Ally McCoist insists he was certain Steven Gerrard would quickly quash speculation over his Rangers future.
In an interview following his side's crushing Scottish Cup exit at Hearts, the Ibrox boss sparked rumours he could quit the club.
The defeat all-but consigns Gerrard to a second trophyless season in charge.
But he re-emerged with renewed purpose on Tuesday and insisted he's still "all-in" for the challenge at hand.
And McCoist is adamant there was never any chance the manager would walk away.
He told talkSPORT : "You know something, I was almost convinced that would be the comment coming from Steven at the next press conference (after the Hearts game).
"I was at the game on Saturday and Rangers were absolutely hopeless for 90 minutes. Hearts were excellent and deserved their win.
"I could see Steven after the game and I could see him visibly shocked, as I was, at that level of performance for 90 minutes.
"It came off a quite terrific performance in Braga where Rangers qualified against a team who were heavy favourites to beat them.
"It was the dip and drop in standards as much as anything that really shocked Steven and the rest of the Rangers support, myself included.
"But I listened to his interview, as shocked as he was, people got carried away saying he was thinking about his own future.
"What he said was he was going to digest in the next 24 hours what had happened and where he felt his team was, which I'd thoroughly expect him to do.
"He's done that, come back and come out with those quotes which I think is fantastic. Listen, nobody can tell me, right now, that Rangers are not in a better place than before Steven Gerrard came to the club. Of course they are.
"Whether you're a Rangers manager or a Celtic manager you are judged against each other and the amount of trophies you win.
"The next step for Steven and Rangers has to be a trophy. It doesn't look like it's going to be this year.
"But there's definitely been, in my opinion, massive improvement."
