“I know they are craving success, but it is going to take time, there are going to be stages and there is going to be a bit of turbulence along the way,” Steven Gerrard stated yesterday as he started to get a better handle on the task that he has taken on in accepting the manager’s job at Ibrox.
Gerrard is aware of the expectation levels that exist. Indeed had he been watching a little more closely over the past few summers, he would have realised that this mid-summer optimism is the norm for the club that had made the top 6 in both of its seasons in the top flight of Scottish football.
Gerrard continued: “There is no doubt about it, they have a person in charge who is going to try and lead that and is as hungry as them.
“I hope they can bounce off me and I can bounce off them, and together, we can move this club forward, that is my only concern at this moment.”
With Celtic having won all 6 trophies available in the two seasons since Rangers reached the Premiership, conversation among their staff, directors and supporters inevitably turns to stopping Celtic.
Dave King of course leads the way. His outrageous comments on Celtic folding like a pack of cards if they lose just one league title race is more to do with him being green with envy at Celtic dominant position in Scottish football, rather than based on anything positive coming out of his kingdom at Govania.
King of course comes into his own in the close season when he has to rally the Bears to put their hands into their pockets to re-new their season tickets after yet another barren season in their futile hunt for a first ever trophy.
In their first year in the Premiership King had the them going for 55, Joey Barton was brought in for his big mouth and it all went horribly wrong for the Horriibles.
Then last summer the Portuguese Man of War rolled the dice, brought in his Foreign Legion and again it was all horribly predictable for the Horribles.
Then after the 4-0 thrashing by Celtic at Hampden in April in the Scottish Cup semi-final that ended any chance of their first trophy since their ressurection following the 2012 liquidation, King turned his attention to his next marketing campaign to shift the season tickets.
That meant courting Steven Gerrard, Liverpool’s Under 18 coach.
And while Gerrard might try to calm things down and ask for patience as he looks at what he has at his disposal in terms of player quality in his squad and his transfer kitty, no-one in Govania is listening.
Well that’s not entirely accurate. 17.4% of their support seem to be realists like Gerrard himself while a huge 82.6% are in King optimism camp and are expecting Gerrard to win the league at the first time of asking.
There’s a poll at the moment on one of their forums.
It asks “can we win the league this season?”
As the moment 464 Bears have voted yes (82.6%) whereas only 98 voted no (17.4%).
There’s also some Horrible logic outlined as to why Gerrard should be expected to deliver 55 next May.
“For me, if you look at last season, our defence and failure to win matches at home was a major problem yet we were still pretty close compared to the season before.
“This was all in a season where we had 3 men in the dugout, our main summer signings flopped or were injured long term and had quite a big player turnover in January.
“Celtic may have won 6/6 in the last 2 seasons but I genuinely don’t believe they are this unstoppable force the media claim them to be.
“There (sic) signings have been pretty poor and I have my fingers and toes crossed they spunk the reported £10m on the french boy from PSG. (fee paid was £4.5m plus add-ons).
“Not claiming to know much about their team but the usual starting XI are made up of SPFL players, Academy players and a couple of more expensive buys – a formula we could quite easily match. Not to mention guys like Brown, Gordon & Lustig are the wrong side of 30 now too.
“If Gerrard can get us winning the games we SHOULD be winning, the OF (sic) games will take care of themselves and I think we have a real chance. I am saying that as the squad stands at the moment because I believe we will improve further before the league starts.”
Some of the comments that follow illustrate the optimism.
“Have a great start and build a momentum then why shouldn’t we? We do need to avoid playing catch up and pile pressure on them.”
—
“Absolutely. We would have won last season had our defense (sic) not been utter garbage. I firmly believe that.”
—
“Definitely. Lets go.”
“We finished 12 points behind last season, despite dropping 25 points at home.
Even outwith games against them, beating Hamilton (3 dropped), Kilmarnock (5 dropped) & Hibs (6), Hearts (2) St Johnstone (3) means it doesn’t take a lot to turn that deficit around.”
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“In it to win it! A level playing field would help.”
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“Perfectly achievable, despite what the Scottish mhedia would have you believe.
There are so many variables involved, too many to quantify, but if we build a strong squad with an established backbone & set out first & foremost to win matches then we won’t be far off.
Bear in mind, how well we do is also dependent on how well our nearest rivals perform also. If Aberdeen bomb & C*ltic lose momentum (which they inevitably will), then we’re in the hunt without a doubt.
In basic terms, we need to get our own house in order & the rest will take care of itself.”
“Yes we can. We were close this season taking into account the refereeing issues and not being able to take on the “wee” teams.
If our defence is sorted and our strike force is also looked at we can do it.
Of course this isn’t taking into account that they may buy and strengthen in the window.”
“I’ll predict that we’ll all be very happy with our squad by the end of the transfer window and that Steven Gerrard and his backroom staff will prove to be an innovative and inspirational appointment.”
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“Of course it can happen, see Leicester for proof. But let’s not start expecting to much of Gerrard and piling allsorts of immediate pressure. Let’s just make sure we put a gap between ourselves and 3rd place while puting (sic) as much pressure on the filth as possible.”
“We have a better chance than Leicester had a couple of years ago. It is possible.”
—
“Despite winning the league last season Celtc weren’t great. They dropped a lot of points to the likes of Killie too, and I believe their team peaked last year. The problem is they have more of a winning mentality than us, it’s crucial we win one of the first two old firm (sic) games to lay a marker down.”
—
“I honestly expect to be 6 points clear come the 1st of January with a cup in the trophy room.”
It’s going to be fun when it all goes Horribly wrong again. It’s the hope that will kill them all over again…
