THE challenge of overcoming a Celtic side that have now won back-to-back Trebles may seem like an ominous one for Rangers next season.

But if you aren’t up for it, then you shouldn’t be at Ibrox or you shouldn’t come to the club this summer.

Rangers need to win the league next season. It is as simple as that.

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That is the pressure that comes when you are at a big club and you can’t say ‘well, we will hope to get second next year because we were only third this season’.

That isn’t the case at Ibrox. You can’t be a Rangers player or be associated with the club and not strive for the best every single day, week, month and season.

If you look at the history of Rangers and the leagues and cups that the club has won, you can’t think that second will be OK.

You need to win the league, and that is what the mentality has got to be. I am sure that is how Steven Gerrard will be thinking.

You have to be honest and realistic about where Rangers are, but you also have to be ambitious and realise that, when you are at that club, you have to win trophies. That’s it.

You need to be winning leagues, you need to be lifting cups, you need to be performing in Europe.

It is Rangers. That is just the way it is.

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Celtic are miles ahead just now, but as a Rangers manager, coach or player, you need to bridge that gap as quickly as possible.

You can never settle for second at Rangers. Every competition you go into, you have to be aiming to win it.

That is the demands and the standards that the supporters expect and you have to be able to deal with that.

Celtic have been a runaway train since Brendan Rodgers came in and it is a phenomenal achievement from the manager and the players to win six out of six.

You have to take your hat off to them and say well done for what they have achieved, but it should make you determined to end that dominance.

Every season, for me, was a fresh start and that was the case whether we had won the league the previous year or whether Celtic were the champions.

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We had the mentality that once the game was finished, it was a fresh start on the Monday. Win, lose or draw, you have to be able to move on and not dwell on the past.

Every single day, every training session, every recovery session, every game, you have to be the best that you could be.

Celtic have got that mentality that you need and that has come from the manager there. They are winners and they know how to get the job done.

Now, that has to be in the Rangers changing room and it has to be the case from the very first day of pre-season training next month.

You need to find a way to win and I think there has to be a massive shift in mentality from Rangers next season.

Again, that will come early on and it will come from Steven and Gary McAllister setting out their vision for the club and laying down the rules from day one. I am sure the players will be left with no doubt about what will be expected from them in the coming season.

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With Gerrard coming in, and with the standards he has got, the bar will immediately be raised during the close season. That has to happen across the club.

He has to get the best players that he can into the squad and look to build a bit of momentum early on.

The problem there is that it can take time for new players, especially when you have that many at once, to gel and become a team.

I think back to last summer when I brought in basically a new team at Rugby Park and they just didn’t come together right away. Through time, they started getting that relationship and Kilmarnock went on to have a great season.

It might be a bit like that for Rangers. It might not be. But there is a danger that it could be a bit shaky and that comes with a large turnover of players.

The Europa League qualifiers start on July 12 so there is not a lot of time for Rangers to get up to speed, and we saw this season what can happen if you are not at it from the first whistle.

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Rangers just need to get through those fixtures, whether they have got all of the players they want in or not. It is so important that they start the season well.

You have got to have belief, or there is no point in turning up. That will come from the manager as well as from within each player.

For the ones that survive this summer, they have to remember how they have felt this season watching Celtic win the league and lift the Betfred Cup and Scottish Cup.

From the first training day next season, they have to be at it and the standard needs to be raised. I think Gerrard will do that.

He is a winner and he has known success throughout his playing career. Hopefully he can now take that into management next season at Ibrox.