The Steven Gerrard Thread

Well this is his first blip he has to deal with now.

Be interesting to see how he deals with it

He’s on a hiding to nothing now…get out Stevie. My advice is don’t fester there waiting for Anfield to come calling. In any case you need to prove you can succeed outside of the perennial two horse race in the Scottish Pub League.

Both old firm clubs and fan bases are toxic. Leave them to wallow in their poisonous bigotry…

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He isn’t going to leave Rangers is he because he lost a champions league qualifier.

He’ll want to go and win the league again won’t he.

Am i right in saying that they still go into the Europa league as well?

They have a qualification game this week, failing that they will end up in the Conference.

Rangers is struggling this season. I would have loved to see if could turn things around.

Aren’t they 4 points clear at the top?

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This would surprise me a bit to be honest.

I mean, he won the league, but it would leave a weird taste. Celtic look like they could challenge this season. Could he first defend the title? Win a domestic cup, since he’s failed to win at least 1 of his 6 domestic cup competitions in the 3 full seasons at Rangers? The league success was great, but is this really a good timing?

If it’s happening, it could be that behind the scenes, he’s not happy with the support or ceiling from Rangers’ board and he’s got an eye on moving to the PL quicker so he could have a bit more than 2 seasons before the possible Liverpool job opens up.

Stevie didn’t strike me as someone who would at the moment flee Rangers while they’re in a title race to defend it to takeover a Villa side who did splash money, but also showed that they’re wild in their moves as well. I thought he’d rather complete at least this season and then see what’s on the table next summer.

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I’d take Xabi Alonso with no first team experience as Klopp successor over Gerrard with experience at Rangers and Villa.

Expecting both of them to be in charge here in the future.

With that said I have the feeling Pepijn Lijnders will take over from Klopp.

Was just about to say the same then thought to double check, and, yes, they are 4 points clear of Celtic.

My personal opinion, is I think he would be better served staying at Rangers for at least this season, defend their title, and have a solid run in Europa League which will stand him in better shape than jumping ship mid season to go to a relegation battling Premier League club

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I’ve had that feeling since the CWC, when he started taking press conferences for some of the cup games as if they club are grooming him to be the next manager

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Moving over here as requested.

With Dortmund Klopp won two league titles, got them to a Champions League final and won three cups whilst competing against an absolute juggernaut of a club with not even a fraction of the resources. I’d say that fits the criteria pretty well.

On the evolution not revolution thing, you could debate all day about what the right thing to do in that regard is and there are cases that will support both sides of that argument like the one you’ve cited with Pep at Barca (though that’s certainly a lot easier when you have Messi). There is no exact science there.

You could also look at Moyes at United who didn’t try to change much at United after Ferguson left and was an abject failure. Those after him did try to revolutionise things and have also failed.

Chelsea have had great success over the years chopping and changing managers who have all had completely different blueprints on how to play. The difference with them is they’ve actually gone for managers who were considered amongst the top 3-5 in the world at the time (Mourinho, Ancelotti, Conte, Tuchel).

My belief is that 99% of the time the best managers will win the top prizes and winning a title with Rangers and potentially getting Aston Villa to finish in the top ten is not enough to warrant being given the job at a club which as aspirations of winning league titles and European cups. If for example the likes of ten Hag, Zidane, Conte, Tuchel etc were available in 2024 then I think it would be a big risk to overlook a candidate with that kind of pedigree in favour of somebody who potentially will reach that level. I want as close to a sure thing as possible.

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I’m actually quite excited by the prospect of seeing him managing in the Prem. This is going to be the real deal.

I mean, for Villa it’s a huge, huge gamble, but from a Liverpool point of view this is where we find out whether or not he’s a credible prospect for us in the future.

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Will be announced on Friday apparently.

15th Jan will be fun :slight_smile:

Any United fans boiling at yet another manager going elsewhere?

Not that Gerrard would ever go there but I’m certain there would be one or two that couldn’t care

Well their greatest manager was an ex LFC captain…

All the best to him. Great job to get at this stage in his career, hopefully they give him the sufficient time and resources to build something there.

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Assuming Klopp leaves in 2024 as is currently slated, I still think that’s a bit soon for Stevie. Even with Lijnders, I do like him and think he makes sense as a next-in-line appointment but also understand the club may want to go with someone more proven. But hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere.

Ultimately, happy for Stevie and feel he will leave Rangers in good stead. And hey, even if on a technicality, they can’t sing “Have you ever seen Gerrard win the league?” anymore. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Can’t find the Scottish League thread.

Any idea who will replace Gerrard at Rangers?

I think this would be a good move for him. Things are in danger of going stale at Rangers. It can’t be much fun having only Celtic to compete with every year. The motivation might be waning.

Villa are a big club and these days have plenty of money. There wouldn’t be much immediate pressure on him other than making sure they don’t go down this season but they have the resources to make a top 6 challenge longer term.

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