CHRIS SUTTON has urged Steven Gerrard to "stop coming up with excuses" ahead of a huge season for the Ibrox side.

The Liverpool legend is still to deliver a trophy for the Light Blues during his two years in charge and faces his toughest challenge yet next season as he aims to stop Celtic from reaching 10-in-a-row.

And Parkhead hero Sutton reckons Gerrard still has to prove himself as a manager with increased pressure mounting on his Ibrox position ahead of a make or break season.

Speaking to teamTALK, Sutton said: "The Rangers fans have a lot of faith in Steven Gerrard and want to believe he is the man who can take them back to the promised land and stop Celtic, but he has proved nothing so far.

"He’s not won a trophy for two seasons and now the pressure is on him.

"Gerrard needs to stop coming up with the excuses and deliver and trophies are all that count when you are Rangers manager.

"No team has ever won ten-in-a-row and Gerrard has to make sure it doesn’t happen.

"If he fails, he will be remembered as the manager who came up short in the season when Celtic made history.

"Gerrard has been backed in the transfer market. He has been allowed to bring in some big-name players on big wages and they just haven’t been able to go the distance and finish the season on a high.

"Celtic have some stalwarts in their team like captain Scott Brown and a few others who have been there a long time and know-how to win trophies, but Rangers are a team still striving to prove they can get to that position and until they win something, those question marks will remain.

"They have fallen away badly in the final weeks of the last two seasons and even if they start well next time and keep pace with Celtic, it will always be in the back of the mind of Gerrard and Lennon that Rangers have a track record of failing when it matters most.

"Winners are only confirmed when the trophies are handed out and on that score, Gerrard and Rangers have failed and that will be a tough reality for them to accept, especially after they beat Celtic at Parkhead back in December and believed they were ready to be champions again."