Steven Gerrard’s legacy at Rangers is a tough one to assess. For the more optimistic supporter, his time in charge has been a resounding success.
Stopping Celtic from achieving ten in a row was the ultimate ambition for the incoming manager, and with the squad he inherited, it looked inevitable that Celtic would not only achieve ten but eleven, twelve, and so on.
You get the point; the club was in dire straits, and many were skeptical of the new manager, especially with his lack of managerial experience.
The club took a major risk, and ultimately it paid off. Not only did Gerrard establish us as top dogs in Scotland for the first time in ten years, but he also totally resurrected our European ambitions from the shameful lows of Progrès.
For example, Rangers’ coefficient before Gerrard arrived was a woeful 265th place. Compare that to now where we sit in 43rd position, comfortably sitting above Celtic in 49th place.
Our success on the continent has also given hope to other Scottish teams in Europe and improved the nation’s standing. Before Gerrard, Scotland was ranked 26th on the UEFA coefficient table.
Our standing now? A heady 9th position.
This is enough to guarantee the winner of this season league title an automatic spot in the 2022/23 Champions League group stages (if this year’s winners qualify via their domestic league) and the mass financial windfall that it will generate.
That’s Europe out of the way, let’s focus on domestic matters, more importantly, Old Firm clashes.
From our promotion in 2016 until Gerrard’s appointment in the summer of 2018, we played Celtic a grand total of eleven times, with two draws and nine defeats. A truly horrendous record.
Compare this to Steven Gerrard’s time in charge. Rangers won eight, drew one, and lost just four Old Firm matches in his three-and-a-half-year spell. A truly remarkable turnaround in such a short space of time. This included our first win at Parkhead for nine years.
This isn’t to say Gerrard hasn’t had tough moments, far from it. The post-Christmas collapse in the 2019/20 season was tough to watch, especially when we had just defeated Celtic prior to the winter break.
While the league remains the priority, winning the Scottish Cup or League Cup is always nice. This was arguably Gerrards biggest downfall whilst at Rangers. One cup final out of six at Rangers is quite frankly a terrible record.
Like any managerial reign, there are good and bad aspects. When the dust settles and people look back, I think many supporters will agree that he has left with some unfinished business.
Winning title number 55 was supposed to be the beginning of the Gerrard dynasty, not mark the peak.
The Englishman restored our standing in European competition and gave us some memorable derby moments.
The nature of his departure has left many a bad taste; the fact he has moved on isn’t the issue – we all knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later – it’s the way he has gone about it, leaving the club in the lurch.
Regardless of this, he gave the supporters one of the finest moments in the club’s long and storied history by winning league title number 55.
A moment that will never be forgotten.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have been linked with an ex-Rangers striker.
