Gary McAllister pleased to see Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe leading by example at Rangers

The former Premier League stars moved north of the border on loan deals from Southampton and Bournemouth respectively during the January transfer window.

Davis has now put pen-to-paper on a one-year contract to remain in Light Blue next term, while an arrangement is in place for Defoe to be part of Steven Gerrard’s squad.

Rangers will bring the curtain down on an ultimately unsuccessful season with matches against Celtic and Kilmarnock this month.

But assistant manager McAllister reckons there are positives to be taken from an eventful campaign.

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He said: “I would say that the two boys we brought in January, Jermain and Steve, you can see why we brought them here.

“Yes, they are at the end of their career but you can see their quality. Jermain in front of goal is superb and he has been excellent for us and around the club.

“The two of them are adding a lot of value to the youngsters as well. When you sign these players, people see them coming from big clubs and they expect big things from them. The two of them hadn’t played a lot of football before they arrived.

“Now they have had a few games under their belt you can see their qualities are coming to the floor.

“I signed for Liverpool at 35 and they are similar to Rangers. Steven Davis has been at Rangers before and knows the club.

“At this club two draws are a crisis. Not only are players singing for a club that needs to win every week but they are under the microscope but that’s what you need at this age to keep pushing yourself.

“I have loved this season and I loved the prolonged run in Europe. The big European nights under the floodlights at Ibrox is special. The games against Villarreal, Rapid and Moscow were huge nights.

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“The Old Firm games haven’t let us down either and there are great games against Aberdeen. They were always competitive and there were a few red cards we wished never happened. I have loved this season and it is a great club.”

Rangers recorded a fifth successive Premiership victory as Defoe hit the only goal of the game to see off Hibernian on Sunday.

Now just two fixtures remain before Gerrard’s players and staff have a chance to regroup over the summer and prepare for another crack at the Europa League and shot at domestic silverware.

Celtic will arrive at Ibrox this weekend as champions after wrapping up an eighth successive title by beating fourth-placed Aberdeen.

Rangers are nine points adrift of their Old Firm rivals and McAllister is determined to make more progress.

He said: “If we finish the season pulling away from Aberdeen and close the gap on Celtic a little bit that would be a plus for us.

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“If we can finish with two good performances and get two positive results then that would give us a big high going into the summer. The players would go away feeling good about themselves. Then it is up to us as coaches to bolster the squad.

“Our plans for next season have started already. We are back at the training ground in June because of our early start in the Europa League. The first game is mid-July so we will be back four or five weeks before that.

“There is a lot of stuff we are moving on with already. The boys like Jordan Jones and Jake Hastie know where their future lies and they will be excited about coming to a massive club like Rangers.

“We are excited they have signed and are making the step up to us and we can’t work to work with them and try and make them better. Jake is a young Scottish player and I am a big believer that young Scots should have a pathway to the Old Firm.

“In turn it helps the national team. I know that sounds a bit romantic but that’s a fact.”