IT may have been seen as a risky move by some on the outside for Steven Gerrard to criticise the fitness of the Rangers players last season publicly given that there are still more than a few of them around, but for me, it sent out all the right signals about what will be expected under the new man’s leadership.

Simply, it is time for the Rangers players to shape up, or shape out.

Gerrard was spot on, and anyone who watched the closing stages of the last game of the season at Hibs or the last three Old Firm games would have to agree with his withering assessment.

He has now made it abundantly clear that a lack of application will not be tolerated under his watch, and the players will know straight away that they will have to work hard and keep themselves in the best possible condition if they are to have any chance of making the line-up.

Gerrard is a born winner. You don’t captain a side like Liverpool to the Champions League title or skipper England without maintaining the highest possible standards at all times, and this is the type of mentality that he is clearly trying to get the Rangers players to buy into. And if they don’t, then they won’t be around the club for long.

I have felt for some time that there has been a problem in the Rangers dressing room not only with the physical condition of the players – particularly when compared to Celtic – but with a lack of mental strength. There has been a soft centre to the Rangers squad for far too long now, and this will have been noted by Gerrard, a man who showed in his playing days that he had an iron will.

Just think back to that Champions League final in Istanbul, when he dragged his team back from three goals down through sheer force of will. I don’t think someone who could do that will tolerate the sort of late collapse Rangers produced in that game at Easter Road back in May, chucking away a two-goal lead after coming back from three goals down.

They were simply not physically or mentally fit enough last season, and Gerrard has signalled – quite rightly – that those days are over.

If he is to remedy the shortcomings of the Rangers squad in both their physicality and their mental strength, then their pre-season training camp to Andalucia is a great place to start.

First and foremost, these trips are a great way to integrate new faces into the camp, and while I’m sure he would probably have loved to have even more new players in than the four he has, it should prove especially helpful to the likes of Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic to get familiar with their new teammates and get to grips with what is expected of them at a club like Rangers.

I was encouraged to hear that the players are being put through punishing double sessions each day when they are over there. It reminded me of when Walter Smith used to take us to a pre-season training camp in Germany every year out in the middle of nowhere. It was hard going, and you maybe weren’t thanking the gaffer for putting you through it at the time, but you definitely felt the benefit later in the season if you had put the hard yards in during the summer and got that fitness under your belt.

If Rangers are to have any hope of challenging Celtic next season, then it seems like such a simple area where they can close the gap. They have to show that they are willing to work as hard as their rivals are to give themselves a chance of success.