Jordan Jones has probably challenged Steven Gerrard’s managerial skills and patience more than most.
The on-loan Sunderland winger, by his own admission, has had something of a rollercoaster with the massive ups and plunging downs in his eventful Rangers career – so far.
Jones, however, can’t praise Gerrard more as a man and a manager.
The Northern Ireland star has seen his career go from the highs of helping Rangers qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League to the lows of being sent off and suffering serious injury against Celtic to being suspended for breaching Covid-19 guidelines earlier this season, along with team-mate George Edmundson.
Jones said: “I can’t speak more highly of the Rangers manager as a coach or a person.
“I have nothing but respect for what he has done in his career, as a player and now as a manager, and for what he has done for me in my career.
“I can’t say a bad word against him.
“Even when things weren’t going right for me at Rangers he was always there to support me, give me advice and was just there for me.
“All the players in the Rangers dressing room feel the same about the manager because he is a great person who commands respect but he is also a people person.
“Players want to play for him and do the best for him and that has been shown in his time at Rangers.”
The former Kilmarnock star also knows that Gerrard won’t let anyone rest on their laurels.
The former England and Liverpool captain gets players not only to play for him but to push them to the limits.
“I know the manager wants the very best,” Jones said. “He has set standards at Rangers and he is constantly looking for his team to raise the bar.
“He is driven and wants himself, his players and his team to be the best they can be.
“I just hope the team can go on and achieve the goals they want to achieve over the remaining games of the season.
“Until then it will be about focusing on the next game and trying to get the job done.”
Jones knows that the Rangers manager expects his players to train the way they play. He wants them to fight and earn their place in the team.
Jones had to be patient to force his way back earlier this season and scored a great goal against Motherwell but a Covid-19 breach left him back on the fringes.
By the time he had come back from his suspension, Rangers had continued to pull away at the top of the Premiership. Jones knew he could have very little complaint.
He admitted: “I wasn’t getting as many games as maybe I had hoped for at Rangers but it wasn’t as if I could have gone in and complained to the manager.
“I understood his situation and the fact is that the team was doing so well I couldn’t really have had an argument.
“I just had to accept the situation and to continue to train hard every day.”
When Jones went to see Gerrard, his manager had a real understanding about his situation and that opened the door for his loan switch to the Stadium of Light.
Jones said: “I maybe wasn’t getting the game time I was hoping for but the manager was great.
“I went and spoke to him and he completely understood my situation.
“He knew I was at a stage in my career where I needed to be playing games and he was brilliant. That was how I got the loan to Sunderland and I am thankful to the manager for that. Rangers are going for the title and the manager could have kept me around just in case I was needed but he knew I was keen to get games and so let me go on-loan.”
Jones went down to Sunderland in January but even before he went, his manager picked up the phone to wish him all the best and to tell him the door was still open for his Rangers career.
Jones said: “The manager called me and wished me all the best. He told me to go down and to do well and more
importantly to enjoy my football again.
“I really appreciated that and he told me to go and do the best I can and then we can look at things again in the summer.
“The manager has told me the door isn’t closed on me at Rangers. “I just need to focus on Sunderland and I watch from afar and hope Rangers can also be successful come the end of the season.”
