RANGERS won the battles, but Aberdeen won the war. Soon, hostilities will be resumed and the first shots will be fired in the next instalment of the contest.

The Light Blues collected three wins and a draw from their four meetings with Derek McInnes’ side last term but somehow conspired to finish three points adrift of the Dons in the Premiership standings.

It condemned Rangers to another third place finish in the top flight as Jimmy Nicholl was left to haul the side through the last hat-trick of matches.

The successive wins – 3-0 at Ibrox and 2-1 at Pittodrie – last year should have given Rangers the impetus to go on and be best of the rest.

But the season would end in disappointment and despair once again and now it is Steven Gerrard that has been tasked with not only overhauling Aberdeen but catching Celtic.

Gerrard will face both of his main rivals inside the first month of the season and former Reds captain Ryan Jack is relishing the opening weekend trip to the North East.

“Rangers at Aberdeen is going to be a sell-out,” he said. “You saw the games last season.

“For us, it was very good, for Aberdeen not so good.

“I’m sure Derek and Tony will have them fired up for the start of the season. They’ll be letting them know that we got the better of them last season in head-to-head games, but they did better than us in the league over the course of the season.

“So I’m sure they will be fired up and ready for the first game, as will we. We are keen to do as well as we can in the Europa League but as soon as that first league game comes, there is no better one to be involved in than Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

“That [it is a chance to put a marker down] is the way you have to look at it. They are going to be trying to challenge with us this season.

“There is no better way than if we can go and lay a marker down on the first day. They will be thinking the exact same.

“They will want to lay a marker down on us. So I’m sure it will be a great fixture to be involved in.”

Aberdeen may have finished above Rangers in successive seasons but it is not McInnes’ side that the Light Blues ultimately have their sights set on.

Every Ibrox boss will be judged in comparison to Celtic and Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha and Graeme Murty all failed their Ibrox examinations.

The focus is inward rather than outward at present, though, as Gerrard has put his players through their paces at a pre-season training camp in Spain.

Jack said: “We have to look at ourselves first and foremost. In pre-season friendlies, we have to look after ourselves and not look too far ahead because I think at times, when we did do well last season, we looked too far ahead.

“We kind of came unstuck a wee bit and it never quite happened. Aberdeen finished ahead of us so there’s no doubt we want to finish ahead of them this season.

“There is no question about it but we still need to look at ourselves and get ourselves right before we start talking about what we’re going to do.”

The Pittodrie clash may be a headline-grabbing start to the season but it won’t be the first competitive outing of the Gerrard era.

The Light Blues will face FK Shkupi in the Europa League first qualifying round next month as Gerrard makes his dugout debut following his move from Liverpool.

And Jack is determined to avoid the repeat of that infamous night in Luxembourg as Caixinha’s side were humbled and humiliated by Progres Niederkorn.

“Maybe in a way [it set the tone for the season],” he said. “It was terrible to be involved in.

“It was a hard one to take. You saw the response of the fans and everyone involved with the club.

“It was just a real kick in the teeth, and the season hadn’t even got going yet.

“But that’s football, things happen, and you need to react and respond.

“We got back to hard work, we went away to England on a trip and it did us a lot of good. We started the season quite well.

“But there is no doubt it was a gutting time. I came to Rangers thinking that we had a great chance of going on and maybe getting to the group stages, which we haven’t done before, but it wasn’t to be. Personally, it was gutting but you move on.

“The players that played in that tie, including myself, will be well aware of what can happen if you are maybe not quite at it or you don’t approach things as well as you should.

“There is no doubt we had an off night that night and we got punished for it. It just shows you that, no matter who you are playing, if you’re not at, you will get punished.

“That’s something that, personally, I will be looking at going into the European games.”

After fighting his way back to full fitness in recent months, Jack has been able to get down to business with Gerrard’s side in Spain over the last week.

The 26-year-old faces stiff competition for a place in the middle of the park this term but it is a challenge he is confident he can rise to.

Jack said: “Of course it’s another challenge in my career and I look on it as that.

“Obviously I was out injured, so the manager hasn’t really seen me play. I’m sure he was watching closely at the back end of last season.

“It’s just a fresh start for me, I’ve worked hard to get back where I am. Hopefully I can put in a lot of hard work in pre-season, make up for lost time on fitness and hopefully that will stand me in good stead going forward.”