In May 2021, Rangers completed their journey as Steven Gerrard’s side were crowned Premiership champions and a historic 55th Premiership title was delivered to long-suffering supporters.

‘Going for 55’ – written by Herald and Times Senior Rangers Writer Christopher Jack - tells the story of the campaign, giving insight and offering analysis into how Gerrard revolutionised the club and restored Rangers to their place at the top of Scottish football.

With interviews from the money men who funded the rebuilding job, the staff and players that made the dream a reality and those in the press that saw history being made, this is a sporting tale like no other.

In day two of an exclusive serialisation, Dave King looks at what the future holds for Rangers and Gerrard ahead of their title defence and return to the Champions League.

THIS IS not the end, this is only the beginning. The message from Steven Gerrard had evolved from ‘let’s go’ to ‘let’s go again’. Now it is ‘let’s go for more’.

At a club where the pressures are as relentless and the demands as incessant, there can be a tendency to look forward too quickly and to think of the future rather than live the moment. That balance is one that Rangers must now strike as they seek to mark the achievements of here and now but strive for the next one.

There will come a time when Rangers must regroup and refocus for the upcoming challenges and there are plenty of goals to achieve as Gerrard tries to finally succeed in the domestic cups, retain his Premiership crown and make an even more profound impact in European competition. Even when attentions turn, these joyous, historic moments will never be forgotten.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard (right) and James Tavernier

Title 55 means more than any other for Rangers, and perhaps more than the sum of all the others. This has been their season, and Saturday, 15 May was their day.

The Premiership title means different things to different people. For Gerrard, it was a momentous feat and his first as a manager, while his players would earn the rewards that their efforts so richly deserve.

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There will be an understanding at Ibrox why it is as significant to the club, but many will probably not realise the true sense of their achievement for some time to come.

There are those for whom the meaning of the moment needed no explanation and former chairman Dave King is one such figure. King may not have been at Ibrox to see Rangers finish what he had started, but the sense of a chapter being closed wasn’t lost on a man who has become one of the most symbolic figures in Rangers’ history.

Glasgow Times: Dave King with Manager Steven Gerrard.

There are those for whom the meaning of the moment needed no explanation and former chairman Dave King is one such figure.

King may not have been at Ibrox to see Rangers finish what he had started, but the sense of a chapter being closed wasn’t lost on a man who has become one of the most symbolic figures in Rangers’ history.

“As you know, we tried for a number of years and I see this as the culmination of that,” King said.

“I came into the club and was, as I have said often, an unwilling investor because I really felt that the local Glasgow and Scottish community should have been doing what I ended up doing.

"Irrespective of that, I chose to get involved and even though there were the naysayers, etc, that is just part of being in Glasgow.

READ MORE: Going for 55: Ally McCoist reflects on Sandy Jardine's Rangers influence and remembers Absent Friends

“I would regard this as the culmination of everything that I tried to do with the club in terms of bringing it back and making it the number one club in Scotland again. I really, genuinely, believe this will not be a one-off.

“Steven is absolutely committed, he is not going anywhere, and with Steven around for the next three or four years I really think that we will go on to dominate Scottish football and start to make a meaningful impact in the Champions League and operate at a level above where Scottish clubs have been for the last nine years.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard reveals his Rangers pride at historic 55 and 150 milestones

“This is probably more of a culmination for me because I asked the supporters to back me to try and get the club back.

"For me, it is a culmination, but for Steven it is a beginning and part of a process to get Rangers there, keep Rangers there and progress in Europe and that will stand us, as a club, in good stead. We will continue to invest and improve the squad and support Steven.

Glasgow Times:

“It is a great time to be a Rangers supporter. We have had terrible times for so many years but it is just lovely to be in such a great moment and time as a Rangers supporter. I am loving it at the moment.”

King was not the only one. The Ibrox stands may have been empty, but fans were inside in spirit as they remained locked out in body and a campaign that started under the dark cloud of Coronavirus would end with Glasgow still gripped by lockdown restrictions.

There will come a day when Gerrard and his players will get to hear the Ibrox roar once again.

When they do, they will be left in no doubt just what impact so few have had on so many during a historic season.

When King met Gerrard that afternoon of Rangers’ Old Firm defeat three years earlier, he would speak of missing the ‘buzz’ that he experienced as a player.

On the day that he was appointed as manager, it was clear that the lure of having that rush once again was a key factor in his decision to move from Liverpool to Glasgow.

There will only ever be one club that is within Gerrard’s soul and his DNA but Rangers are now in his heart.

That affection and understanding is mutual. There will always be a natural draw of Anfield for Gerrard, but Ibrox is not just a stop off on a coaching journey. Ibrox is home.

“The one thing I have said to him, which is quite ironic in a sense, is that I am a huge Liverpool fan and I have Kenny Dalglish as one of my closest personal friends, but he is also a Celtic legend,” King said. “And the other one of the two greatest players in Liverpool’s history will be a Rangers legend.

“I have made it very clear to him, and I don’t have to because Steven understands this, the importance to Rangers Football Club, of what he and his team are doing and how this will cement his legacy with Rangers.

“I am absolutely convinced that Steven will continue with us and what I can say is that Steven is absolutely committed to staying with Rangers and winning further titles.

"What Steven will not do is leave Rangers on the back of one title and go to Derby or something like that. That is not what he is going to do because there is no upside for him doing that.

“To go to a club where he would moderately fail is not what he wants to do. He wants to win with Rangers, take Rangers into the Champions League and then in three or four years’ time when Jurgen Klopp steps down, be ready for Liverpool.

“I see the beauty of the situation with Steven is that no matter how well he does with us, I think from his point of view winning this first league is not enough.

"He wants to cement it, he wants to repeat it and I think it is only with repetition that he will be satisfied.

“His record in Europe is excellent and I think he would like to have a better go at the Champions League than Celtic have done and then say that he had done three titles out of four or four-in-a-row and then that would be a nice time to move on to Liverpool.”

Title 55 is a marker post on Gerrard’s journey. For Rangers, it signifies the end of one and the beginning of another.

It is a triumph the likes of which has never been seen before, one which will never be surpassed in terms of the story or the significance.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard

It was as challenging as it was compelling personally and professionally. Never has a moment in Rangers’ history meant as much, never has there been those levels of pride in the club, in your club, in our club, than the day when Rangers got back to where they belonged.

Some gave more financially, but all gave some emotionally. This title is for each and every one of them, for those that loved and lost, those that feared and fought, and the message of ‘Rangers then, Rangers now, Rangers forever’ acts as a reminder as much as a motivation.

The past will never be forgotten, but it is time to look forward. This title may never be surpassed, but it will certainly be added to by Scotland’s most successful club.

Rangers welcome the chase. Rangers are Ready. Rangers are Going for 56.

*‘Going for 55’ is published by Polaris Publishing and priced at £17.99 RRP. Visit http://www.polarispublishing.com/book/going-for-55