Gerrard a 'fire starter' and should not be mocked as Rangers reach Champions League

That is the view of talkSPORT's Simon Jordan who was quick to point to the superb rebuilding job Gerrard and his staff did at Ibrox after taking over in 2018 before departing for Aston Villa last November.

Since Gerrard's exit, Rangers have found relative success on the continent under Giovanni van Bronckhorst with a Europa League final appearance in May, where they were eventually beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt.

Then on Wednesday night a 1-0 win at PSV Eindhoven guaranteed The Gers a spot in this season's Champions League group stages.

It has been a long road back to redemption for Rangers who entered liquidation in 2012 and, as a result, were instructed to play in the Scottish Third Division.

Rangers were promoted back to the top flight in 2016 before Gerrard led them to the title five-years later before leaving for Aston Villa in 2021.

The timing of his exit and the Scottish side's European form had led to some mocking on social media, but that has been condemned.

"You need a fire starter, you need a lightning rod to get things going in the right direction," Jordan told talkSPORT.

"Rangers were building and building and getting better and better over a ten-year period obviously because they were climbing back from the abyss and the pit they put themselves into.

"You had all these various managers who were contributing to the equation like Ally McCoist and Mark Warburton who rebuilt the fabric of Rangers and then you land eventually with Gerrard."

Jordan continued: "It takes him a period of time to get Rangers to a certain position, assembles a squad of players, wins the league and starts the positions of belief and inherent opportunity again. Now they are back rivalling Celtic in all aspects and all facets.

"So you cannot denigrate that. Without Steven Gerrard there's a question to be asked whether Giovanni van Bronckhorst has assumed a squad of players that was ultimately built by Gerrard, put to a certain position by him and Van Bronckhorst has come in and kicked on a little bit."

Despite boss Van Bronckhorst's exploits leading many to dismiss the influence of his predecessor, Jordan paid tribute to the former Liverpool skipper and argued that his league title success in 2021 was possibly more significant than the Dutchman's recent exploits.

Jordan added: "Now which would have been more meaningful to Rangers fans? Getting to the Europa League final and getting beaten or stopping Celtic doing what they never wanted them to do [winning 10 titles in a row].

"I would suggest that Steven Gerrard's place is firmly ensconced in a decent build of Rangers that affords people opportunities."

Ahead of Thursday Champions League group stage draw, Jordan admits having both Celtic and Rangers in the hat is of huge benefit to Scottish Football and hopes the Glasgow giants are paired with Premier League opposition.

"Rangers getting into the Champions League is a good story for Scotland because now you've got two sides in the Champions League," Jordan said.

"It's always a fascinating game [against English clubs]. In the past the Scottish teams have come out and done very very well so with that in mind, it would be great ' The Battle of Britain' or however it's built up in the media.

"But the fact that these teams are in the Champions League proper, the fact that they've both got an opportunity to generate some significant revenue because they have this opportunity to get an extra £30m-40m is good for Scottish Football.