Souness: Give Steven funds to spend again
GRAEME SOUNESS says Dave King must back Steven Gerrard with more cash or leave him facing a second-placed finish.
The former Ibrox boss is adamant the chairman and Ibrox board need to keep ploughing cash into the squad to have a chance of halting Celtic.
Gerrard made a net spend of around £6million during his summer recruitment drive.
But with Europa League group-stage money on the way Souness reckons the boss needs more funds.
He said: “It’s a different job for Steven than it was for me. I had two enormous advantages. One, I still had a bit to offer as a player, and second I had a big budget to work with.
“Which is what it would take to get Rangers back to Celtic’s level, if you’re looking to get back sooner rather than later.
“You can buy the players. You can’t wait for the youth system or hope you buy well over a long period of time from lower clubs for small money and then they develop into top players.
“Finishing second would not be a ‘very good’ season for Rangers. It would be acceptable. But there’s a mood there now which has not been there for a number of years which is good.”
Souness believes Gerrard is proving worthy of the backing with his impressive start to life in the job.
Speaking exclusively to Paddy Power at their Museum of Mischief, celebrating the brand’s 30th birthday, he said: “I haven’t spoken to Steven yet but he’s doing very well.
“They have only had the one hiccup but the challenges all lie ahead. When you lose a few games it’s how you deal with that.
“There’s no doubt about it, Steven has improved things greatly. He’s got a lot goodwill from the fans right now and that’ll give him time which they need.
“I wasn’t surprised he went into management and I think Rangers is a great place to start.
“It’s a great football club with big challenges and big pressures,but he’s always been around the big time so he’ll deal with it.”