Greg Stewart has opened up on Steven Gerrard's strict body fat rules at Rangers - and how he fell short of the benchmark straight away alongside Alfredo Morelos.
The 33-year-old - who last night signed a deal at Kilmarnock until the end of the season - joined his boyhood club on a pre-contract from Birmingham City in 2019. He was on loan at Aberdeen working under Derek McInnes at the time.
Speaking on Open Goal, the attacking midfielder lifted the lid on his career to date. He was asked about his part-time career working while playing for Cowdenbeath, and how that earned him his move to Dundee and then Birmingham.
Kevin Kyle pointed out that Stewart had made it clear that in his career he'd never returned to pre-season training in particularly good condition.
So, the former Scotland, Hearts, Kilmarnock and Gers forward asked if he looked after himself during the summer before arriving for his first day at Auchenhowie, especially given how special a moment it was.
Stewart replied: "I got married and I had my honeymoon. I've never come back great anywhere. I'm always one that enjoys my summer and pre-season is there to get me fit.
"Obviously, I wanted to go back fitter than I should've."
Andy Halliday then cheekily asked: "Right, if you felt like that, how happy were you when you saw Alfredo Morelos? You think you're bad."
Stewart: "Oh my god mate, aye. He was f*****g outrageous. He was a joke as well, just that season.
"I was alright at running. I could run. I was always fat-fit."
Halliday: "How bad was he [Morelos] at the runs, though? The worst you've ever seen, it's not even close."
Ferry: "Was that through a lack of fitness or he just couldn't be arsed?"
Halliday: "I'd imagine a bit of both because if he'd properly pushed himself like people do then he'd have been better.
"I told you, the first pre-season day at Rangers, we used to do 30-15 tests, so like the bleep test, then you would be split into three groups where it would be the best eight, the middle eight and the bottom eight. Then it would just be Alfredo Morelos, he would be in his own group, running himself.
"That's why I think that was Alfredo's best year because Gerrard didn't allow him to. 'You're not playing for me in that nick.' He used to do spin classes at like 7am. Extra gym sessions too.
"You could always tell if Alfredo was going to be good by looking at his neck. If his neck was out there, he's going to be s****, if his neck is slim then what a player you've got."
READ MORE: Ex-Rangers ace Alfredo Morelos aiming to kick-start career
Ferry then asked Stewart if Gerrard was happy with his weight in the early stages.
He replied: "No. We had to be below 60 body fat. I think I was 108. I was high but Alfredo was in 120s. But obviously that didn't really help me, I was new there.
"The boys told me that he was big on body fats and straight away I thought 'Oh no, I'm f****d,' but I didn't think it was like that at the time.
"Somebody said the gaffer wanted to see me. He was stood with a 10kg weight vest and told me to put it on. He asked me how it felt, and I said 'It's f*****g heavy.' Then he said back 'You're carrying too much, you better get that off.'
"Within about three weeks I'd stripped it back and I was in the 80s. The lowest I ever got was 73. I couldn't get below 60, ever, and I was not eating."
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