Steven Gerrard's two-word Rangers plan to turn Aston Villa into contenders

"A 'no excuse' culture." - That's what Steven Gerrard says he aims to bring to his side as a manager.

"We'll make the training ground better, we'll make Ibrox better, get you better kit, better food," Gerrard said during his time as Rangers manager. "We'll take all excuses away. I'll do everything I can to protect you, and I'll take as much responsibility, I'll take it all away from you.

"I just want you to go and play, give me the best version of you. If we got the majority of the group buying into that, there was no doubt Rangers were going to improve." Given Villa's early transfer business, which included completing the permanent signing of Philippe Coutinho, attracting one of the most highly rated young midfielders in Europe in Boubacar Kamara and strengthening at the back in Diego Carlos Villa are already stronger, barely two weeks after the season ended.

No excuses. Michael Beale left Gerrard's coaching team to take up the manager's job at Queens Park Rangers only two days ago.

It shouldn't be breaking news to anybody really that a highly rated coach wants to test themselves as a manager and Gerrard himself made this very leap from Liverpool's academy setup to the Rangers hotseat. "This isn't exactly Martin O'Neill walking out five days before the season starts," I said on the latest episode of our Claret & Blue podcast.

Gerrard and Villa will have known of Beale's aspirations to secure a managerial gig and there are still two months until the new season kicks off. They even have over a month until the Villa players kick their first ball of a pre-season friendly.

Beale's departure really shouldn't rock Villa to the core as much as I have seen some fans on social media suggest. Yesterday afternoon saw the club make