Gerrard eyes strong finish to 'almost perfect' league campaign

Steven Gerrard has called on his players to make one last push and put “a seasons’ worth” of effort into their final Premiership game to go a league season undefeated.

The Ibrox side will receive the Premiership trophy after their game against Aberdeen on Saturday but can still add more polish to what has been a dominant season in the competition.

Avoiding defeat to the Dons would give the side the ‘Invincibles’ title but would also see the club reach the 100-point mark for the first time.

“We’re really excited for tomorrow,” Gerrard said. “I’m excited for the players, I’m excited for the supporters, more than myself.

“But it is a really satisfying place to be in as a manager, knowing that what the players have delivered so far this season.

“There is one more game to go and I’d like us to finish really strong and basically put a season’s worth into tomorrow and hopefully we can break that 100 points and remain unbeaten.”

A day before lifting his first silverware as Rangers manager, Gerrard was named as the SPFL manager of the season and he took time to reflect on the journey he had been on since walking through the doors at Ibrox. The former Liverpool and England star had been in a coaching role at Anfield when the opportunity came to move to Glasgow and he said he had “a vision” about what could be achieved, despite his lack of experience.

“What I achieved at Liverpool I am proud of, but it was about moving on from that period of my career as a footballer,” he said. “It was about going down a different road in terms of coaching and management.

“I had my apprenticeship at Liverpool, coaching the 18s and 19s, which really set me up and I learned a lot.

“I was around some magnificent people that prepared me for this opportunity.

“I think from the outside, not many people believed I was the right person, I understood people saying I was a rookie and inexperienced and that the job was too big, I get all that.

“But when Rangers came I mentioned the feeling, I had a vision and I saw that opportunity to try and get to this point of becoming a champion and getting Rangers back where they belong.

“Now it is about trying to add to that, trying to improve on that and that is the challenge for us all moving forward.”