THE boy who grew up in awe of the Boot Room walked into the Blue Room yesterday with a swagger and confidence most of us will never feel.

You don’t win football games by being good in a press conference. If that were the case, Pedro Caixinha would be weeks away from a treble instead of continuing to fail in Mexico.

Big names do not automatically win big games. Not in management. This is, after all, a 37-year-old with next to no coaching experience, who has never managed or worked in Scotland and, as intelligent as he is, has no clue what awaits him in Glasgow. Not really.

And, yet, Steven Gerrard won us over. At least for a day.

Dave King dismissed words such as “punt” and “risk” but that’s what Gerrard is. And sometimes punts come off. Rookie feels a ridiculous word to associate with such a football icon but that is what he is in terms of his new job.

However, Gerrard spoke so well that he owned the Blue Room, which hasn’t been as busy for a new arrival since Paul Gascoigne signed 23 years ago now.

We’ve been here before, of course. Rangers fans have been charmed more than a snake in a basket in recent years, only to end up being bitten. The list of chancers who spoke well and delivered nothing is as long as Edmiston Drive.

Perhaps Gerrard will be different. Nobody knows. That’s the thing. But it was a fine debut for a man who did not get a single word wrong in his hour or so in front of the cameras and tape recorders.

Before Gerrard graced us with his presence, the small but beautiful Ibrox suite resembled a wedding party waiting for the bride. An odd silence descended, none of us really knew what to do and there was an awful lot of cameras.

The new Rangers manager, as he did as a player with Liverpool and England, walked out first; leading King, Mark Allen and Stuart Robertson. He wouldn’t have meant it, probably, but this was the new man letting everyone know who the boss was.

And the new boss was boss, as they say in his native city.

Gerrard struck the right tone. He was quiet but steely. Every question answer directly and honestly. It will never catch on.

He has no doubts. At least not outwardly. Indeed, there is an argument to suggest Gerrard’s own ability won’t be the problem, especially if he gets proper backing, but that Celtic’s strength is his biggest obstacle.

I can’t been the only one to wonder if what has happened at Ibrox will if anything make Celtic and Brendan Rodgers all the more determined to ensure, in the manager’s words, his squad remains allergic to complacency.

Gerrard can’t do anything about that. He said so himself. His first take will be to weed out out those not good enough, to coax the best from what will be left and, this is vital, getting recruitment right.

It won’t straightforward. There are players at Rangers, Carlos Pena, Bruno Alves and Fabio Cardoso to name, who all have deals to be honoured still. Pedro might have left the building but the mess he made remains.

Rangers are not in a financial position, as things stands, to make sweeping changes this summer; ergo, Gerrard and Gary McAllister, plus whoever else is on the coaching team, must get more from those already on the payroll.

But getting 20 or 30 per cent extra from those who so meekly surrendered at Celtic Park does not equate to Scott Brown even on a rare bad day.

Anyway. Enough of the negativity, as there wasn’t much of that around Ibrox yesterday.

More than seven thousands Rangers fans turned out to greet someone who two weeks ago you would have found behind Neil Lennon in an odds table as to who was next up the marble stair case in brown brogues.

Again, it reminded me of the Gascoigne signing. It was one of the best atmospheres inside the stadium in quite some time.

He’s blue and white and dynamite, sang the fans, and Gerrard lapped it up, playing to the crowd and posing for pictures.

Even those who would have gone with a more experienced manager either were caught up in the excitement of the day or thought: “Ach well, we’ve tried everything else, at least this is different and interesting.”

Gerrard did really well on day one. And now the hard part.