Gerrard won’t be defined by his first derby
STEVEN GERRARD has inspired his team to victory in a Champions League final, almost single-handedly dragged them over the line to win the FA Cup and won a century of caps for his country.
But for all he has achieved in football, he will never have experienced anything quite like stepping on to the touchline tomorrow in the heat of an Old Firm derby for the first time. I have known Stevie for the best part of 25 years. In all that time, he has not changed one bit from the apprentice who used to clean my boots. Even at 15 years old, he looked a class apart. I remember when he first came to train with the Liverpool team and marvelling at his touch and how sweetly he could strike a football. It was like watching Tiger Woods hit a golf ball. I remember saying to him: ‘You can play’ and he simply smiled back as if to say: ‘I know.’ Yet for all his confidence and supreme ability, Stevie has always been very humble. That is the quality which will take him a long way as a manager. Plenty of great players — and I count Gerrard among the greats of the game — have not enjoyed the same level of success when they moved to the dugout. They often struggle when the players they are coaching are not good enough to execute the ideas they are trying to put across. Stevie is not like that. He would be the first to admit that even when starring for club and country, he would get nervous and had a tendency to dwell on things. It means he will be able to empathise with his Rangers players when they head into tomorrow’s derby at Celtic Park as underdogs. When I spoke to Stevie recently, he told me just how much he was enjoying coaching these players. It is where I see the similarities between him and Brendan Rodgers. Whenever you are in Brendan’s company, his eyes light up when he talks about football. He is addicted to the game and loves nothing more than taking a squad of players and improving them. This is a man who was a whisker away from winning the Premier League with Liverpool in 2014. I have so much respect for everything he has achieved and I am delighted that he has resurrected his managerial career at Celtic. Stevie’s arrival north of the border has put Brendan on his toes — and it has definitely shaken Celtic. They are not going to have it all their own way this season and already they have slipped up in a couple of games. But this first meeting will not dictate how good a manager Gerrard will become, or whether he is better than his former boss. There will be plenty of bumps along the road he will have to overcome at Rangers. Tomorrow, Celtic’s home advantage will be huge. What is certain is that this is the most fascinating Old Firm game for years. I can’t wait for this tussle between two managers who are pure box-office.