‘DAYS OF FORTRESS IBROX’ ARE NOW BACK

With nine wins out of 10 in Govan, the manager seems to finally have his side firing on all cylinders on home soil

STEVEN GERRARD stated he wanted to make Ibrox a fortress again when he was appointed as Rangers manager in the summer. And he has certainly put the first blocks in place so far this season.

The game with Hearts on Sunday was Rangers’ 10th home fixture of the campaign and they have now won nine of them. Only Osijek, who drew back in early August, have denied Rangers the clean sweep so far.

That kind of run never looked possible last season as too many points were dropped at home so the improvement is certainly clear to see. That will delight Steven, and it is delighting the supporters.

If you are going to be successful over the course of a season, your home form needs to be very, very good and Rangers have made an impressive start at Ibrox.

The supporters have played their part in that and there seems to be a real connection between the fans in the stand and the players on the park.

The expectation levels have increased and the players have risen to those challenges. The manager has set the bar sky high.

That was a big, big game against Hearts on Sunday and everyone at the club knew that three points were a must, especially coming off the back of the Europa League win against Rapid Vienna.

The manager named the same team and it shows you the mental strength that those players have because they showed no effects of Thursday and came out of the blocks against a Hearts team that are top of the league.

They steamrollered Hearts in the first half and they were a credit to themselves. The feel-good factor is definitely back at the club and that is down to the manager.

Rangers supporters have never, ever let their club down and they have been there through it all over the last few years. They have been there every step of the way.

There have been disappointing times, of course, and spells where the team hasn’t been doing well under a number of different managers.

But they have never let the