CLUB NOW ‘100 TIMES BETTER’ THAN WHEN GOLDSON SIGNED ON

THIS was the vision Steven Gerrard sold to Connor Goldson in 2018. Rangers restored as champions of Scotland and striding on in Europe. Few have done more than Goldson to make it a reality. The 28-year-old centre-back played every minute of the unbeaten Premiership campaign that culminated in being confirmed as title winners at the weekend. When Gerrard took charge almost three years ago, he travelled to Goldson’s home in the Midlands to make sure he became one of his first signings. The journey that followed wasn’t always straightforward, but the sheer elation felt on Sunday made every second of it worthwhile. ‘I still don’t think it has sunk in properly what we have actually achieved,’ said Goldson, set to line up in tonight’s Europa League last-16 first leg against Slavia Prague. ‘It is a weird one. When I have won things in the past, you are going on holiday and going away straight away with your family. We are only in March and there is a lot of the season still to play. ‘At the same time, I have still got goosebumps thinking about it. It was amazing and probably the best day of my career. ‘This was part of the vision (when he joined Rangers). Did I think it would be three years later? Probably not. ‘Before it, I didn’t know… probably how far behind Rangers were at that time. I didn’t realise that until I came up here and actually played that first season. You do have doubts. But at the same time we have worked our socks off and the recruitment has been brilliant.

‘You look at the club I am in today and it is 100 times better than the club that I joined.

‘That is not just the playing squad. It is around the place and what has been done in the canteen, what has been done at the training ground, what has been done at Ibrox.

‘The whole place has improved and that is credit to every single staff member that works here, to the board and the chairman. It has paid off.’

Their historic triumph comes with more than a medal. Goldson argues Rangers must now also live up to the status of champions.

‘We had a meeting about it (on Tuesday) and the pressure that now comes with being champions is completely different to chasing and being the underdog and finishing second for the last how many years,’ he continued.

‘Now we need to go on and prove that we are worthy of being champions and that starts this season. I am not going to sit here and lie to you and say that we didn’t enjoy the weekend because we did. I think that we deserved that for all that we have put in.

‘But, at the same time, as soon as we came in on Tuesday and got back to training, the gaffer told us what this month is.

‘We have got the two Slavia games and we want to go and prove in Europe that we are good enough to compete at this level and not just domestically.

‘We have the Old Firm at the end of the month, so we have got three huge games coming up and it is all about refocusing now.’