EXCLUSIVE

RANGERS Ex-England captain says new boss has closed the gap enough to hope

TERRY Butcher is expecting Rangers to raise their game to a new level under Steven Gerrard following the international break – and give Celtic a far closer game at Ibrox come December as a result.

Butcher has, like so many in Scottish football, been greatly impressed by how Gerrard has done since taking over at the Glasgow club at the beginning of June.

His fellow former England captain had never managed before and many in the Scottish game questioned the wisdom of appointing such an inexperienced coach to such a high-profile position.

But the Liverpool legend strengthened his squad significantly this summer by bringing in the likes of Lassana Coulibaly, Ovie Ejaria, Jon Flanagan, Connor Goldson, Ryan Kent, Kyle Lafferty and Joe Worrall.

And he has since led Rangers into the Europa League group stages – and then to the top of their section after a gutsy draw with Villarreal away and emphatic win over Rapid Vienna at home.

However, Butcher, whose arrival at Ibrox back in 1986 after Graeme Souness had taken over helped to spark a dramatic upturn in fortunes after a long period in the doldrums, believes even better is to come in the weeks and months ahead.

He is confident that his countryman Gerrard will have spent the past fortnight analysing how his team, who return to action in a Ladbrokes Premiership match against Hamilton at the Hope CBD Stadium on Sunday, have performed and working out how they can improve further.

And he fully expects them to compete with their city rivals Celtic – one of only two teams to beat them during the 2018/19 campaign – when the next Old Firm game is played in Govan at the end of the year.

“Steven is very much a thinker,” he said. “As a player with Liverpool and England he was always thinking about what he was going to