Stevie’s a class act but there’s not a cat in hell’s chance he’ll get close to Celtic
HARTSON: 10-POINT GAP WOULD BE WIN FOR GERS
JOHN HARTSON has lavished praise on Steven Gerrard – while delivering a withering put-down on the quality of the Rangers squad he has inherited.
A championship challenge in the new season?
The former Celtic striker reckons the Light Blues will do well to get within 10 points of the double treble winners – and Brendan Rodgers should be run out of town if he allows the title pendulum to swing to the south side of Glasgow.
Hartson may be nursing a wound on his scalp that needed 48 stitches after a golf buggy smash last week but insists his thinking is unimpaired.
He has lambasted Rangers players – particularly Bruno Alves – ex-boss Pedro Caixinha plus the board for appointing the Portuguese in the first place, which ultimately led to a string of embarrassing Old Firm displays.
The ex-Wales star said: “There’s not a cat in hell’s chance Rangers will catch Celtic as they are a million miles away on and off the park. If Brendan let that happen it would be a travesty.
“Celtic are double treble winners with £50million of Champions League money and have assets.
“It’s about mentality too which hasn’t been right at Rangers. The 4-0 thumping in the Scottish Cup? The 5-0 when Celtic won the league? It was men against boys – so poor it was like a testimonial game against a bunch of 40-year-olds.
“If you look at how far behind Rangers have fallen in terms of quality of player and off the park it’s huge.
“Look at what Caixinha did. How on earth did he get to sign players on those wages? If the man who allowed that to happen is still in a job it’s bizarre. It has almost ruined the club.
“Alves? Cor, what a player he is. At 36 he looks like an old man limping on to the pitch. My dad could have played there and done better. He has great experience but don’t sign a guy who was knocking on 36 to deal with Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths. What chance have you got?
“This time last season Rangers fans were getting a bit excited. Caixinha was coming in with the dogs and caravans and all this sort of stuff and people were saying, ‘This guy is great, this guy is a character’. The main difference this season is Steven has come in and he’s a class act.
“However, Rangers’ biggest worry is still getting close to Celtic rather than beating Celtic. Aberdeen have been second for four years and won’t roll over and allow Rangers to finish runners-up. If Rangers finish 10 points behind Celtic it will be a success.
“If they can beat Celtic once and maybe win a cup then that would be looked upon as progress.” Hartson is mulling over his own future and after stepping up as first-team coach at Livingston would not be averse to succeeding David Hopkin, albeit he’s mindful of his successful media career.
It’s a quandary Gerrard knows well – as does Derby boss Frank Lampard. But Hartson is delighted to see a new generation of coaches rather than the same old faces such as Sam Allardyce.
He said: “Rangers have signed six players and the proof will be in the
Their biggest worry is still getting close to Celtic rather than beating them JOHN HARTSON
pudding. Are the rest of the players going to step up? They have a class act in Steven and this will raise the level of everyone’s game when he walks in the dressing room.
“He’s a magnificent person and very focused. However, if he loses to Hamilton in the second game what will the reaction be?
“I still feel they have a long way to go. Listen, we might all be shocked if Stevie wins his first 10 games, Celtic lose a couple and suddenly Rangers are six in front. We’d have a race then but I don’t see it. Celtic will step up to the challenge. Brendan will get them in and say, ‘Look, in the last two years we’ve been up against a poor Rangers. Stevie will improve them – now is the acid test and we need to go again’.
“Still, Steven is a good appointment – although he has not had much experience. Chelsea appointed Luiz Felipe Scolari shortly after he won the World Cup with Brazil and he lasted six months.
“Steven and Frank are fresh, young faces with new ideas. Everybody is sick of the Allardyces, Alan Pardews and Peter Reids – it used to be Bryan Robson and Micky Adams and all those guys. “They get four or five different jobs, get sacked then go to another job. Appoint young, fresh people who want to learn. Steven has never failed at anything in his life.” Hartson has donated £20,000 from his Foundation to the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity’s Schiehallion Appeal. The appeal has now gone through the £1m barrier.