STEVEN GERRARD will graduate with top honours tomorrow as he completes his managerial apprenticeship, but the Rangers boss is already focusing on his next test.

Gerrard was named the SPFL manager of the year today — his second prize this week after scooping the Scottish Football Writers’ Association award — and will lift the Premiership trophy at the season-closer with Aberdeen.

It has been a turbulent journey for the 40-year-old, but there is no time to sit and ponder on what he has achieved so far; Rangers’ opening Champions League qualifier is scheduled for just 80 days’ time.

“What I achieved at Liverpool I am proud of, but it was about moving on from that period of my career as a footballer,” he said.

“I think from the outside, not many people believed I was the right person. I understood people saying I was a rookie and inexperienced and that the job was too big, I get all that.

“But when Rangers came … I had a vision and I saw that opportunity to try to get to this point of becoming a champion and getting Rangers back where they belong.

“Now it is about trying to add to that, trying to improve on that, and that is the challenge for us all moving forward.”