Steven Gerrard’s Rangers ready for next stage on the road to redemption

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard joins in with training ahead of the Betfred Cup final against Celtic. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

But there is a different feel ahead of tomorrow’s Betfred Cup Final between Rangers and old foes Celtic.

This season, Rangers fans have seen their side compete in Europe and, until the midweek slip-up against Aberdeen, they had been joint top of the Premiership. After years of hoping for that kind of parity, they now expect even more.

That level of expectation may be fairly new in its intensity but manager Steven Gerrard has not been surprised by it and is not intimidated by it as they head to Hampden with the dual ambition of winning their first major silverware since 2011 and preventing Celtic  bagging their 10th domestic trophy on the bounce.

“We are all aware of that, being part of Rangers,” said the Ibrox boss. “Getting to finals is not enough. We have had praise because we have progressed and that is fine, but we all know that this is an opportunity where we have to execute and we have to win as quickly as we can. That would be easy if you just have to turn up, but you don’t. You have to go and beat a good team and a team that has been successful in recent years. We are all aware of the size of the challenge but the first priority is to give yourself the opportunity and we have done that. Now we have to make the most of it.”

Since Rangers last lifted a trophy, the Parkhead club have secured eight league titles, four Scottish Cups and four League Cups and, while Gerrard insists this group of players should not be bogged down by the burden of seasons past, getting back in the  winners’ paddock is the immediate priority for the Govan challengers as they try to prove that their rehabilitation is ongoing.

“[The long wait for silverware] shouldn’t bring pressure to the players because it’s not their fault or their responsibility. They weren’t around when that happened, or when the club suffered in all the years that it did. The players, most of them, are new to this.

“Most of them have come on board since I came in and only a very small few were around over the previous 18 months so they shouldn’t feel responsibility and that shouldn’t be in their thoughts going into this game.

“They should just come in fresh and embrace the opportunity to win a trophy. I think it would certainly help [to win some silverware] and it would certainly give this group of players a lot of confidence and belief,” added Gerrard.

“If you look at where the two teams are now, there is an advantage because Celtic have been at this stage a lot more than my group of players. But we have an opportunity to really put a spanner in them and that is what we are trying to do.”

They’re a more accomplished and consistent proposition this year, seeing out game after game in the league, sweeping through to this final and punching above their weight in European competition. But, having built on the foundations laid by Gerrard in his first season, some vulnerability reappeared at Pittodrie in midweek, when Rangers threw away a two-goal advantage. It might not have been a major issue had Celtic not shown their steely resilience elsewhere, grabbing a stoppage time winner to move clear at the top of the table.

It triggered doubts. But  Gerrard is a man who has no reservations when it comes to turning any kind of outside negativity into motivation, refusing to get involved in a war of words with the likes of BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton, pictured, over his comments about long-term servants such as captain James Tavernier and their lack of success.

“We are in a game where there are a lot of constructive opinions about players collectively and individually and we are also in an era where there are people that want to make unnecessary headlines. That is life. We all have to deal with that but I am not going to give someone headlines who has got absolutely nothing to do with this final,” he said.

“I haven’t gone over James’ career in fine detail, in terms of the setbacks or the good parts. But what I do know is that he is a fantastic player and a good person and he has done ever so well to have the opportunity to be in a final. Now he has got to make sure he is on the right end of it. Football always gives you a chance if you are the right age to right wrongs and prove people wrong.”

This from a man who has always been driven. As a player and now as a manager. He said: “I think it’s either in you or it’s not. I was someone who from a very young age, seven or eight, it was all about the cup final. It was all about getting to the cup final with your school team, and your amateur team. I remember playing for Whiston Juniors at seven or eight years of age and if we didn’t get to the cup final there were tears and if we didn’t win the cup final there were more tears.

“You play football to be involved and around cup finals because that gives you the opportunity to be a winner. I can’t speak for every  footballer but surely it has to be inside you that wants to be part of that.”