Chris Sutton claims Rangers boss Steven Gerrard can’t afford to falter again

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Chris Sutton has claimed Rangers missed an opportunity to challenge Celtic for the title last season, something he doesn’t feel manager Steven Gerrard can let happen again.

The Gers finished nine points adrift of champions Celtic and were quite inconsistent against the lesser teams in the division.

Gerrard’s team have started the new campaign with progression to the third round qualifiers of the Europa League and they are yet to conceded a goal in their four games.

The Light Blues kick off the league season away to Kilmarnock on Sunday and fans are hopeful of a serious title challenge.

Sutton believes that Gerrard has to deliver in the league this campaign after the amount of financial backing he’s received.

“You have to say they (Rangers) blew a magnificent chance last term. It wasn’t the Celtic games, it was a failure to deal with the rest of the league that cost them. They didn’t have the week-in, week-out winning mentality,” Sutton wrote in the Daily Record.

“Celtic were in turmoil and they still couldn’t take advantage. That was a huge miss and Gerrard cannot afford a repeat.

“Gerrard has brought in 24 players over the past 13 months since he’s been in charge. That’s some haul. He’s been backed to the hilt and now it is payback time. This isn’t a championship race which can be just tossed away.”

TBR’s View:

Rangers certainly do look in a good position for the new season and winning a piece of silverware has to be the aim.

The likes of Joe Aribo and Filip Helander as summer additions should help push for trophies at silverware, while rivals Celtic certainly don’t look as strong as they have in previous years.

A lot of support has been show to Gerrard with a reshuffle of the squad since he arrived and he now has a group moulded in his image that needs to deliver consistently on the pitch.