King’s carping is unhelpful as Rangers bid to prove their mettle

TURNING talent into trophies is the hardest part of high-level sport. It is such an issue that there are so many terms to describe the key impediment of simply holding your nerve.

There is dartitis. Or the golfing ‘yips’. In football, it all comes down to ‘bottle’.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, whose side’s lack of it had him looking at his P45 before Covid-19 intervened in March, knows this.

There are reasons why he has spoken so much about humility and focus and not looking ahead no matter the shape of the Premiership table.

His insistence at taking all the blame for the midweek meltdown at St Mirren — rather than criticising his players the way he has in the past — suggested he still worries about internal fragility.

It’s why he must have been horrified when ex-chairman Dave King came out of the woodwork ahead of that Betfred Cup loss in Paisley, throwing down the gauntlet to

Celtic while imploring fans to back a curious plan to give him money rather than put it directly into the club.

The rump of this Rangers squad has form for collapsing when the heat comes on. Blowing a golden opportunity to win a first major competition — following Celtic’s shock expulsion from the Betfred

Cup — shows that eradicating the loser mentality in the Ibrox dressing room is something Gerrard has to keep on top of until silverware has been won.

As is imploring King to keep his trap shut in the interim.