STRACHAN: BLUES TOO BIG FOR FLOPS

Ex-Scotland and Parkhead boss questions mentality of some Ibrox recruits

GORDON Strachan yesterday insisted Rangers have proved “too big” for many of Steven Gerrard’s signings and that his old club Celtic remained two years ahead of their city rivals.

The former Parkhead and Scotland manager chose his column with a bookmaker to pick apart the problems, in his view, which exists at Ibrox – namely that the dressing room is full of players who can’t handle the pressure and intensity which comes with being at Rangers.

Gerrard admitted on Sunday, following his side’s disappointing draw with Dundee, that he now knew which players he could and couldn’t trust and that he wouldn’t risk making as many changes as he did at Dens Park. The Rangers manager’s summer recruits have been hit and miss, which did not comes as

a surprise to Strachan who knows from his four years in Glasgow what it takes to survive what is a unique situation in the football world.

The ex-Scotland manager said: “A lot of Rangers signings have come from noncompetitive games in the reserves, or at teams that haven’t had to compete, never a team like Rangers. So it comes as a shock when you arrive in Glasgow.

“It takes a while to get used to this 24-hour demand for success, where you have to win everything.

“The first few months are difficult, that’s why it’s handy to have players who have been there a while.

“At Celtic, it was useful having players to indoctrinate the new boys in what it meant to play in an Old Firm.

“And that’s where the disciplinary issues have come from. It’s people not understanding, being thrown into Rangers from a small league or Under23 level, and taking on the expectation of winning every game.

“It’s too much for them and they become too emotional.

“The club, at the moment, is maybe too big for them to understand.

“If you’ve got 50,000 people screaming that you win every tackle, you go in there jumping about and shouting your head off, you get sent off.

“If you look at Alfredo Morelos’s record at Helsinki, did he keep getting sent off there? No. It’s the fact he’s playing for Rangers, and it’s testing his mental strength.

“Maybe it’s too much for him. He’s letting his team down. The fans might cheer him off, and the manager might support him publicly, but he’s knackering the team, and risking results.”