Steven Gerrard insists Rangers have not treated Covid rule breakers differently and says all 'have second chance'

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has rejected suggestions the Ibrox club have not been even-handed in their treatment of players who have breached coronavirus protocols.

Rangers' full-back Nathan Patterson made a dramatic scoring return to action for the Ibrox club in their Europa League win over Royal Antwerp. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Nathan Patterson, Bongani Zungu, Calvin Bassey, Brian Kinnear and Dapo Mebude all returned to training with Rangers last week, having been suspended and fined by the club and self-isolated for 10 days after attending a house party in Glasgow.

Patterson and Zungu both appeared as substitutes in the 5-2 Europa League win over Royal Antwerp last Thursday night.

Earlier this season, George Edmundson and Jordan Jones were also suspended and fined by Rangers for a similar infraction of Covid-19 guidelines. The pair were subsequently handed seven game bans by the Scottish FA and left Rangers on loan to Derby County and Sunderland respectively.

Gerrard is still waiting to learn what action the Scottish FA will take against the recent five culprits but insists Rangers have been consistent in their approach.

“The boys are back in the group and it’s important to say they are not being treated any differently to the previous two,” said Gerrard.

“They have been dealt with exactly the same in terms of fines. They all had to self-isolate for the correct amount of time under the government guidelines. They were suspended by the club for the same amount of time and fined exactly the same amount in terms of weeks’ wages.

“They were dealt with the same in terms of one-to-one conversations with me. I told them all the same in terms of what I thought and all the same in that they had a second chance to play for Rangers again.

“The only difference is that the two previous lads were desperate to play and wanted to go out on loan. That was their decision as much as mine. But it’s important for me to stress that no-one is being treated differently from anyone else.

“There is definitely contact between the SFA and our club. I’m not sure whether we are waiting for them or they are waiting for us - to be honest, I’ve just been concentrating on training and games. I’ve left it to the people who deal with these things.”

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