Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Duncan Shearer: Rangers are pulling out all the stops in their Premiership title bid

Jermain Defoe. Picture: Adam Davy/PA Wire.
Jermain Defoe. Picture: Adam Davy/PA Wire.

Rangers have made a major statement of intent with the signings of Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis.

It is clear Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes his side has a great chance of winning the Premiership title come May and he has convinced chairman Dave King to back him in the January window.

Davis is a player who Scottish football fans know well from his previous spell at Ibrox but Defoe’s arrival is great piece of business.

Defoe is 36 but remains in peak physical condition and I’ve no doubt at all he will score a lot of goals in his time. How long that will turn out to be, however, is open to debate.

Duncan Shearer

He has joined on an 18-month deal but I don’t somehow see him being here for the full duration of that deal. Swapping the Premier League in England for Scottish football can be a culture shock for some and it will be interesting to see how the Englishman fares under the microscope in Scotland.

When he is here, however, he will be a key man, that’s for sure.

Rangers need to sharpen up in front of goal and Defoe will certainly provide an added threat in the final third for Gerrard’s side.

But his arrival also tells me the Light Blues boss has yet to be convinced about Alfredo Morelos and Gerrard’s decision to recall Ryan Hardie from his loan at Livingston reinforces that in my view.

The Colombian is a scorer – of that there can be no doubt – but his temperament is suspect.

He seems to go through these silly spells of petulance and it ends up costing his team dear too often. Managers need players they can rely on in pressure situations and I’m not sure Morelos has the character for that.

He was involved in three incidents in the win against Celtic before the break and can count himself fortunate not to have fallen foul of the referee for any of them.

Three red cards and 13 yellows in 35 games says it all.

Celtic have responded with the loan signing of Oliver Burke, which is an intriguing one.

Burke burst onto the scene after coming through the Nottingham Forest youth set-up and a £13 million move to RB Leipzig in 2016 set a new record for a transfer involving a Scottish player.

A lot of pressure comes from carrying high price-tags around, and despite featuring mainly as a substitute in Germany he broke his own transfer record when he returned to England with West Brom in 2017 for £15m.

His appearances have been sporadic for the Midlands club which is why he comes to Scotland needing to prove himself. But going by his record of improving players, if anyone can get him going it is Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers.