RECLAIMING the Scottish top-flight title in time to stop Celtic racking up nine, or maybe even ten, top-flight titles in a row is fast becoming an obsession for Rangers and their supporters. Particularly having chiselled out a two-point lead eight games into the season.
But David Weir reckons that the next step is simply reminding themselves what it feels like to get their hands on any serious silverware at all. It is, after all, three years and counting since he and Mark Warburton fell just short of racking up the first major trophy of the post-liquidation era when losing the two late goals which took the 2016 Scottish Cup final to Hibs instead.
While history might have looked very different had they made it, Celtic have won every prize since and a triumph for Gerrard’s side would be a further hint that a change in the power base of the Scottish game is imminent. Only Hearts – who they first face on league business at Tynecastle a week on Saturday – stand between them and their first appearance in a major final since that fateful day.
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“Winning a major trophy again means everything to Rangers,” said Weir. “All the focus has been on the league, nine in a row and ten in a row. But Rangers just need to get back to winning trophies. It’s been too long since they won a serious, real trophy.
“Winning one this season would start to build momentum and would be a step forward,” he added. “Rangers hasn’t been built on that. They are used to winning leagues and doing well in Europe. But winning a cup would be relative success and would take them towards the next step of winning the league. You can’t always get the main prize straight away but a cup would be a good start. Rangers are different to other clubs but it’s very rare you come from nowhere to win the league. Another year with no trophies would be really disappointing.”
As much as they meant at the time, Weir isn’t inclined to include the club’s Championship win, or Petrofac Cup triumph against Peterhead, on this list. “There was definitely a different feel that day [the Petrofac win] but you need to win the competitions you are in,” said Weir. “We won the Championship that year too and people are saying, it’s not the top division. It’s not but you still need to win it. Even getting to the Scottish Cup final was a step. We were competing and back at the level, even though we wanted to win it.
“You never know what would have happened had we won the Scottish Cup but that’s history,” he added. “Hibs had waited a long time too and came back with two late goals.”
Weir can make a case for each one of Rangers’ four central defenders. But he also feels that the best teams in football usually profit from a settled backline. Which means two of them missing out on any given matchday.
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It might be what most managers would regard as a good problem to have but four into two clearly won’t go. And Steven Gerrard’s selection headache just became more acute after George Edmundson made a play for more game time with an accomplished home league debut against an admittedly insipid Hamilton Accies side at Ibrox on Sunday. Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic appeared to have settled down as the Englishman’s preferred pairing - until £3.5m Swedish signing Filip Helander came into the side and impressed at Katic’s expense, only to drop out last weekend due to an ankle injury. That means four hats in the ring then in the 10 days which Gerrard has to ponder the line-up which his table-topping side will take to Tynecastle next Saturday lunchtime. At least the sense of stability at the base has been enhanced by the way Borna Barisic has bedded into at left back to complement James Tavernier on the right.
“Rangers have four there and you can make a case for all of them in terms of what they have done in their careers,” said Weir. “Goldson and Katic looked like they were the favoured two from the start of the season. Helander and Edmundson were in the background pushing so there is competition which always helps to keep them on their toes. But I don’t think anyone has nailed it down yet and I don’t think it is ever a good sign if too many positions are up for grabs.
“The goalkeeper is obviously very good, with a good back up. But in the best teams you can almost name the back four - the relationship, the knowledge of each other. Football changes all the time but stability through the centre of the pitch is a big part of it.”
**David Weir was speaking at a William Hill event
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