'If I'm honest': Connor Goldson clears up two Rangers sides to the Gio vs Gerrard story

Reaching the Europa League final will always be the pinnacle of Connor Goldson's career.

But the defender reckons Rangers would have retained their title that season had Steven Gerrard stayed in charge. Gio van Bronckhorst masterminded an unforgettable journey to Seville in 2022, only for Gers to suffer penalty shoot-out agony against Frankfurt in the final. The memories of beating Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig will last a lifetime, but that gnawing pain of missing out on a European trophy will never go away.

It was a season of what ifs for the Light Blues. Would they have enjoyed that famous journey to Seville under Gerrard? Would Ange Postecoglou have been able to bring the league crown back to Parkhead if title-winning Gerrard had resisted the offer from Aston Villa? Goldson thinks he knows the answers.

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He told the Daily Record: "There's two sides to the story after Gio came in. If I'm honest, I think we'd have had a much closer league title if Steven had stayed. We'd have either won it or it would have been close. But the flip side is, I don't think we'd have had that European journey under Steven .

"What Gio did on that run to Seville? As I get older I'm starting to look at coaching so I understand it a bit more. He was amazing . European football suited his style of management. But would we have let a six or seven-point gap go in the league under Steven? I don't think so.

"He wouldn't have allowed it. You can never say for definite because you don't know. But Steven had figured out the league by then. He knew when you went to Kilmarnock, you had to play a bit longer, more direct. Gio came in and it was more possession-based with patterns of play. That worked amazingly well in Europe. But in the league, it didn't."