Gerrard talks hang on transfer budget
STEVEN Gerrard’s appointment as the next Rangers manager is expected to be confirmed tomorrow. The former Liverpool captain admitted last night that he is interested in the position and that negotiations with the club have been ‘positive’.
With the sacking of interim manager Graeme Murty yesterday morning clearing the way to a first managerial role for the 37year-old, Gerrard told BT Sport that he will ‘see if we can progress it’ when he has returned to the UK after covering the Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich Champions League semi-final.
Gerrard said: ‘There’s truth in the rumours. I’ve held initial talks with Rangers and the plan is to pick them up in a couple of days.’
Asked by Gary Lineker if he is confident of becoming the Ibrox club’s next manager, Gerrard said only: ‘We’ll see.’
It is understood that two key issues remain to be ironed out between Gerrard and the club. One is the size of transfer budget he will get to undertake a rebuild that is clearly needed.
Rangers latest six-monthly financial results revealed only a £300,000 profit and they rely on soft loans from shareholders to fund a shortfall in revenue.
It is also thought Gerrard wants assurances that he will have the final say on which players come in as he will have to work under director of football Mark Allen, the former Manchester City academy head. Although attracted by Rangers’ pedigree and fan base, Gerrard will face huge expectations at a club which is still very much in flux, two years after making it back into Scotland’s top flight.
Under the five-year plan Rangers put together when outside of the SPL, the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons were identified as those in which the target was to ‘challenge’ Celtic for the title.
That prospect is clearly some distance off, with the decision to hire Portuguese Pedro Caixinha as manager 14 months ago contributing to a season of chaos.
When Allen arrived from City last summer, Caixinha had rapidly spent several million pounds on eight new players, including a substantial Portuguese contingent. They had clearly not bonded when the campaign began and the club were eliminated from the Europa League by Luxembourg’s Progrès Niederkorn.
The focus amid the club’s financial crisis was on getting back into the Premiership. But that meant scouting and youth development have been badly neglected.
The club have slipped to third in the table as a result of the 5-0 Old Firm defeat on Sunday and could miss out on a place in Europe.
They are three points behind Aberdeen and level with Hibernian — both of whom they still have to face away from home.
If Motherwell shock Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, a fourthplace finish would not be enough to secure a Europa League qualifying spot for next season.
Fourth place will only gain entry if the Scottish FA Cup winners have already qualified for Europe, as champions Celtic have.