WHO’S UP FOR A FIGHT?
I really wish I’d been in that dressing-room after Accies defeat.. I’d have stood up in front of those players and asked them straight out...
jersey is too heavy for some of the squad at Ibrox but people often ask me what it’s like to be a Rangers player.
My answer is always about having a personal responsibility to set standards.
You have 50,000 fans every second Saturday on top of you if you don’t produce.
I’m afraid that’s what happens when you are playing for a big club and you need to be able to take the criticism.
Did I like the criticism? No. But it made me even more determined every time I was criticised – and I was criticised a hell of a lot during my time at Ibrox but I knew it came with the territory.
It’s great getting the plaudits but when the chips are down it’s about showing what you’re made of.
I received a few text messages from pals concerning the comments from James Tavernier in the match day programme notes and I was surprised. My mates had others words for it but I was taken aback at his statement about Rangers not coping well with being pressurised by opponents.
Shocked isn’t the right word as I knew he was trying to be honest with the fans which is fine.
But who read over those comments before they went to print? That they were allowed to appear was another surprise.
Gerrard now knows what a difficult challenge he has but he also knows he’s in a magnificent job. He’s a certain type of character who is determined to fight his way through it. He’s exactly what Rangers need.
There are ways to fix it, whether that’s on the training ground or working on the mentality then he can do that.
He can only be expected to do so much and I know critics will say he was the one who signed these players. I get that.
He’s the one who picks the team and I also get that. But he can’t be expected to hold their hands once they cross that white line.
Are his players good enough? Well, they certainly proved they were in the first six months of the season.
Something has happened and as a group they need to go through things bit by bit and get to the bottom of it.
Ask any
Rangers fan, myself included, how we felt right up to the winter break, we were all delighted.
That’s what makes the last few months all the more shocking. I’ve walked back up the Ibrox tunnel to booing after losing to the likes of Inverness and St Johnstone and it’s horrible but those 50,000 fans have every right to boo.
You can’t hide from it, you need to stand tall and show how much it hurts by digging in and working even harder. That’s what I was taught at Rangers. You need to show what it means. It’s a collective confidence thing. Maybe it’ll take a horrible win with a goal off someone’s backside to get things moving again. But it needs to happen and quickly.
Only way to turn things around is straightforward and simple – it’s about digging deep