WE NEED PLAYERS WITH BALLS

GARY RALSTON

g.ralston@dailyrecord.co.uk better leaders and you can guide them a bit but character comes from the heart and when you buy players you can’t see the size of their heart. understand the situation. But sitting here now, I have confidence I can take this Rangers side forward and make it a winning team.”

Rangers’s recruitment since last summer has been hit and miss – for every Allan McGregor, there has been an Eros Grezda. For every Connor Goldson, there has been a Borna Barisic.

Modern-day football kit comes in lightweight and breathable fibres but these Rangers shirts already look too heavy for several players at Ibrox. Gerrard added: “My relationship with Mark is super-strong. He has been fantastic for me and the club.

“We do the background checks but the reality is you can only judge it up front when the person has been here for a short while. If we bring people in and they can’t handle it I’ll be honest and open, take responsibility and change them.”

Gerrard fronts up questions with the same authority he used to boss the midfield for Liverpool and England.

He could have been offering analysis from a television studio in Munich this week instead of standing on the sidelines at Ibrox in the rain listening to a chorus of boos.

Who’d be a boss? He said: “Good question but then I would not have experienced my team beating Celtic 1-0 at Ibrox in front of 50,000 fans.

“I’m comfortable in what I’m trying to do here. I’m comfortable in the job I’ve done so far. Can we be better? Yes. Me, personally?

“Yes, of course. This club should be brutal in terms of its decision making because of its history and traditions and the demands of the supporters.

“I’m comfortable with that. But all I can control is the next game, the next challenge and the next thing we can compete for.”