How can any Rangers supporter not reflect with untainted fondness and pride on the job carried out by the man who delivered them the ultimate for these Ibrox times?
The vaunted 55th title. During the season that denied Celtic their Holy Grail of 10 In A Row. In record-breaking time. With an Invincible record.
Steven Gerrard was hired in May 2018 to raise the club’s inadequate first team standards and deliver on a very specific remit.
Derailing the Celtic juggernaut was paramount and crucial time had been lost by the disastrous Pedro Caixinha experiment.
An invite to an Old Firm game from pal and confidant Andy Scoulding, Head Of Scouting at Rangers, triggered the events leading to chairman Dave King and director of football Mark Allen pursuing Gerrard.
Rangers needed Gerrard’s winning mentality, drive, steeliness, contacts and reputation to lift a dishevelled scene.
And the Anfield youth coach admitted, at his unveiling, a job on the scale of Rangers was precisely what HE required to satisfy ultra-competitive urges he’d never fully sated since leaving Liverpool for Los Angeles.
This was business that suited both parties. As Rangers pocket a reported compensation of between £3m-£4m, that description still stands.
On the day they landed a football icon with no previous connection to Rangers, there was another obvious theme on the outskirts of the chat.
The predictable questions came forth from English journalists in the Blue Room. Liverpool job, stepping stone etc.
Sure, three and a half years on, it’s not Anfield. Yet. It’s Aston Villa - a famous, historic and still massive club in English football despite not being bang there when the Champions League cosily created an elite.
But a post of huge appeal and a natural next step for Gerrard. So it shouldn’t come as a horrifying shock to anyone of a Rangers persuasion - or to the detriment of their regard for his Ibrox legacy - that he has accepted.
As ex-Gers midfielder Stuart McCall conceded, the deep upset is probably born of frustration that Gerrard could have fulfilled more Rangers dreams if staying longer.
“I know a lot of people are disappointed, like me, and there are a lot of angry people,” noted McCall.
“But it’s because they know what we’re losing, really. It’s raw but in the fullness of time Steven’s tenure will be looked back on as a major success.
“Obviously winning the 55th title and stopping the nearest rivals from doing what they wanted to do was huge.
“He was brought to the club to, mainly, do one thing - and he’s added on that.
“He had to stop Celtic doing the 10 and, in doing that, not losing a game and the European performances were impressive.
“If Villa had not come calling I would have seen him there to the end for the season and hopefully going on to do the double or even the treble.”
Progress under Gerrard, while not sustained through the first two league seasons, was obvious through the Europa League.
When the manager admitted deploying tools of the tactical trade gleaned from Rafa Benitez when taking Rangers into Europe, it summed up the huge upgrade the club had taken.
Gerrard’s European record in those three full seasons was excellent, leading Rangers to more European wins (24) than both Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat. There were 15 draws and only six defeats in that spell.
Despite the 2021/22 dip (four losses, two draws and two wins), Gerrard still left the club a two-goal home win over Sparta Prague away from a third successive knockout phase appearance.
The major blot on the copybook was elimination by Malmo when Rangers appeared undercooked for the task of taking the club to the next level, crucially, of Champions League earnings.
It was perhaps on the night of August 10 that the clock started ticking on Gerrard’s reign following a 2-1 Ibrox second leg loss to the 10-man Swedes.
No one at Ibrox was left in any doubt during pre-season that, financially, the club required Champions League in this campaign AND to win the league to gain an automatic slot for 2022/23 to balance the books.
The team 16th in the English Premier League may have found it tougher to tempt Gerrard were he two games away from clinching a place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a few quid to spend in January.
Gerrard won the trophy that mattered more than any but he probably should have won more with the resources available.
The nearest miss was a wild League Cup Final of December 2019 when Celtic and Fraser Forster survived an onslaught to prevail 1-0.
Aberdeen (twice), St Johnstone, St Mirren and Hearts were responsible for foiling domestic knockout bids.
“I’m sure if was a source of frustration for Steven and his squad that it was one title and no cup victories,” said McCall.
“I know it was a burning desire of his to win a cup. Ask any supporter what they wanted from any manager going in when Steven did, though, it was to make sure they won 55 last season.”
Gerrard had looked ready to compete for the title in 2019/20 before the wheels spectacularly came off after the turn of the year.
That fraught period’s nadir was the evening of February 29 after losing a Scottish Cup quarter-final to Hearts.
Anyone who witnessed Gerrard’s gut wrenching upset at Tynecastle on the day the domestic campaign completely unravelled could tell it was killing his heart and soul to fail after putting so much in.
He had a lot of thinking to do, he said, casting doubt in the minds of many over his Rangers future.
Whatever Gerrard pondered - he had plenty of time during the Covid-hit shutdown of the sport that spring - he gathered himself, steadied the ship and the mentality makeover he put in place was spot on. For that brilliant work, Rangers will forever be grateful.
Gerrard was not especially close on a personal level to most of his players.
They would surely react well to a pedigree European star with a Rangers connection who’d grab instant respect like Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Four points clear of Celtic, on the cusp of Europa League’s last 32 and a League Cup semi-final against off-form Hibernian to begin with, Gerrard leaves a lovely platform from which a new man’s era can take off.
