Fast worker Steven insists there is no way he’ll ask the fans for patience

THERE is none of the usual pleading for patience from the support, no requests for understanding that this is a project very much in its infancy.

Steven Gerrard knows all too well that last season ended with punters padlocking the gates of Rangers’ Auchenhowie training centre and unfurling banners with the words: ‘We Deserve Better’. What’s more, he agrees with their sentiments.

The new manager accepts his side are under pressure to deliver in his first competitive match against FK Shkupi in the first round of Europa League qualifying at Ibrox on Thursday and his own message for any players who fear this level of scrutiny and demand might all be a bit too much, too soon is clear. Find somewhere else to play. Gerrard has not reviewed footage of that infamous — not to mention shameful — collapse in Luxembourg to Progres Niederkorn 12 months ago that marked the beginning of the end for former boss Pedro Caixinha. ‘Nothing to do with me,’ he stated. ‘Previous manager.’ He understands implicitly, though, that there cannot be any repeat. Rebuilding a squad or not, Gerrard (right) wants to make it into the Europa League group stage. Even though he is still figuring out his best formation and the personnel best equipped to make it work, he is not asking anyone to cut him any slack.

Rangers fans have already had two years back in the top flight of Scottish football with very little to shout about. Having seen them fill over 41,000 seats for a Friday night friendly against Bury, a team just relegated to League Two in England, he is not about to start asking them for more time while he tries to make it work.

‘It is difficult for me to ask for patience and say this should happen, that should happen, because these fans want better and they deserve better,’ said the 38-year-old.

‘This is the most successful club out there, so it is a difficult thing to do to ask for patience. ‘Players have to be ready for the pressure and the responsibility of being a Rangers player. ‘If you can’t handle it, this is the wrong place. ‘If you don’t approach games in European competition with the right attitude and mentality, you can face major problems. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first qualifying round or if it’s the semi-final. ‘We have to make sure we bring a performance that is capable of coming away with a win. I don’t want to put a scoreline on it or an expectation because there is enough pressure on the players. ‘It is my job to take that away from them. I just need to make sure that the players are ready, focused, don’t disrespect any opposition and come in with the right mentality.’ Gerrard was generally happy with the fitness and intensity exhibited in his side’s 6-0 win over Bury, but his words made no secret of the fact that some pretty detailed homework is going to have to be done on FK Shkupi, fourth in their league in Macedonia last term, in the next four days. ‘I don’t know the gulf from Bury to the team we’re playing on Thursday. It is difficult to judge,’ he said. ‘That’s where it can become tricky. They are unknown in terms of what type of club we are going to be playing against.

‘But by Thursday, the players will have watched their strengths and weaknesses a lot. We’ll have scouting reports and will do every little bit of due diligence to make sure that players have no excuses.

‘With all due respect, you are not coming up against world-class players and a world-class team, but it is tricky as the players won’t really know too much about them.’

FK Shkupi came under new ownership last year and finished their season well to come fourth in the league. But they’ve had a difficult pre-season with some big players leaving and their results in friendlies leaving a lot to be desired.

Following a home win over Kosovan side Drita last month, they travelled to Turkey for a training stint and lost to Neftchi of Azerbaijan, Romanians Dunarea Calarasi and Bosnian outfit Celik. In their other match out there, they scraped a 1-1 draw with Estonian side Levadia and cannot be fancied to take anything from Rangers.

Gerrard made it clear during the Ibrox club’s pre-season training stint in Spain that he held hopes of making it to the group stage of the Europa League and that remains the early-season objective.

‘It will be a very tough task and a very tough challenge, but that’s what we’re here for,’ he said. ‘I knew that coming in.

‘I knew our targets. Everything we’re trying to achieve will be tough and tricky and difficult, but there’s no point in me talking about that to the players because we have to deal with the first one first.

‘It is about Thursday. We will deal with Thursday and then we move on to Tuesday (the second leg). That is all we can focus on.’