Steven Gerrard insists that there is more positivity at Rangers now than 12 months ago

The Light Blues ended the Scottish Premiership season as many points off of rivals Celtic as the previous season after a final day defeat to Kilmarnock saw them finish the campaign nine points adrift. But though Celtic are on the verge of another treble, having claimed an eighth straight league title, Rangers ended the season strongly with six wins from seven The Gers were level on points heading into 2019 but several disappointing draws allowed their Old Firm rivals to pull clear, with Rangers’ indiscipline also sometimes a problem. But back-to-back Ibrox wins over Celtic - having gone 13 games without victory over the Hoops before December - have helped inject positivity as has the form of several key players towards the climax of the campaign.

It is an increasingly popular belief that Celtic face a more testing summer off the pitch than Rangers do, with Gerrard hoping he can make some subtler tweaks to his squad to give their Glasgow rivals a title duel to last the full season next year. And the Liverpudlian boss is confident that Rangers fans would agree that the club is on the up as he revealed the biggest task that he and his backroom team faces over the course of the summer. Gerrard told Rangers TV: “I have every confidence in all my staff – we are improving a lot of areas of the football club on and off the pitch. “If you look where this club was and the reason why I got the job, it was on the floor and it was broken and it was fractured.

Steven Gerrard's first season ended positively even if it was without a trophy

Rangers will hope to put together a stronger Premiership title push next year

Rangers fans will be happier now than a year ago, says Gerrard

If you ask any Rangers fan, ‘Are Rangers in a better place now than they were 12 months ago?’ I don’t think you would get many who disagree Steven Gerrard

“Now, there is some belief and there is some positivity around. "The fans have seen us play at a level that they are proud of, but we have had too many bumps and too many setbacks. “So the aim and the challenge for us is, can we find consistency for longer periods next season? “If we do, I predict it could be an exciting future. “The fans maybe don’t want to hear that just right now.

Steven Gerrard will hope to use the summer to further strengthen his squad