Gerrard’s demand for graft will thrill Ibrox support
SAYS CONNOR GOLDSON
SIXTY-THREE days after Steven Gerrard was unveiled as the new Rangers manager, Ibrox will tonight get its first glimpse of what he wants his team to look like.
The anticipation is huge. Selling more than 32,000 tickets for a friendly against Bury on a World Cup quarter-final evening underlines the depth of excitement among supporters eager to begin a new era.
Connor Goldson feels confident they will not be disappointed. Enthusing about the work Gerrard has done on the fitness, tactical awareness and mentality of his squad, the centre-half believes the foundations of a crowd-pleasing style are already being laid.
At its core will be a relentless drive. One that takes muscles to their limit and makes lungs burn. While time will inevitably be needed to translate Gerrard’s philosophy into maximum on-field fluency, Goldson made it clear one unshakeable ground rule had already been set down.
‘The fans can expect energy, they can expect an exciting style of football that requires the players to work hard,’ predicted the £3million signing from Brighton.
‘I think they will buy into that. I think the fans want to see players work hard, giving everything. That is one of the main things the manager has put across. He wants everyone to go out for 90-plus minutes and he wants them to come off the pitch drained and dead on their feet.
‘That is something we are going to have to do. If we do that, the fans will be on our side.’
The first implementation of those demands came in a 3-1 closed-doors win over Welsh side TNS earlier this week. Tonight’s assignment now shifts Rangers one step closer to the start of the real business in next week’s Europa League qualifier against FK Shkupi of Macedonia.
Just walking into Ibrox will be a new experience for Goldson. Having just become a father to son Caleb, he couldn’t take the usual tour before putting pen to paper on a four-year contract as one of seven summer additions.
‘I’m excited about it,’ said the 25-year-old. ‘I haven’t been there yet. When I signed, I was meant to go but with the birth of my son, I couldn’t. So I said to myself that I didn’t want to go or see it until the day I play there, so obviously I’m looking forward to the chance to see the stadium.
‘I know there’s a lot of tickets been sold and I’m sure it’ll be a great occasion. ‘I understand that first impressions are usually massive but, at the same time, we’ve got the whole season. I’ve been here for 16 days so far and I can only say that everything’s been positive. ‘I think in the game behind closed doors the other day, we looked good and we looked like we knew what we were doing. It wasn’t off the cuff at all. The team structure was brilliant. Hopefully we can take that into this game.’ Gerrard may be early in his first senior managerial role, but Goldson has seen no shortage of authority. He has been impressed by the forthright way the 38-year-old has laid out his vision. ‘The messages have been simple but clear — and that is the main thing that you want as a player,’ insisted Goldson.
‘You don’t want to be complicated by things, you don’t want to come away from meetings or training thinking there has been too much information and you can’t take certain bits of it in.
‘There has been little points each day about how we want to work and that has come across well.
‘As a footballer, you want to play the right way and the manager and the coaching staff so far have shown us that they want the game played in the right way.
‘We know there are going to be tough times, there will be games where it doesn’t go to plan, but if we give 100 per cent in those games, I am sure we will be fine.’
Nor has Goldson detected any frustration from Gerrard about the resources at his disposal. It is no insult to the Ibrox squad to suggest they lack the star quality of their manager or many of his former team-mates at Liverpool.
‘If he went into a job that matched his playing days, he would be limited to about ten teams in the world,’ countered Goldson.
‘I am sure he understands the players aren’t going to be as good as the players he played with, but, at the same time, he knows and the coaching staff know that they can improve the players who are here massively.
‘I am not saying we have all improved individually, but, as a team, how we play, the intensity that we play at and the whole structure has improved massively from the first day I was here to now.’
The key is getting it right in the first leg against Shkupi in six days’ time. Goldson is aware of the humiliation Rangers suffered against Progres Niederkorn in last season’s Europa League qualifiers, yet doesn’t feel that history will be a burden.
‘It is going to be a tough game, no game is going to be easy in the Europa League, whether it is a qualifier or we get to the group stage,’ he added.
‘Every game is going to be tough, as Rangers found out last year. But that is in the past, there is no point in looking back to last year and feeling pressure from it because there is nothing that can be done now.
‘It is about taking these games in our stride, trying to win against Bury and build confidence within the squad to keep improving.
‘Then we go on to Thursday and look forward to it with 50,000 of our supporters behind us, which can only help us.
‘We will go into it confident and excited about the challenge.’