Gerrard is looking for finance to eclipse foes

STEVEN GERRARD wants his spending power increased to give Rangers a better chance of overhauling Celtic next season.

The Ibrox boss will set his team out at Parkhead today with the intention of closing the gap at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership to seven points.

However, he has previously conceded that his first campaign as manager of Rangers is destined to end without silverware.

Acknowledging that must change in 2019/20, Gerrard stressed that the differencemakers he wants to sign this summer will come at a cost.

When asked how he bridges the budget gap on Celtic to compete over a long campaign, Gerrard said: ‘We are going to need support, financial support.

‘We’ve built a decent base since we came in here in terms of the changes and what we’ve tried to do.

‘We are doing everything we can to improve things at the training ground, at Ibrox and within the team. Tactically, we believe we have moved on leaps and bounds.

‘But the reality is, when you’ve built your cake, you need a lovely icing on it and a bit of decoration on it that will hopefully make a difference.

‘And you know and I know that costs money. That’s the brutal truth of it. Sometimes it’s hard to do on a free contract or a loan because, for

example, Ryan Kent might be going back.

‘I’m still as confident as I was when I came in that we can achieve that but I am going to need some help and support — that’s the reality of it.’

Twenty players have been signed by Rangers since Gerrard was appointed manager last May.

Yet he will take a nagging regret into the close season that the club was unable to land a creative, goalscoring midfielder in January.

That’s the prime priority for this summer’s recruitment drive as Gerrard seeks to stop Celtic storming to a ninth consecutive championship this time next year.

Rangers and today’s rival hosts have each lost four league games but the challengers have drawn nine times to Celtic’s four, adding up to the 10-point gulf with eight games remaining.

Gerrard said: ‘Have we progressed? Yes. Are we closer to Celtic head-to-head if you compare 12 months ago to now? You’d probably say yes.

‘Do we need to improve and get better in certain areas around Alfredo (Morelos), assuming he stays? One million per cent. Now, can we do that?

‘There are a lot of people around the world who can score goals from midfield and are available and capable. I’m not expecting us to go and sign Kevin De Bruyne.

‘But we can go into a market where we can improve and get more and better options around Alfredo to be better against Hibernian, St Johnstone, Dundee.

‘Hopefully that’s the next step. The question all the time is closing the gap to Celtic and I understand and respect that.

‘But the reality is we’ve played Celtic twice, beaten them once and lost to them once.

‘We are 10 points off Celtic because we haven’t had the right answers against Hibs three times, Aberdeen a couple of times, St Johnstone at home, Dundee away.

‘So in the final third we haven’t that sprinkle of icing or that magic to go and open the door when it’s been 1-1 or when it’s been 1-0 to make it 2-0 and kill a game off.

‘We’ve got tons of work to do to get to where we want to get to.

‘No one here is getting carried away, thinking we are anything other than a team in progress.’

That state of affairs at Rangers was challenged in the build-up to today’s third clash of the season by ex-Celtic striker John Hartson.

The pundit claimed Rangers were caught up in hype of their own making in the aftermath of their 1-0 win in December, leading to complacency when they returned to lose to Kilmarnock.

That accusation is firmly denied by Gerrard. ‘We celebrated when we beat them because it had been a long time, it was a big moment, a good performance,’ he said.

‘You are entitled to enjoy it and lap the rewards up but, at the same time, you have to take any criticism that comes your way.’