Rodgers admits shock at former Pool captain’s link to rival post

CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers was “a little bit surprised” to see Steven Gerrard linked to the manager’s job at city rivals Rangers.

The Liverpool Under-18s boss has emerged as front-runner for the post ahead of the Light Blues’ trip to Parkhead tomorrow.

Former England captain Gerrard was Liverpool’s skipper when Rodgers was in charge at Anfield.

Rodgers said: “I’ve seen the speculation and I was a little bit surprised. But the most important thing when you are starting out is when you feel the time is right and when you feel ready.

“It is not necessarily about a club, it is about the right club.

“I know he has always wanted to be a manager, I know that from my time working closely with him at Liverpool, it was something that he wanted to do.

“So if it happens for him then he will obviously feel it is right and the right club to start at.”

Rodgers, whose side can clinch their seventh successive title against Rangers, was reluctant to expand too much on the challenges Gerrard would face in Scottish football.

The former Swansea boss noted Graeme Murty, who currently occupies the Ibrox hot-seat but whose hopes of getting it past the end of the season probably ended with the recent 4-0 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic at Hampden Park.

Rodgers said of Gerrard: “First and foremost it is the football challenge. He has lived with expectation all his life playing with Liverpool and captaining England as well.

“So I think when you go into any job, and in particular at the big clubs, there is always that expectancy.

“But like I say, it is all speculation and I don’t want to spend my whole time talking about that here when, with all due respect, you already have a manager that is in place working at Rangers at this very moment, who has done a very good job in the time he has been there.”