Gary McAllister compares Rangers to an old Leeds United situation

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Rangers took a huge step forward when they beat Celtic before the winter break.

Rangers assistant manager Gary McAllister has told The Herald that he thinks the club’s momentum is similar to when he was playing for Leeds United.

The Gers finished 12 points adrift of Celtic last season, but the good times appear to be coming back at Ibrox as Steven Gerrard has impressed in his first campaign in charge.

Gerrard not only took Rangers into the Europa League, but also has the Gers challenging for the Scottish Premiership title, as they are level on points with Celtic.

Rangers beat the Bhoys 1-0 last time out, and have shown that they really are ready to challenge for stop spot even in Gerrard’s first season in charge.

Now, Gerrard’s assistant McAllister has drawn comparisons between Rangers now and the Leeds of the late 80’s and early 90’s that he played in.

Leeds won promotion to the top flight in 1990, and immediately finished fourth, but in their second season back they actually won the old First Division under Howard Wilkinson.

McAllister was at the forefront of that success, and believes there are comparisons with Rangers in terms of getting a feel-good factor to then chase down a rival for the title; Manchester United in Leeds’ sense and Celtic in Rangers’.

McAllister believes that a good season – even if it doesn’t end with a title – can give Rangers the momentum to that one step further next term, giving belief to the players that they really can challenge the Bhoys.

“I’ve been at clubs where they came out of divisions below and came up into the big league – a big city club Leeds United, we surprised a few people in our first season back in the top flight,” said McAllister. “I’m only reminiscing of personal experience and the fact we finished well in the first season it gave the players the belief to go and win the league the following year.”

“Doing pretty well in the first season made us think ‘Oh, we can actually go a step further’ even though Manchester United were ahead in the second season. There were moments in that first season where that group of players – and this is a new group of players as well – go ‘Oh, maybe we can…’ There are moments where when you get a sort of performance and result you’ve got to visualise these moments throughout your career and use them to your advantage,” he added.