Steven Gerrard insists he is “all in” at Rangers as he moved to quash speculation about his future at Ibrox.
The Rangers manager was dismayed with the 1-0 William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Hearts on Saturday and admitted it was “the lowest I felt since I came into the job by a long way”.
Ahead of the home Ladbrokes Premiership game against Hamilton on Wednesday night, as Rangers try to claw back a 12-point lead Celtic hold at the top of the table, Gerrard, contracted to the club until 2024, was asked if he had thought about his future in the wake of the Tynecastle defeat.
“Long term? No, no,” said Gerrard, who confirmed striker Alfredo Morelos is available again after being left out of the Hearts game for disciplinary reasons.
“From the end of the game at the weekend, which was bitterly disappointing, I have done a real lot of thinking to myself and shared those thoughts with people around me and I am ready to go again.
“I’ve signed up to something here. I’m in, I’m all in.
“I always knew there was going to be periods like this that were tough, real setbacks.
“I think this is when the club needs me most and that is to stay strong and fight on and push and continue to try to improve this and build on the progress we have made in a lot of areas, to learn from some of the things that haven’t gone so well and try to avoid them happening again.
“If you want to survive at this level you have to bounce back pretty quickly from setbacks and the weekend was a low, I am not going to deny that.”
Gerrard revealed that Morelos has accepted his internal club punishment after returning late from a trip to Colombia last week, which led to his absence from the game in Gorgie.
The former Liverpool and England captain said: “He has been disciplined internally, which he has accepted and he has shown a lot of remorse for his actions, letting his team-mates down and supporters down.
“As a club we are very united from top to bottom in terms of our standards and what is expected.
“When someone goes against that trust it is important that they are punished for it, so that’s what’s happened.
“I think it is important that we are not stubborn and let it fester and carry on.
“It is important that we move on from these situations, it is dealt with strongly, which it has been and we move forward.
“Is he going to be perfect? No. Is he going to make mistakes and frustrate me from time to time? Possibly.
“But I need to make sure I do the right thing for him and the club in this situation and that’s what I felt I have done.”
Morelos’ fellow striker Florian Kamberi also returns after he was cup-tied for the Hearts game, but Gerrard revealed some injury problems after Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield were substituted at Tynecastle.
He said: “Ryan Jack has got a bruise underneath his heel so he won’t be involved tomorrow.
“I think he has a small chance for the weekend but I still say he is a doubt for the weekend.
“We are waiting for news on a scan for Scott Arfield, it is not as bad as originally feared.
“Scott is a big doubt for the weekend. (Filip) Helander is due back in full training on Friday which will be a big boost and bonus for us. Matt Polster should be back in training on Friday, he has a bit of a hamstring issue as well.”
