‘Title win was all about players and supporters’
HE won the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup, the League Cup and, of course, the Champions League during his distinguished playing career in England.
However, the Premier League title, much to the amusement of supporters of Liverpool’s rivals, always eluded Steven Gerrard in his time at Anfield.
So Gerrard could have been forgiven for taking immense personal satisfaction from the Premiership triumph that Rangers clinched on Sunday because it finally ended an unwanted hoodoo.
Yet, as he was quizzed about the significance of the Ibrox club’s first Scottish title success in 10 years at Auchenhowie for him yesterday, Gerrard’s thoughts were with others.
The 40-year-old stressed he was pleased for the players who had ended Celtic’s spell of domestic dominance – and the supporters who had backed them along the way.
Rangers fans have been heavily criticised for ignoring Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and taking to the streets in large numbers over the weekend to celebrate a world record 55th league success.
Gerrard, who was appointed in 2018 and didn’t lift any silverware in his first two seasons, is hugely appreciative of the Glasgow club’s followers for standing behind him through good times and bad.
“To be honest with you I haven’t really had time to reflect and really think about the last two or three days and compare it to other achievements in my career,” he said.
“I don’t think it is fair to compare achievements. What I achieved as a player was fantastic, of course it was. But I am on a different journey, I am on a different career path, I am at a different club. So it’s not really about me from a personal point of view and me making up for previous highs or lows or comparing stuff. It is about Rangers. It is about achieving our first massive goal together.
“It is all about the players and supporters for me. As I say, in this position I am extremely proud of both.
“First and foremost the players for doing the majority of the job and doing it in style. But also the backing that we have had since the first day I came
in. It has been well.”
Meanwhile, Gerrard has confirmed that Ryan Jack, the Rangers midfielder who has been sidelined with a calf injury since the 4-1 win over Dundee United three weeks ago, won’t feature in the Europa League last 16 game against Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic this evening.
Kemar Roofe, the English striker who has been out with the same problem since the win over Royal Antwerp match in Belgium last month, could feature.
“Kemar trained this morning,” said Gerrard. “He will be back in the group and will travel with us over to the Czech Republic and is available. Jacko, if I wanted him to be ready he could be. But I’ve decided to just hold back on him. He’ll be available for the second leg, but I don’t think it’s right to push Ryan.
“He has had a bit of a different injury this time. Last time we probably pushed it a little bit too quick. I have decided, rather than the medical team, to just hold fire on that. It’s a difficult decision but, I think it’s the right one in the big picture.
He added: “The players have certainly been on an all mighty high. It was a superb performance against St Mirren, a really strong performance that we played in style.
“You get a different view of that from up in the directors box, but it was an extremely strong performance and that was on the back of a big performance away at Livingston where we had to win in a different way. So it’s a really fascinating set of fixtures coming up.” incredible as
HIBERNIAN head coach Jack Ross insists squeezing in the William Hill Scottish Cup should not be a problem for Premiership clubs.
It was announced last week that the competition could resume, having been suspended in January along with the lower leagues due to the pandemic.
The Leith side’s third round tie away to Queen of the South, which had initially been scheduled for January 30, will now take place on April 3.
And even though teams who reach the final will have to play five games between then and May 22, Ross, whose side are third in the Premiership ahead of Saturday’s clash at Ross, believes the rescheduled rounds should not cause an issue for the majority of teams.
Ross said: “The scheduling of the cup is not that problematic due to the elongated state of the last part
of the season. The remainder of the season from a league perspective is stretched out.
“Naturally if you progress through the latter stages of the competition your schedule becomes more congested but I don’t think it’s anything that is unmanageable by any means.
“I was actually surprised how comfortable it looked in terms of being able to fulfil those fixtures sensibly.”
THOMAS Bach says the International Olympic Committee will support Tokyo Games organisers “without reservation” on the subject of letting overseas spectators into Japan this summer.
A decision on whether or not the coronavirus pandemic should preclude international fans from attending is expected on March 25, the president of the local organising committee Seiko Hashimoto said earlier this month.
A further decision on venue capacity limits is to be taken at the end of April, using current domestic base.
Bach, who was re-elected unopposed as IOC president for a second term yesterday, was asked whether his organisation had requested that an exception be made to allow in guests of Games sponsors.
He said: “We are standing shoulder to shoulder with our Japanese partners and friends, and we are supporting them without any reservation.”
The second day of the 137th IOC Session, taking place virtually because of the pandemic, is scheduled to hear a report from the organising committee as well as the chair of the co-ordination commission John Coates. capacity limits as a