KEEP YOUR COOL
Gerrard urges Morelos to stay calm and make an Old Firm impact
RANGERS manager Steven Gerrard insists Celtic will be out to ‘provoke’ Alfredo Morelos at Hampden this afternoon and has urged his star striker to stay focused on finally showing his X-factor on the Old Firm stage.
Morelos has been a reformed character of late after being sent off five times last season — with his manager backing him to end his run of 10 derbies without a goal, providing his team-mates deliver the right service in the Betfred Cup final.
However, Gerrard did leave the Colombian on the bench in the 2-0 league loss at Ibrox in September, as well as the final Old Firm showdown of last season following his red card for elbowing Scott Brown at Parkhead in March in reaction to having his ankle stepped on.
And he has warned that Morelos will come in for special treatment again in the wake of Aberdeen centre-half Scott McKenna’s recent admission that the Pittodrie side have gone out of their way to wind him up because of his disciplinary record.
‘This year, Alfredo’s behaviour has certainly been a lot different, said Gerrard, who spent yesterday running the rule over fitness concerns such as left-back Borna Barisic and midfielder Steven Davis.
‘He needs to keep just focusing on the football and, if he does, I’m sure he will keep
THE numbers are clear. Celtic have £40million in the bank while Rangers are running at a loss. The Parkhead club, in their last set of accounts, were carrying a £56m wage bill while Rangers were spending £34m on their entire staff before the summer transfer window.
Celtic’s revenue was £83.4m in 2018-19 and £101.6m the year before. Rangers have only just clawed their way to turning over £53.1m.
Given the fact they also have been building on a solid infrastructure over a period of years, Celtic have all the advantages on paper.
For Steven Gerrard, though, none of that matters.
As the old saying goes, it’s what happens on the grass that counts and the 39-year-old Rangers boss is open about the fact that the success or failure of his reign depends on
afternoons like this — because time to close gaps off the field is not a luxury he enjoys.
Gerrard, who is close to agreeing a new contract that would keep him at Ibrox until 2024, needs trophies now. Not mitigating factors or excuses. And the likes of today’s Betfred Cup final is what will determine his legacy.
‘I don’t want to be known as a manager who keeps crying, bringing that kind of stuff in, feeling like the victim and complaining,’ he stated. ‘I knew what I was signing up for.
‘For me, it is very much about what happens on the pitch and trying to build a team that is capable of winning. We haven’t proved that yet. That is the next step.
‘You don’t have a lot of time, but I have to accept that. That’s the pressure I am under.
‘I am not going to be a manager that sits here and plays the victim because their wage bill is bigger than ours and blah, blah, blah.
‘My job and challenge here was: “Could I build a team to compete?” I think, on certain occasions, we have done that against this opposition and we’ve also been very competitive when big challenges have faced us from a European point of view.
‘Are we the finished article? Is it where I wanted it? No. I still want to keep trying to fine-tune it and make us even more competitive than we are now, but I have still got to try to deliver now.
‘That’s life being the Rangers manager. I am not a manager who has come in and asked for a project or a certain amount of years.
‘I have accepted the fact you are under that pressure to win. I will be judged on that once this Rangers job comes to an end. I will be judged on days like Sunday.’
His players will be judged on days like today, too. Most have no experience of winning major trophies. Yet, as Gerrard says, the prospect of downing a strong rival and writing a new chapter of the club’s history should be all the incentive they need to perform.
‘I am trying to do everything I can to try and help them, but there is only one way to get experience — and that is to go out there and perform, maybe shock people, maybe punch above your weight,’ he said.
‘Turn yourself into a winner. That is the opportunity some of my players have at the weekend.’ Gerrard expects a match of some quality and has prepared his side as best he can for the drama of a penalty shoot-out.
‘I believe in practising penalties as you have to tick the box and give players the feel of taking one, but it is impossible to replicate the emotion — and the moment of extra-time having gone and you being one of the five penalty takers,’ he said.
‘Will we do something on it? The answer is yes. We’ll pick that (the five players) closer to the time. ‘Listen, I think there will be twists and turns and both teams will have setbacks at different times. It is very close at the moment. You have to give both teams credit in terms of the job they are doing for Scottish football in the big picture around Europe. ‘They are bringing a lot of credibility back.
‘I think you will see a high-level game.’
I don’t want to be known as a manager who keeps crying or complaining