ONE out of nine isn’t good enough for Rangers. That was the admission from Steven Gerrard on Sunday evening and that is the fact that is impossible to ignore.

The eight failures all hurt at the time, and the latest one still does for supporters, but they are enveloped by the emotion of the single success that means so much.

The Premiership title was everything to Rangers this term and the fact that the top flight silverware will be placed in the cabinet next month is the be-all and end-all at Ibrox. That was the non-negotiable, that was one that just had to be won.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard

Yet the achievement of clinching a 55th league flag doesn’t grant Gerrard and his players a free pass and this historic campaign will have a sense of what might have been, a feeling of underachievement to an extent, about it as the dust settles over the summer.

It is a season that will be memorable for so many reasons in both sporting and societal senses, but one which will surely be tinged with regret as Rangers missed two opportunities to assert their dominance and to add further honours to the most important one of all.

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Supporters are entitled to lavish praise and celebrate the league triumph whilst also criticise Gerrard and his players for their shortcomings this term.

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The wins always mean more, but that doesn’t take away the pain of the defeats.

The final target that Rangers have set themselves this term is the one which means the least.

In the grand scheme of things, an unbeaten Premiership campaign matters little and nobody at Ibrox would swap that feat for a shot at the Scottish Cup next month.

Glasgow Times: Steven Gerrard

If Gerrard’s side do indeed go on to avoid defeat against Celtic, Livingston and Aberdeen, they can be proud of their record.

But, within a week, Hampden will host another final that they wanted to be part of and any pleasure gained from their league run will be quashed by feelings of frustration.

From the moment the league was secured early last month, Gerrard has hammered home the message of the importance of winning the Scottish Cup and of Rangers building on their title triumph at the first opportunity.

That chance has now gone, though, and the defeat to St Johnstone on Sunday evening is even tougher to stomach than the one against St Mirren that ended their prospects of winning the Betfred Cup in December.

On that occasion, Rangers had seen Celtic lose to Ross County and the road to Hampden had opened up in front of them.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard

This time around, they did the hard work themselves by eliminating their Old Firm rivals and then fell at the very next hurdle.

Those costly mistakes leave Gerrard with the record of one in nine that he spoke about in the aftermath of the shoot-out loss to the Saints at the end of what was a remarkable and dramatic evening.

It was just one of those nights and, like the St Mirren game, it would come at the worst possible moment as Rangers lost in the cup rather than in the league.

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Had the single success under Gerrard been in one of the cup competitions over the last three seasons, then very real questions would have been asked about his position and the futures of the squad that he has assembled.

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But the Premiership win this season is so significant and so cherished that even another two failures in the cups cannot take the shine off what will still be a season that is savoured for many years to come.

That is why that one in nine record is palatable to supporters right now.

That doesn’t guarantee Gerrard immunity forever more, however, and he knows more than anyone that Rangers must become serial winners in the coming seasons.

Glasgow Times: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard

His record in the domestic cup competitions is frankly unacceptable and the early exits suffered this term are amongst the toughest to take given the superiority that Rangers hold over their rivals and the routes to success that were laid out in front of them.

Quarter-final exits in both tournaments just isn’t good enough and Gerrard has now failed to progress beyond the last eight stage in three attempts at the Scottish Cup.

Aberdeen beat Rangers twice in his first season, while the loss to Hearts in his second was one of the lowest points of his tenure and a moment from which he has done well to come back from.

Gerrard has just one final – the defeat to Celtic at Hampden last term – to show for his efforts and he spoke of the need to improve that record in the aftermath of Saints shock.

The relentless way in which Celtic stormed to 12 trophies on the spin shouldn’t normalise the achievement. Winning doubles and trebles is still extremely difficult to do and any side that is able to accomplish it deserves their place in history.

There could so easily have been a spot reserved for Rangers this term. Ultimately they weren’t good enough when it mattered and those feelings of frustration and anger will surely linger for some time amongst Gerrard’s side and supporters.

It would be ridiculous to label this season as anything other than a real success for Rangers but there is no doubt that it hasn’t been as good as it could have been.

Gerrard spoke about the need to improve in the cup competitions going forward and only time will tell if he and his squad are capable of making those adjustments that are necessary to ensure they can go the distance in the knock-out tournaments.

The Premiership campaign has shown how far Rangers have come under Gerrard. The cups prove that they still have some way to go.