Steven Gerrard has enacted stricter punishments for poor discipline at Rangers

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Rangers captain James Tavernier and manager Steven Gerrard consulted on the new measures.

Rangers captain James Tavernier has revealed that he sat down with manager Steven Gerrard to introduce new, stricter punishments for players who have poor discipline on the field this season, The Scottish Sun report.

Red and yellow cards were a real problem for Gerrard’s team last season.

Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos was the worst offender, receiving five red cards and a massive 17 yellow cards.

He wasn’t the only player to let down his team though, with seven others getting sent off across 2018/19.

Tavernier wants much better discipline from his teammates over the coming season and has revealed the new measures put in place.

As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “Heavier fines are in place. Me and the gaffer had a chat and I definitely welcome it.

“Last season we had too many red cards and too many suspensions. Results might have gone different ways if we had all our players available.

“We want the gaffer to have a headache at weekends with a full team to select from.”

Tavernier is right about results potentially going different ways.

When you consider some of the matches that players were unavailable for, the discipline problems could be seen as one of the team’s big failings last term.

Purely because of suspension, Morelos missed draws against Dundee and St Johnstone in the league as well as the Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat against Aberdeen. Having the Colombian playing in all three could have changed those results.

He was also sent off during a crucial derby against Celtic.

Taking steps to address the problem is a positive step from Gerrard and fans will be hoping that there is a notable improvement when they kick off their Scottish Premiership campaign this Sunday.