Arveladze 'happy' to stay at Ibrox

Striker Shota Arveladze hopes to give Rangers and their suffering fans a much-needed boost by signing a new contract.

Rangers slipped 11 points behind arch rivals Celtic in the Bank of Scotland Premier League with a 3-0 defeat at Parkhead on Saturday.

But the Georgian, who has been one of Rangers’ best performers this season, is ready to lift some of the gloom at Ibrox.

Arveladze said: “I would be happy to stay if the club is happy with my performance.

“My family is happy, I am happy. If it doesn’t happen then I have been thankful to be here. Everything is ready to sign and if it happens I will be happy.”

Rangers’ championship hopes look grave and Arveladze admits they need to find something miraculous to rescue them because he does not anticipate Celtic losing any of their games.

He continued: “I can only wish they will drop points at this moment because we can never expect them to lose.

“They lost at Hibs and football is unpredictable. But first we are going to look at ourselves and we are not going to look at what they are doing. They can lose, but we can lose.

“It is best to bring the confidence back to the club. There’s a cup game next Saturday, a hard game, and we have to fully concentrate on that.”

Celtic won comfortably with goals from Stilian Petrov, Stanislav Varga and Alan Thompson, and Arveladze conceded their opponents are far superior in terms of posing a physical presence.

He reflected: “I don’t think anyone thinks before the game that it is hard to go there or play them at Ibrox, they just think it is a great game and a great atmosphere.

“But when it ends like it has here then you can say that, of course, that at this minute they are playing better than we are.

“You have to be at least 50/50 in every tackle to win the game. But if you look at the team you see it is normal that we won’t win them.

“There is myself, Mikel Arteta, Peter Lovenkrands, Chris Burke. Physically it’s more of a football team.

“In the last games we beat Celtic we beat them only because of football.”

Rangers stuttered after missing out on the Champions League knockout stages and Arveladze admits they should have had a long, hard look at themselves.

He concluded: “Of course you have to look at yourself, and not when it is already dead.

“Now is a good time, but we should have done so earlier. In the Champions League campaign we could have had a little bit of luck and got into the UEFA Cup.

“The campaign ended so badly for us, and then suddenly you realise you worked hard and did not do too bad and you are out.

“Then you come back and look at the league and you are eight points behind. If you look now it could be too late.

“It was that time two months ago that someone who wanted to see how good he is should really have looked in the mirror and said ‘me – I could do better’.

“It starts with me and ends with the youngest player.”