Rangers manager Steven Gerrard ready to kick off new era at Ibrox with friendly against League Two side Bury

As the sun continues to pound Glasgow with once-in-a-generation ferocity, those who seek sporting relief from its glare on Friday evening can pull down the blinds and watch the World Cup quarter-final between Brazil and Belgium or take in the latest action from Wimbledon. Alternatively, one can finish the working week by trekking to Ibrox for a pre-season friendly between Rangers and Bury of League Two.

Upwards of 35,000 will choose to witness a spectacle that, in almost any other circumstance, would not attract more than a fifth of that number. The transforming factor is, of course, the aura of Steven Gerrard in his first home appearance as Rangers manager – indeed, as a manager, full stop.

The former captain of Liverpool and England has spent exactly seven weeks in his unfamiliar incarnation but the Light Blue faithful will scrutinise every phase of the contest for evidence of his transformational capacity. One of Gerrard’s summer signings, the former Brighton central defender, Connor Goldson, on Thursday briefly conjured an apocalyptic vision when he said, of what he had learned from pre-season training so far, that the manager wants his players to come off the field ‘drained and literally dead’.

Goldson signed for Rangers in mid-June but the traditional photo opportunity at Ibrox was postponed because of the birth of his son, Caleb, and the squad’s subsequent training camp in Spain. “I’m excited. I haven’t been there yet,” Godson said. “When I signed, I was meant to go but, with the birth of my son, I couldn’t.

“So, I said to myself that I didn’t want to go or see it until the day I play there and obviously I’m looking forward to the chance to see the stadium.  I know there’s a lot of tickets been sold and I’m sure it’ll be a great occasion for myself.

“I understand that first impressions are usually massive but, at the same time, we’ve got the whole season and I’ve been here for 16 days so far and I can only say that everything’s been positive.

“We’ve been working hard, understanding the way the manager and the coaching staff want us to play and the way we understand each other as a team. Like I said, it’ll keep building, but these games are important for us because we need to get ourselves mentally right and win games, whether it be a pre-season game behind closed doors or at Ibrox.

“It’s been tough, especially the Spain trip – very tough. We had 10 days of hard work, obviously with a lot of football as well. The style that the coaches and manager want to play requires a fit side and that’s what he worked on in the first 10 days.

“Since we’ve got back, it’s been a lot of football and a lot of tactics – work on styles and structures and that came across well in the closed doors game against TNS.”

Rangers’ immediate priority is to make headway in the Europa League qualifiers against FK Shkupi of Macedonia at home next Thursday. If Rangers fans want to conjure a chill amidst the heatwave, they need only recollect last season’s calamitous encounter with Progres Niederkorn from Luxembourg, an assembly of players for whom the description of journeymen would be high praise.

Pedro Caixinha’s brief and gormless tenure as manager was virtually doomed from the moment Progres ejected Rangers from the Europa League. “Every game is going to be tough, as Rangers found out last year,” Goldson said. “But that is in the past, there is no point in looking back to last year and feeling pressure from it because there is nothing that can be done now.

“It is about taking these games in our stride, trying to win against Bury and build confidence within the squad to keep improving. Then we go on to Thursday and look forward to it with 50,000 of our fans behind us, which can only help us. We will go into it confident and excited about the challenge.”