Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Pool star Gerrard front-runner for Rangers job
STEVEN Gerrard is the “frontrunner” to become the next Rangers boss, according to club sources.
The former Liverpool and England skipper has jumped straight to the top of the club’s wish list after talks were launched last week.
The 37-year-old hung up his boots after a 12-month stint with LA Galaxy and has spent the time since cutting his teeth with the Reds’ Under-18s.
Rangers chairman Dave King was spotted at Anfield on Tuesday night as Liverpool took on Roma in their Champions League semi-final showdown – a match where Gerrard was working as a television pundit.
Now he has emerged as the leading candidate to take over at Ibrox.
Talks are at an early stage but Rangers have made it clear they are interested in handing Gerrard his first chance at first-team management. Graeme Murty remains the man in charge, having been asked to step into the Ibrox breach following Pedro Caixinha’s sacking back in October – but his days in Glasgow’s south side appear numbered.
The appointment of a rookie boss would be a gamble for Rangers as they look to arrest Brendan Rodgers’ reign of domestic dominance.
And ex-Rangers manager and current Scotland chief Alex McLeish admits Gerrard, who led Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005 and won 114 caps for England, will have to learn on the job if he does make the move to Scotland.
McLeish said: “I hear the way he is coaching the kids and giving them the Liverpool values and what it takes, and sometimes I think that gets missed out in the process of kids when they are growing up, and keeping the passion and enthusiasm for every game.”