TIME FOR ACTION
Gerrard is focused on making his mark
STEVEN GERRARD last night declared himself ready to ‘walk the walk’ after making Connor Goldson the sixth signing of his Ibrox summer revolution.
The 38-year-old rookie Rangers manager marked his first day at the club’s newly-renamed Hummel Training Centre base by securing the £3million capture of Brighton and Hove Albion defender Goldson on a four-year deal.
The arrival of the 25-year-old follows the previous captures of Scott Arfield, Allan McGregor, Ovie Ejaria, Nikola Katic and the addition of January loan signing Jamie Murphy on a permanent deal.
Sportsmail understands midfield duo Andy Halliday and Jason Holt (pictured below) have been deemed surplus to requirements.
And as striker Joe Dodoo left on a season-long loan transfer to Blackpool, Gerrard was last night delighted to further strengthen his new side’s defensive options with Goldson — 24 hours after landing £1.5m Croatia international Katic from Slaven Belupo.
However, the former Liverpool and England captain knows talk is cheap and last night vowed to get to work to ensure his side hit the ground running in the new season.
Speaking as he left the club’s training ground at 5pm with his assistant Gary McAllister, Gerrard said: ‘We are trying to make some changes and trying to make the team and the squad a lot stronger.
‘The defensive areas are what we are looking to sort out first. What else do we still need? You will see in the coming weeks. I don’t want to stay too long and say too much. We’ve spoken too much. It’s time to get to work. It’s time to walk the walk!’
Liverpool fan Goldson last night told how Gerrard had personally convinced him to swap the English Premier League for the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership.
As he weighed up offers from down south, he was in constant contact with Anfield icon Gerrard over the last few weeks before electing to play for him in Glasgow.
Goldson said: ‘Steven Gerrard had a massive influence on my decision to sign. ‘When he first spoke to me, I didn’t really know what I was doing. ‘There were a few clubs interested in me in the Championship and I didn’t really know what to do. ‘We carried on speaking and he has been brilliant with me. He said I could speak to him whenever I wanted to or about whatever I was thinking. ‘We spoke quite a lot over the summer and it got to the point where I sat down with my family and I thought it was the right decision to make for myself and for them. ‘Now he is my manager and I want to be able to learn from him as a coach and as a manager.
‘I don’t really think there is going to be time for me to be starstruck and be in awe of him.
‘We want to improve the team and we want to see how far we can go.
‘There is a lot of work to do and that starts this weekend in the training camp in Spain.’
Goldson bravely battled back from heart surgery in 2017 to take his bow in England’s top flight with Brighton last December.
He admits the traumatic experience left him desperate to be playing regular football rather than sitting on the bench with the Seagulls.
‘I probably could have stayed at Brighton,’ he told Rangers.co.uk. ‘They weren’t really desperate for me to go but I think, at this stage, at 25 years old and with the operation I obviously had, it just made me hungrier to want to play football.
‘That put a lot of things in perspective and one of those things was to just play as much as I could.
‘I am delighted to join Rangers. Even though it hasn’t taken that long to sign, it seems like it has taken forever.
‘I am just pleased to finally get it done and to get the chance to showcase my abilities at a massive club with a huge fan base.’
Meanwhile, Peter Lovenkrands has been given a contract as Rangers’ reserve team coach.
The ex-Denmark international and former Ibrox favourite had previously been coaching the youths inside the club’s academy set-up.