STEVEN Gerrard last night told TV executives to stop showing empty stands at Ladbrokes Premiership matches – because it is hindering his attempts to attract top English-based talent north of the border.

While a record attendance for a matchday in Scotland’s top flight came through the turnstiles last weekend, the Englishman reckons the atmosphere doesn’t always come across in the TV coverage.

Taking stock as he approaches the end of his first season in Scottish football, Gerrard reckons the quality of some Scottish top flight matches has been surprisingly good, but the quality of others has been surprisingly bad. But one of the first things that always tends to crop up in his discussions with potential English-based signings are the gaps in the stands.

“There are a few things I’d change about the game up here but it’s a debate that’s open to everyone; not just me,” said Gerrard. “Of course, try and fill stadiums more but that’s tough. There are a lot of reasons why they aren’t full. I wouldn’t have plastic pitches, but that’s no surprise to anyone.

“But I’d also be more cute and clever with the camera angles at certain stadiums,” he added. “Sometimes you see stands that are empty on TV, which doesn’t look great on the eye in my opinion. Maybe if they’re putting certain games live on BT or Sky they should change the camera angles so you see a full stand rather than an empty one. You go live on BT or Sky Sports around the world and you have a camera on an empty stand. It is ludicrous, I don't get it.

“It comes up in conversation when you are chatting to players. It is just my opinion, only a small thing.

“But I want Scottish football to be as good as it can be. I am part of it now and I have a responsibility to help. I want the game to be better up here, and I want it to look better on the eye. And there are little subtle things that you can maybe do.”

As for the standard of the play, Gerrard admits it has been something of a mixed bag. It may not be helped with a quarter of teams in the top flight utilising artificial surfaces, but as a purist he would love to see more of a commitment to playing the ball on the ground more often.

"Certain games we've played in, or I've watched, they've been a higher level of quality than I originally thought there would be,” said Gerrard. “But at times I've also been a bit disappointed watching certain games.

"I've been to certain games too and the stadiums haven't been full and when it's come to the standard the ball has been in the air a lot,” he added. “To be honest, they’ve been a little bit worse than I thought. So it's probably been a bit mixed.

"I think about some our our games against Aberdeen and Celtic and they've been so enjoyable because they've been so fierce and quick and intense. That's the level you want to see.

“I guess it happens in most leagues. You’ll get some games that blow you away and some games that’ll leave you disappointed because you don’t get the standard you expect. That’s just the way it is. It’s not to criticise Scottish football or any individual teams. We have played some very good games against the lower teams and they have made it very difficult for us. And I like going to all the old traditional stadiums, I love it in fact. But when I am watching Sportscene there is nothing better than to see full stands, supporter enjoying themselves and full stands.”

The supporter has certainly had little room to quibble with Rangers’ matches with Hibs this season. Gerrard has yet to beat the attack-minded Edinburgh side in three attempts, even if he feels their performances perhaps deserved better.

“I think the word oddly is right because we’ve played well against them without being ruthless and clinical in front of goal,” said Gerrard. “I think our performance against Lenny’s team was up there with the best we’ve played. We had 20-odd chances on goal but just couldn’t find the breakthrough.

“That’s another keeper who got man of the match against us. So it has been a frustrating fixture for us so far and we want to try and put that right at the weekend.

“But Paul [Heckingbottom] has done an incredible job since he’s gone in. He’s got them really consistent and organised, and looking really dangerous, so it’ll be another big challenge for us.”

This is a time of flux at Ibrox, with new signings such as Jake Hastie and Jordan Jones set to arrive, and others like Eros Grezda and Kyle Lafferty appearing on the way out. The club will have to make decisions also on loanees like Jason Holt and Greg Docherty when they return to the club in pre-season.

"Jason is in a bit of an unique situation because he's injured, he's in a knee brace,” he said. “The chat I had with him was about getting game-time and we've followed him at Fleetwood to see how he's done. We'll see how quickly he recovers from this injury and we'll go from there.

"With Greg Docherty, he's had a good season so he'll come back with us for pre-season and we'll see how he does. I know how desperate he is for it. It'll just boil down to how well he does in pre-season and whether I think he can get a pl;ace in the 18 and push for game time.

"The easy one would be to keep them here for a selfish point of view, just to cover myself. But I think you've got to be fair to players and be honest with them because they want to play. I don't want be telling a player he's going to play and then I don't deliver on what I say.”