Why? He’s showing potential to be a really good, thoughtful, young manager. If he does really well at Villa and possibly well at another club in between, then he could well be set up to be a the best managerial choice on merit.
This scares me a little more. Its a massive leap of faith.
I think Gerrard has already proven himself a significantly better manager than Lampard though so even a failure at Villa wouldn’t be terminal for his managerial career.
Lampard had the best team in the Championship, barely scraped into the playoffs and then somehow got the Chelsea where he was cruelly exposed as having no concept of tactics or strategy.
It’s actually funny to look at it now. Gerrard was lambasted his whole career for lack of tactical discipline which Lampard was praised for being a cerebral and intelligent player. As managers they are the complete opposite of the narratives they were given as players. Gerrard sets his team up well and Lampard is a moron.
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I like ten Hag at Ajax, but I’d pretty shocked if he’s still available that far into the future given the current hype around him and the clubs he’s being linked to.
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How much of this could be down to backroom staff? from what I remember the coaches Stevie took with him were very well thought of?
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He’s definitely showing potential and has made a fantastic start to his managerial career, but I want to see more on his CV than a few titles/cups in Scotland and a decent Europa League run.
I think this club has now moved beyond hiring on potential and I certainly hope FSG take emotion out of the decision as well. We should be going for the absolute crème de la crème, looking at managers who have won multiple leagues in major European nations and had big success on the Champions League stage.
You only have to glance over to Manchester or check in with any of the London clubs in the last few years to see what happens when you accept the lowering of those standards.
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How does that even work with him about to take the Villa job? I’m more than happy for you to send me a tenner based on a hypothetical that isn’t going to happen.
No idea, I’m not the one who claims to know the future.
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But you can look into alternate realities, not a bad talent.
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I reckon with the right coaches in place I could manage Rangers and pretty sure we would finish 1st or 2nd. I don’t believe success in the Scottish Pub League proves much. He needs to show proven success with a Premier League club.
If 2nd is considered to be failure in the SPL how can he be assessed on that basis.
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2 problems with this.
First I’m not sure 2 qualifies as multiple leagues but certainly the CL stage I’d say your essential criteria would have ruled out Klopp himself.
Second Klopp has worked hard to create something here. There is a good solid base like what Shanks left Bob or more recent Rijkaard left Pep at Barca. What we’re looking for is evolution not revolution. Build on what had been put in place and progress it to the next level. The kind of managers you are talking about have their strict blueprints for how the club would have to change to fit what they would want. Different playing styles, tactical set ups, dressing room culture. Could you imagine someone like Mourinho coming here? It’s nightmare fuel. It’d be chaos. A younger, up and coming manager willing to learn and adapt into the structure (and there’s already some similarities between his set up at Rangers and Klopps at Dortmund actually). If they have the right ability? Surely the manager equivalent of if they’re good enough they’re old enough?
Is finishing 7th with Villa for 3 seasons sufficient to manage Liverpool? I’d love to see him move to a club where he could actually do something, exactly as he’s doing now. Going to a mid table club will only get mid table results. Granted he’s not landing the Real or PSG jobs but there must be a team that’s a step up from Villa with more potential.
What if he qualifies for Europa, does well, maybe picks up a domestic cup and somehow qualified for a CL run one season? Something somewhere towards that coupled with his team playing well would reassure me more than Scottish, Dutch or Portuguese titles or something like that.
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Villa are definitely a side with potential - wealthy, ambitious owners willing to invest in the club, and a squad that is a lot better than its current position in the table would suggest.
If Gerrard is to be in the conversation for the Liverpool job, I want to see evidence he can manage a decent budget, motivate high-quality players to perform week-in, week-out in a competitive league, get them playing an attractive style and, in Villa’s case, pushing for European spots.
There’s the potential there to make it happen. The jump to Liverpool would still be a huge gamble, but at least he’d have demonstrated some of the skills required.
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Makes sense to move further discussion to the Gerrard thread:
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I both agree and disagree with this to be honest. I think we need to look at the best coach (when the time comes) who has been able to grow a project into these successes - rather than any “world class” manager who has had success like that. For example I think we want to next Klopp not the next Ancelotti.
Problem is that looking around the world as it is now and I’m not sure I see many stand out candidates. Obviously Klopp is one of a kind, one of the best managers of all time, so I wouldn’t expect anyone as good as him but at least someone who can continue his build and develop their own legacy from it.
The only guy managing in the Premier League currently that would interest me would be Ralph Hassenhuttl. I think he has a lot of the instincts we would be looking for - youth focused, seems able to operate without breaking the bank, progressive style of football… on the other hand he lacks the actual success in terms of trophies, or a major overachievement on his CV. He’s done a good job of completely overhauling a terrible Southampton team in a short amount of time though.
Other than him then I’m not sure - ten Haag maybe (although I’m cautious of Ajax managers, there is a very deep support system built into that club and it’s hard to know from the outside if he’s the driving force behind recent success).
Gasperini has done an impressive job on a shoestring at Atalanta but he’ll be retirement age when Klopp leaves and probably not a great fit to come from Italian football. Also question his pragmatism - his sides have been battered by English clubs such as ourselves who are just a bit more streetwise.
Imanol Alguacil has done a good job at Sociedad, leading them to 5th last season and currently sat top of the league despite spending next to nothing over the last two years.
In short I don’t see a lot of other great “building” managers around at the moment. I’m guessing we will keeping an eye on some others who are not yet big names, but are at the right “calibre” of club, to see how they do - Jesse Marsch, Marco Rose, Gerardo Seoane, Bo Svensson, Simeone Inzaghi, Ruben Amorim, Jocelyn Gourvennec, Franck Haise, Arne Slot… They’re all managers at clubs that just below the top level who, if they overperform in the coming years, could be names to keep an eye on when Klopp finally leaves.
I also think I’m more impressed than others with the job Steven Gerrard has done at Rangers. It’s easy to forget he was up against a Celtic side that had just won nine titles in a row. In just his second season as a manager he obliterated them - admittedly helped by Celtic’s incompetency - with an unbeaten season winning 32 of 38 matches. He’s done OK in Europe, getting to the last 16 of the Europa League twice with a club that hadn’t got that far since 2010. He can’t move from Rangers to Liverpool, it’s just too big of a jump, but if he performs well at another club for a couple of years then no reason to write him off as a sentimental nonsense appointment.
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What we seem to be forgetting here also…
Stevie has LFC in his DNA… That will be a massive advantage and a will to succeed
Same as what Bob Paisley had…
Don’t remember him having to prove his worth at another club before taking the reins from Shanks
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I know he took Gary Mac with him, who else did he take?
Different pathways mate.
Paisley was forced to retire when fairly young (from memory, I think he was 26 or 27), then took on the role of team physio before becoming a coach, then assistant manager, Gerrard was still playing when some people started bigging him up to be the next manager after Klopp.
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