Rangers manager Steven Gerrard will be treating recent signing Jordan Jones the same as any other opposition player when his side play Kilmarnock this evening.
Jones signed a pre-contract with the Gers a couple of weeks ago but has since confirmed he will not be leaving his current club until the end of the season and is in line to face his future employers this evening.
Gerrard is keeping focused on his own aims and knows exactly what kind of threat the Northern Ireland international will pose, insisting that he will treated like everyone else not at Ibrox – the enemy.
As quoted by The Daily Record, the Ibrox boss said:
At the moment where it stands, he’s an opponent, he’s the enemy, he’s a rival and we’ll treat him that way. We know all about Jordan, he’s always a threat, but he’s an opponent and we treat him individually and Kilmarnock with respect.
We just deal with it as normal, really. How difficult will it be for him? That’s a question Jordan will have to answer himself.
Jordan is the one who put it into the public domain, so he has to handle it in the best way he can. For me, this is Rangers versus Kilmarnock. It’s not about us playing against a future Rangers player.
Hopefully tonight is an occasion that Jones struggles with. Rangers really need three points to keep Kilmarnock at arms length and to keep the pressure on Celtic at the top of the table.
Gerrard is right to separate the pre-contract issue from the task at hand and hopefully his players do too. Jones isn’t a Rangers player yet and should be treated as such.
Fingers crossed for three points at Rugby Park.