Ok with the dust maybe slightly settling on Steven Gerrard’s departure, after our earlier emotional reactions to his exit we wanted to even the scales with a fairer assessment of his time at Ibrox.
Was it a success? A failure? Was it somewhere in between?
Ibrox Noise takes you through his journey at the club and gives our verdict on his overall performance.
First off, let’s face it, it was a hell of a risky appointment for us – a no-experience manager who had no knowledge of the club, no knowledge of Scottish football and had spent 8 months as a youth coach. The name was big, and he was tasked with winning 55, with taking power back from Celtic.
And while it took 3 years, he DID achieve that.
He gave us back a Rangers that can compete and surpass Celtic, and securing 55 is hard evidence of that success.
He also sacrificed a LOT of family time – we never did confirm one way or the other if his family ever came north properly, but we believe they didn’t, and Gerrard was always commuting. That wasn’t easy for three and a half years.
He was also, let’s not mince this, ****ing awesome in Europe – two incredible runs to the last 16 in the UEL and some world class scalps taken – and while his first group season in UEL wasn’t as good, the 8 matches of 4 qualifying rounds was an astonishing achievement. Then he did it again the following year.
Steven Gerrard was amazing in the UEL.
On the mandate of giving a top Rangers back and getting us a good footing in Europe, Steven Gerrard was a success. There’s no escaping how good our squad now is, compared with Niko Kranjcar and Jordan Rossiter (bless him) when Gerrard joined.
However, there have been big fails.
The first two seasons were absolutely disgusting domestically – no trophies, miles off the pace of Celtic, and no sign of life until it didn’t matter any more – the split in 2019 when we did put a run of form in. In cups it was apoplectic – abysmal. His record in domestic tournaments was the worst of any SPL Rangers manager aside, obviously, Warby and Pedro.
And he was diabolical in the CL qualifier – an absolutely terrible Malmo were absolutely far too good, and while you can attribute that to no signings, and that is a fair argument, the team was just poor and undone by a cannier side.
His Rangers have also been limp this year – despite topping the table, the form isn’t there and the 55 vibe isn’t manifesting itself much.
His mandate was give us a Rangers back that we can be proud of, and give us European credibility again. He did do that, so in terms of his appointment and purpose, he was a success.
However, the cup fails, and a lot of his management decisions were poor. And his manner of leaving left a sour taste in the mouth after his empty promises.
Overall?
It isn’t a failure – but one trophy of 9 with a budget of £35M isn’t really good enough. Even Callum Davidson on 3p and a pack of Chewits did better.
We don’t think Gerrard is that good a manager, and that Michael Beale was behind most of the tactical acumen from last season.
Will he be found out at Villa? Maybe. Or maybe he’ll have learned from Rangers. But he did achieve his objective.
Final Verdict – 7/10 on account of 55.
I can’t believe you are even asking the question. An absolute outstanding success. I can’t believe you have forgotten how bad we were in the 2 seasons before Gerrard came in. Neidercorn alone is enough. Throw in NO wins against Celtic, with 0-5, 1-5 and 1-5 defeats for good measure. If we got away with a 0-2 we were grateful. We were a laughing stock and it was embarrassing to be a Rangers fan.
Of course we won nothing in his first 2 years. How do you get from where we were to winning trophies in 2 seasons. But we evolved and got significantly better each year including some great European wins and at last a victory over Celtic. Then of course our great 55 season which for me must be our best ever title success. Sure we stopped 10 IAR back in the 70s but we were always a decent team then and not that far behind them. Indeed we were good enough to reach 2 European finals and win one of them. But last season was different. We were so far behind Celtic 3 years ago that even I never saw us coming.
Gerrard’s achievement of winning 55 in an unbeaten season is testimony to his successful period at the club. No question. He leaves us with a good group of players, top of the league, in the semi final of the League Cup and a good chance of Europa League qualification.
We knew it wouldn’t last. His success guaranteed he would be attractive to other clubs in bigger leagues. Thanks for everything Stevie and good luck in your new job and in the future. Always a legend for me.
