Rangers: Dave King reveals how many of Steven Gerrard's signings have failed

Rangers chairman Dave King has praised manager Steven Gerrard for being 'ahead of the game'.

Speaking to RangersTV following the club’s AGM on Tuesday, King lauded the club’s summer recruitment under director of football Mark Allen and Gerrard.

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The squad was in need of an overhaul following a third-place finish in the 2017-2018 campaign which saw three different coaches take charge of the team.

Rangers chairman Dave King praised manager Steven Gerrard's recruitment. Picutre: SNS/Alan HarveyRangers chairman Dave King praised manager Steven Gerrard's recruitment. Picutre: SNS/Alan Harvey
Rangers chairman Dave King praised manager Steven Gerrard's recruitment. Picutre: SNS/Alan Harvey

Around £10million was spent as 15 players were brought in.

Arriving were Connor Goldson, Borna Barisic, Eros Grezda, Nikola Katic, Kyle Lafferty, Scott Arfield, Jon Flanagan, Gareth McAuley, Allan McGregor, Jamie Murphy, Lassana Coulibaly, Ovie Ejaria, Ryan Kent, Umar Sadiq and Joe Worrall.

King, who revealed the club will run at a lost, believes only one signing hasn’t worked out as the club have achieved more than he expected under Gerrard’s management so far.

“I would say he is ahead of the game in the sense having made the investment in the players we were bringing in,” he said.

“He brought in 15 players if I remember correctly and I think it’s probably fair to say only one of the 15 hasn’t worked out. So that’s a great return in terms of the identification in the quality of players.”

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He added: “Certainly at the beginning of the season, after four very tough qualifying rounds, if you had offered me the Europa League group stages and playing Villarreal with a chance to go through, I would have absolutely taken that.

“I think we’re ahead of where my realistic ambitions would have been.”

It is likely the one player who King referred to is forward Umar Sadiq who has played just 116 minutes of football since joining on loan from AS Roma.

The club are expected to enter the transfer market in January to recruit a striker to support Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

King said: “I’d be surprised if we don’t do some business in the January transfer window and speaking to Mark Allen and the manager, they are very aware of the fact sometimes the long term quality isn’t available in January.

“It will only be done if we think we can improve the overall value of the squad and the right player is available in January and not done for just the sake of it.”