STEVEN GERRARD reckons the hours off the pitch could be as important as the minutes on it for Rangers during their Spanish training camp.

The Light Blues flew out from Glasgow on Sunday morning to begin a ten-day stint in the sunshine as Gerrard steps up his preparations for the new season

The Liverpool legend has completed deals for six players – Scott Arfield, Allan McGregor, Jamie Murphy, Ovie Ejaria, Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson – so far this summer.

And there will be more arrivals, and departures, in the coming days as Gerrard puts his squad in place for the Europa League qualifiers and start to the Premiership campaign.

Gerrard said: “I haven’t been to the resort before but I’ve sent someone over to do a recce.

“I’ve seen the photos of the facilities and it looks a good environment to go and train and work hard.

“The most important thing is for the players to get used to me and my staff.

“And for the staff to get used to the players and start building relationships.

“We said to the players that it is important we become one, we become a group and there is no cliques.

“We are all after the same thing and that is success. The best way for us to do that is to fight for each other and pull in the right direction.

“Togetherness and team spirit, all these buzzwords you hear most pre-seasons are what we are looking for.”