I signed for Rangers because of Steven Gerrard and like then I now see hope for the future – Scott Arfield

April 29, 2018. A date every Celtic fan will remember … and one the Rangers support will want to forget.

It was on that afternoon at Parkhead Brendan Rodgers’ side inflicted a huge blow as they wrapped up a seventh successive league title.

And yet it was only two weeks after that 5-0 defeat on enemy territory that I made the decision to sign for the club.

Of course, it was a grim picture at Ibrox at that time – just as it would be right now were it not for news of the club’s impending American takeover.

But all the doom and gloom didn’t put me off returning to Glasgow.

And as long as the club’s new owners target the right characters, I don’t see why this season’s struggles should put off the new recruits who will be arriving this summer either. I can certainly see the parallels connecting the situation I walked into seven years ago and the picture today.

Then as now, the fans had lost faith in a squad that had fallen miles behind their main opponents.

But on the horizon there was a faint sign of hope for the future and that’s what intrigued me when I was first approached in the January of that year.

I was heading out of contract at Burnley and had a couple of options to stay down in England when I got a call from Mark Allen and Andy Scoulding, who were running Rangers recruitment at that time.

I was immediately interested. Of course I was, it was Rangers.

But equal to that, I had a burning desire to put things right against a team that had been dominant for years.

Of course I knew that wouldn’t be easy but I could see there was an opportunity to do something special if only we could put this institution of a club back to where it belonged — at the top of Scottish football.

The first discussions took place before it had