Ibrox Noise is noting with interest the story linking Steven Gerrard with the England job, specifically the U21 position as a succession role, as current incumbent Gareth Southgate went through.
We’ve followed Gerrard’s post-Rangers career with one eye, and the former Rangers manager’s lack of success has confirmed he’s an absolutely rotten manager who completely relied on Michael Beale at Ibrox.
His time at Villa was barely adequate, but then crumpled into quick oblivion as soon as Beale moved onto Queen’s Park Rangers, and the fact he’s been out of work since October last year gives some idea of the low stock he has in the game as a manager.
We don’t want to be too brutal to the man – he came north and as a result of that we got 55 and a lot of European credibility. He doesn’t take credit for the work that was done, but his arrival was the catalyst for what ended up being a strong management team and some good players coming in.
But he himself just falls deeply short of competence as a football manager, with Aston Villa’s performance under him showing players will not run through walls for him, even if he was able to get them a big name like Coutinho.
Sadly, not unlike our esteemed Super Ally, a great player does not necessarily make a great manager, and Ally has had a far better career in TV post-Rangers than he would have had as a boss.
Gerrard did make a reappearance as a pundit recently on BT for the Liverpool Real match, and he’s better off staying in that gig because he is half decent at it.
Or is it possible he picked the wrong jobs to begin in management? Rangers were overall too big for a 38-year old manager in his rookie season, and Villa in the Premier League was even tougher still.
Gerrard should have learned his trade in lower leagues, seeing if he could handle that level. Of course, we’re not complaining about 55, but it’s evidence Gerrard wasn’t the man responsible.
His exit from Rangers was dreadful, and he will carry that one for the rest of his career, but do we wish him ill? No, we’re sure he’ll find the right thing for him eventually.
It just probably won’t be Trabzonspor…