CELTIC fan favourite Chris Sutton has aimed one final dig at Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool great swapped Ibrox for Villa Park.

Gerrard called time on a successful three-and-a-half year stint as Rangers boss when Aston Villa came calling last week, with former player Giovanni van Bronkhorst replacing him in the dugout.

After guiding the Govan outfit to a sought-after Premiership title last season, Gerrard left with the champions top of the standings.

But Sutton reckons Rangers are approaching a crucial juncture in their campaign - insisting that Gerrard's departure has left the club 'in the lurch'.

"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger, someone once said. Until you become a Villan that is, I guess," Sutton wrote in his Daily Record column.

"I wasn’t surprised to see Steven Gerrard go to Aston Villa but there’s no doubt he left Rangers in the lurch.

"What happens next will decide whether Gerrard abandoned ship or did Rangers a favour.

"Giovanni van Bronckhorst might just be an upgrade on the former manager and give the club the kick they look like they need this season.

"Or it could herald a period of upheaval at Ibrox that hands the impetus back across to Celtic.

"Interesting times."

Sutton added that while Gerrard was able to loosen the pursestrings in a bid to stop Celtic securing 10 in a row, his successor Van Bronckhorst will find himself facing an altogteher different challenge.

"It looks like [Van Bronckhorst] has the pedigree as well as the experience of being at the club before, but it will be interesting to see how he gets on at Rangers," he wrote.

"It looks like he likes his teams to play in a similar style to Gerrard so the transition should be more seamless.

"You could argue though he’ll have a tougher job than his predecessor this season.

"Gerrard did what he had to do at Ibrox. Don’t forget, Rangers were whipping boys when he went in there and he delivered the league before Celtic could get to 10.

"That was job done as far as the Rangers fans are concerned.

"But he did spend a fair bit of money. The wage bill went through the roof and he was allowed to spend serious cash on the likes of Ryan Kent and Ianis Hagi. Will Van Bronckhorst be allowed to do the same? You’d doubt it.

"Rangers have managed to find money from somewhere in recent years but the noises coming out of the club suggest they’ll need to sell at some point.

"Van Bronckhorst’s task looks to be to keep his side competing for titles and in Europe, but while having to balance the books.

"That’s not easy. There’s a lot of players coming to the end of their contracts as well, so he’ll be performing a rebuild."