There's no way to get around it, Rangers have had another abysmal season.

While challenging Celtic for the Scottish Premiership was always going to be a big ask, the manner in which they surrendered the fight both in direct competition with the Hoops and over the course of the season has not been good enough for Rangers supporters.

Added to that, they are again struggling to even finish second ahead of teams with resources far less than theirs. There is even a chance that they finish fourth if results go against them this week. That's unthinkable.

The appointment of Steven Gerrard has added a bit of much needed optimism, but the realities of the job ahead of him will be difficult to navigate.

While bringing in fresh talent is obviously a priority, just as important is shedding players from a squad that simply hasn't been good enough.

These are the three players that must be first out of the door this summer by any means necessary...

Bruno Alves has been a massive disappointment and flop since arriving as Pedro Caixinha's first signing in last summer's transfer window.

His signature was supposed to be a signal of intent, but his spell at the club has turned into more of a symbol of failure.

Reported to be one of the squad's highest earners, he simply hasn't delivered a return on that investment, starting less than half of Rangers games in all competitions this season.

When he has played he's often failed to impress, looking a shadow of the towering defender who won so many trophies with Porto, FC Zenit and Fenerbahce.

Getting him off the wage bill must be a priority for Steven Gerrard, whose resources will be stretched to the limit as is. Sadly for the Liverpool legend, Alves has another year on his contract at Ibrox, so he'll have to hope that a buying club comes in for him.

If Bruno Alves' spell at the club has been a disappointment, Carlos Pena's has been nothing but a disaster.

Heralded as one of the club's marquee signings last June, he took over three months to make his first start for the club and ended up making only eight in total before being sent on loan to Cruz Azul in his Mexican homeland in January, unbelievably signed by Pedro Caixinha for the second time in a single season.

However, the shambles didn't end there, with the midfielder reportedly sacked last month for urinating in a fountain in the team's hotel while drunk.

With two years left on his current Rangers deal, his status at the club is in limbo but it's fairly clear he has no future at Ibrox in the short-term and the Gers must look at every option to ensure he is moved on.

Completing the trio of disastrous Pedro Caixinha signings is Eduardo Herrara, who was announced as a Rangers player on the same day as Carlos Pena.

A 9-cap Mexican international, there was a keen sense of intrigue about the target man striker when he arrived and after scoring four games into the league season, there was some hope he could do a job.

With just one solitary League Cup goal since then though, it's fair to say he's failed to make an impression and hasn't even played in a league match since December despite being fit for the vast majority of the time since.

He needs to go to make way for other signings and strikers that Steven Gerrard wants to pursue.