saw the dreadful run of form that has lasted to this day.

We will discuss those implications today, but we have a piece of advice for Steven Gerrard:

It’s time to do some soul-searching, self-reflecting, and it’s time to change as a manager, because what you’re doing isn’t working.

Gerrard was a legendary player, but that doesn’t make him a good manager, and his failings the past three months have been horrifically exposed as his team stopped playing for him and he started to criticise them more than ever, while sticking to underperforming favourites and abandoning quality players.

Tactically he’s been shown up as inflexible, and his man management has been dreadful.

He now has a chance to quite simply change all these trends.

Steven Gerrard is an extremely smart young man – you don’t achieve what you did in football as a leader without having grey matter.

And he is capable of changing the course of his reign, but he has to recognise the things he is doing wrong.

If Gerrard comes back from this break exactly the same as before, and doesn’t change anything, Rangers will remain in their own self-enforced quarantine – isolated from progress and continuing to struggle.

Gerrard’s methods the past few months clearly haven’t worked, and if he is to be a success, he has to change.

Rangers fans, mostly, still strongly back him, but we have to admit our criticisms on the site have received more agreement than they did a couple of months ago.

Fans are seeing what we are seeing more and more, and given the awful results over February March, it’s not surprising.

Gerrard will still get support, but Rangers’ fans’ faith and goodwill not go on forever if he won’t change.

He said he won’t, but that doesn’t have to remain the case.

It’s time for him to look in the mirror and not only admit his mistakes, but change them.

Rangers depend on it.