THESE TWO WERE DESTINED TO COACH
IT WAS great to see a picture of two old friends this week, standing on the touchline and smiling away but I have to say Scott Parker and Steven Gerrard also gave me a jolt!
Players who I played with are now managers! How did that happen? But both of them were always going to go into coaching. They just have too much to give back to the game. Take Scotty, who I’ve known for years.
I remember back in the day when he was at Charlton and did that McDonald’s advert. We are the same age and, when we were kids, everyone was always going to be ‘the one’ who got to the top. I’m sure it was the same for Stevie in Liverpool. Scotty changed his game to be this combative midfielder. He was always a captain, a leader. You knew he would make a good manager and the same was true of Stevie.
I read an interview he gave at Christmas, in which he talked about how stressful management is and how it has aged him two years in six months.
To be honest, I think that’s why I’m hanging on as a player as long as I can! Management interests me but nothing beats playing.
To see the two of them smiling, two top-quality lads, shows they seem to be enjoying it so far. I’m delighted for them both and it’s good to see them at good clubs, learning from top managers such as Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp.