Gerrard needs to hit the Toon
AS LONG as Rangers avoid defeat against Aberdeen at Ibrox tomorrow, Steven Gerrard will complete an unbeaten league season with the Scottish champions.
He has not just stopped Celtic’s nine-year-long domination but obliterated Rangers’ arch rivals. Celtic are 23 points behind with one game remaining, specks in the far distance.
How does a manager follow that?
Gerrard could always try to repeat the feat next year and make deeper inroads into Europe after exiting the Europa League at the last-16 stage this season.
After what he has achieved this season his stock is high.
His dream job at Anfield is not available – and he is not ready for it.
He had been a Liverpool academy coach for little more than a year when the Rangers job came his way and while three years in Glasgow represents invaluable experience, the Scottish Premiership in no way equates to the Premier League.
There are other options in England worth pondering though.
There is a vacancy at Tottenham. Ryan Mason is in charge until the end of the season but almost certainly not beyond.
There is also likely to be a change at Crystal Palace, where Roy Hodgson’s tenure appears to be drawing to a close. But the best fit for Gerrard at this stage of his career is Newcastle United. Steve Bruce, below, remains in post and says he wants to stay but after the pummelling he has taken it would seem merciful for him to ride off to the sunset at the end of the season with a suitable generous remuneration package from Mike Ashley. A pair of trainers maybe. Or a sweat band.
Any replacement would need to be eyeswide-open about what he is getting into but there is an enduring appeal about Newcastle. It is a club which stands for a city and fan base that stands for great football. Gerrard may recall the applause which came his way from a chastened but admiring St James’ Park when he was substituted late on in a 5-1 drubbing of Newcastle by Liverpool 13 years ago. It is a marriage that could work. Gerrard’s passion as a manager would connect with the Toon Army while the style of football he has developed at Ibrox would represent an upgrade on what they have become used to.
He would probably be forgiven the inevitable mistakes which come from someone at his stage of development on the simple grounds that he is not Bruce.
If he could make a success of Newcastle – and in reality that means a top half finish – he would be a hero on Tyneside. Rafa Benitez, whom Gerrard learnt under at Anfield, is revered after guiding them to 10th and 13th-place finishes in his two full seasons as manager.
And there would be a strategic long-term benefit for Gerrard in moving to the north-east too.
Newcastle would resent being seen as a stepping stone but a couple of seasons managing in the Premier League would set him up for a return to Liverpool in 2024 when the contract of Klopp, above, is up.