‘Gerrard had attributes to bring success’

PAUL MURRAY understands as well as anyone that every managerial appointment is a gamble. Rangers rolled the dice with Steven Gerrard and have cashed in with silverware.

Murray would step down from the Ibrox board just days before Gerrard signed on the dotted line in May 2018. The rest, they say, is history.

As the man who saved his club and served it over two spells on the board has watched on from afar, Gerrard has transformed Rangers fortunes from the bottom up and has now become a legend at Ibrox after delivering title 55.

He was following in the footsteps of Stuart McCall, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha and Graeme Murty. He has blazed his own trail, though, and his title success this season is historic for Rangers.

Murray said: “I had been involved in a couple of managerial appointments and there are no guarantees when you make any appointment.

“You see that with even the greatest managers, like Mourinho going to Man United. You think that would be a perfect combination but it is one of these things, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

“I think the key thing, and Dave King and Mark Allen were the two that were running that process most of they time, was that they were looking for attributes.

“They knew he was a great player but an inexperienced manager but they were looking for attributes as an individual and they were being a born winner, a guy who can carry himself, who would set high standards.

“The standards had fallen at the club and he was going to lead from the front because of his stature and personality and I think Dave and Mark saw those attributes and that was an important thing.

“Steven is a very clever guy, he realised he needed support and he surrounded himself with a really good coaching team. I think the combination of his attributes, plus the support mechanisms have really helped him succeed and it has been a team effort.

“We were definitely making progress. I don’t think anyone expected us to win the league by 20 points but there was definitely a lot of progress being made behind the scenes and you saw in the Old Firm games and in Europe that there was definite progress.

“What was being done behind the scenes was that these building blocks were being put in place quietly, professionally and what you now see is all of that coming to fruition.”

It was on the sixth anniversary of the regime change that saw Murray, King and John Gilligan return to Ibrox that Rangers would end their decade-long wait for title glory last month.

The achievement marks a line in the sand for a support that have been through it all. Now that 55 has been won, the focus has to be on the future.

Murray said: “It is a bit like the Souness situation when he came in and won that first championship in 10 years, and in some ways the first trophy is the most difficult to win.

“You have got to get over those mental and physical barriers. They have won so they can draw on those experiences and having done it so comprehensively must give the players confidence.

“It will be interesting when the crowds come back and we see whether they can put that together with the crowds there. You know as well as I do that the crowd at Ibrox can be very demanding and it is a tough environment to play in.

“You would hope that the confidence we have from winning this championship would give us the mental strength.

“It is a great foundation. I think the future is bright.”