Sorry but he is a rat that ran first chance he got, l only wish the scouse prick left before the start of this season, fuck him and that useless prick of assistant McAllister, I’m honestly relieved he went, just bad timing but it’s now a case of
In Gio we trust
Rob, it’s embarrassing what you say, Walter is a legend, SG ??? Never in a million years and stay off the drugs, granted everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but l need to call this out as a complete and utter fucking joke and his success ??? 1 trophy out of 9, yip he is legendary status after all, you seriously need to get a grip on reality, every single one of the Rangers support would be absolutely pissing themselves at you, take a fucking day off
JT you regularly set yourself up as the voice of the support when you are nowhere near it. You do not represent me or any Rangers fan I know. You give Gerrard no credit for bringing 55 or for putting Rangers back on the map in Europe. Maybe you were on the drugs back in 2018 before Gerrard arrived and can’t remember what a laughing stock we were. You regularly slag off players who won 55 calling them pricks, fannys and donkeys. You have zero respect for the club and have zero understanding of what it takes to build a team. You sound just like the idiot Celtic fans who gave Rodgers abuse for daring to leave. Oh how we laughed then. And now we have so called fans like you who now want to humiliate our support by behaving exactly in the same way. I’ll stick to supporting the team rationally and with dignity.
I agree with almost everything you say here mate. But I do think the fact he leaves with only one trophy excludes him from legendary status. If he had finished the season and at least retained the title he’d edge closer to that for me. However, 55 will unlikely ever be beaten as far as a title triumph comes in my lifetime so for that alone…thanks gaffer.
Think back to the good old days when we couldny beat septic never mind win the league ffs and a run in europe was a dream,
Then came SG yes a gamble but one that paid off
Hammered septic,got the 55,and earned respect from eufa with the european results,SG has brought the famous out the gutter and back where we belong- CHAMPIONS💪
Yes hes away so fuck thats football he done a job for us and i thank him for that,its all about the money nowadays thats the way it is,hes history now so
Now we move on to the next chapter of the famous going forward
WATP🇬🇧 and dont forget it💪
I was more than scunnered that he left us at this time , CL Semi Final etc . However success he was for sure, we would be devastated to never being consoled had the rotten mob got 9.5* . Thanks SG. However cups total slash , sorry not acceptable. Onwards GVB No Surrender.
A smooth transition of Gerrard to Liverpool in 3 years was never going to happen Bill. There was always going to be jobs coming up mid season like Tottenham, Newcastle, Villa etc. that would give Gerrard the gateway to the EPL. We ALL knew this day would come. I’m gutted but no one man is bigger than the club and we wish Gerrard well and move on to the next man.
Having read the comments from Robrob57.
Everyone is forgetting one very important factor the man who orchestrated it all for Stevie G
Was Sir Walter Smith the master tactician who went quietly behind the scenes to give Stevie all the support he needed to stop 10 in a row the least Gerrard could have done was win this title for Sir Walter and get the club that £45 million pay out to the champions league.
He has walked away and left the club hung out to dry so much for respect and loyalty to the players boardroom fans he could not even let the club know of his intentions 3 days kept quiet
Then the bombshell news.
My prediction is he will get that lot relegated in the midlands and his career will then be left in tatters be careful what you wish for Mr Gerrard.
Only my opinion.
Let’s see if wonderballls Goldston goes there on a free in January. This was planned for months .
We’ll said, RobRob, I agree with all you’ve said. Good luck at Villa, Stevie, Let’s Go!
I think someone said it. £35M spent and a Celtic collapse.
Here we go again. Another Rangers fan supporting the myth peddled by Celtic fans that we only won the league because they collapsed. Celtic lost 2 games last season over above the losses to us. If they had won those 2 games we would’ve won the league by 19 points. Some collapse. How about giving the club some credit for winning the league by 25 points, unbeaten, with 3 wins and a draw against Celtic.
Good luck to him. I would love to see Pedro Caixinho get brought back. He has unfinished business at ibrox. Didn’t get a fair go the first time around. Give Ally McCoy’s a role as his assistant. A dream team.
Never going yo happen Timothy, l am loving we left your 10 and your dreams in tatters and how 55 has well and truly destroyed you and your ilk
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