Tynecastle Heartache was turning point for Gerrard
TWELVE months ago this weekend, Steven Gerrard looked and sounded like a man on the brink. Rangers were dumped from the Scottish Cup by Hearts. With the league slipping away — they lost their next game to Hamilton Accies — the nightmarish prospect of a second season without a trophy beckoned. After that 1-0 defeat, the former England captain spoke of having ‘some real serious thinking’ to do. In the Tynecastle press room that day, it was natural to ask if he’d still be Rangers manager on Monday morning. In hindsight, that game feels, now, like a line in the sand. A turning point. The fightback took time. After losing to Accies, Rangers lost to Bayer Leverkusen before coronavirus took a hammer and chisel to the season. The protests which followed the SPFL’s decision to hand the title to Celtic obscured an inconvenient truth. Ending the season early spared Gerrard the serious scrutiny which would have followed another potless season. Reaching the last 16 of the Europa League showed he was on the right track. He deserved the benefit of the doubt. But Rangers lacked strength in depth in key areas. To lessen the reliance on Alfredo Morelos, Gerrard signed Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten. Instead of a petulant downing of tools, Morelos accepted the challenge. The striker still has his moments, but against Royal Antwerp on Thursday night he was unplayable. Stick him and Ryan Kent in a European game and they find another level. Why they’re doing it doesn’t matter. If the motivation is a big-money move this summer, that’s fine. So long as the price is right, Rangers profit from that as well. In the here and now, Gerrard stands on the verge of ending his trophy drought by delivering a Scottish league title in an emphatic manner. A last-16 tie against Slavia Prague, meanwhile, offers a realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Beyond that? A crack at the Champions League. Be honest. Who saw that coming after a grim day at Tynecastle this time last year?