IF GERRARD RETURNS, BRENDAN RODGERS WON’T WORRY, AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- May 21
- 3 min read
If, and unlike most of the gushing editorials the Scottish press chose to run today, I maintain it is an “if”, Steven Gerrard returns to manage Rangers, it’ll be great news for Celtic.
Despite the hype and the misplaced nostalgia, Gerrard is not the manager Rangers need right now.
Brendan Rodgers has, so far won 11 of the 12 trophies he’s contested over his 2 spells as Celtic manager.
Brendan Rodgers is the Most Successful Celtic Manager of Recent Times, Gerrard Won The Covid League. There is no Comparison
Steven Gerrard won 1 trophy in nine attempts as Rangers manager, and let’s be generous and say there were numerous “extenuating circumstances” that year that worked in his favor.
A friend of mine summed it up well with an April Fools joke he sent me last month. It was a mocked-up news story claiming that Gerrard was considering coming back to Ibrox.
All he asked for in his contract was for 50 million in transfer funds, Brendan Rodgers to be sacked from Celtic and a global pandemic!
I mean, let’s be honest, Gerrard did a decent job that one season, with a Rangers team, that although still not great in my opinion, was far better than the shambles he’ll have to work with now.
However, more importantly, that was, without a doubt the worst season of following Celtic I have ever experienced. I cannot think of another season, and I’m old enough to remember the early 90s, when so many things went so spectacularly wrong all at the same time.
In Vasilas Barkas we had a new goalkeeper who suddenly forgot how to be a goalkeeper. In Shane Duffy we had a very dependable and experienced defender, who completely lost his confidence the moment he came to Celtic.
Neil Lennon was the manager, and as much as I love the man for all he has done for Celtic and all the personal sacrifices he has made to play for and manage our club, he shouldn’t have been in charge that season and I think we all know it.
Celtic will never be that bad again. Additionally, I seriously doubt Gerrard will be able to work whatever miracles he did last time for a second spell, if it happens.
I hold no personal animosity against the man, indeed I really enjoyed watching him as a player for Liverpool, but the reality is everywhere else he has tried to manage after Rangers has been an abject failure.
The appointment of Gerrard, is merely an upgraded version of the Barry Ferguson move earlier this year.
It’s a crowd pleaser, it’s a move that invokes nostalgia, emotive memories of the last time Rangers won anything, completely disregarding how lucky they were to do so that season.
Unfortunately for Gerrard, but fortunately for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers, if this move goes through, I think it’s a major positive for Celtic.
Rangers would have been better off hiring someone who can work within a budget, and who has a proven track record of taking mediocre players and getting them to excel.
Instead, they’re potentially bringing in someone who has just been booted out of the Saudi League, where they throw money around like confetti, and even then he still couldn’t get his team to where they should be.
The two main reasons Gerrard won a league title with Rangers in 2021 were the total, unprecedented implosion of Celtic, and the fact that Rangers went all-in financially on stopping the ten in a row.
Neither scenario will be allowed to happen next season.
The new owners, if they ever do complete the takeover, will insist on austerity and fiscal responsibility. The current owners, if they remain in place, are skint.
Either way, there’s no “huge transfer kitty” to play with, no matter who holds the purse strings.
Gerrard has yet to prove he can win anything as a manager without significant financial backing.
Brendan Rodgers will give his opponent respect, as indeed he would to any opposition manager.
But privately, I’m sure he’ll be quite content to go up against Steven Gerrard next season, and not some of the other, more capable candidates who have been linked with the Ibrox hotseat in recent days.
Once again, we welcome the chase.
