Gerrard didn’t strike me as manager material... but we’ll soon find out

JUST seven months after leading West Brom to a record eighth-placed finish in 2013, Steve Clarke was juggling a different number. That of his P45.

Perhaps it’s little wonder, then, that when it comes to assessing the level of risk involved for Steven Gerrard in becoming the next Rangers manager, his Kilmarnock counterpart views all things as being relative.

There are many who question the sense in the Anfield legend, one of the finest English midfielders of all-time, running into a scene that has often resembled a burning house in recent years.

The alternative school of thought, of course, is that Rangers are already in such a state that Gerrard can’t possibly be held accountable if he fails to douse the flames.

Asked if being a rookie was harder at a football behemoth like Rangers, Clarke has no definitive answer.

But he sincerely believes that the demands and expectations endemic even at highly successful clubs these days are so ludicrous that Gerrard’s reputation will remain intact even if he does fall short at Ibrox.

‘I don’t know is the honest answer,’ he said. ‘Neil Lennon did quite well during his time at Celtic. He knew the Scottish game, but he was still a rookie manager who was promoted from below.

‘You never know what’s going to happen — an experienced manager can go in and fail, while a rookie can go in and do well.

‘When you look at some clubs and the time you get... is it a risk? I don’t think it is, for anyone concerned.’ Clarke (below) knows Gerrard as well as anyone in the Scottish game. As first-team coach under Kenny Dalglish in 2011-12, he was present as the midfielder won his last major honour as a Liverpool player — the League Cup. Although Gerrard’s leadership qualities and professionalism in that year were plain for all to see, Clarke admits he didn’t, at that stage, have him down as manager material. ‘I just enjoyed working with Steven,’ he recalled. ‘He was good to have around the place and he always conducted himself well. He was a proper captain and you could tell he enjoyed that role. So he’s used to the responsibility of doing that at a big club. ‘Is he management material? We’ll find out, won’t we? I didn’t really get the impression he might become a manager, but I was only working with him as a player and that’s all you can concentrate on.

‘When I was at Chelsea, he was an opponent we always respected but you find out a little more about players when you work with them. He’d come in and work hard, work professionally every day and do everything the coaching staff asked him to do, which is all you can ask.’

With Jimmy Nicholl in temporary charge, Clarke’s Kilmarnock will today tackle a third Rangers manager in as many visits to Ibrox this season.

Sent to the stand by referee Don Robertson at half-time during his side’s 5-3 loss to Hibs last week, Clarke escaped any further action from the SFA and is free to take his place in the dugout this afternoon.

He remains unrepentant about his conduct.

‘I lost my temper,’ he admitted. ‘I had words with the referee in the tunnel. I didn’t realise Scottish referees were so touchy and you weren’t allowed to raise your voice and use a swear word. So maybe I’ll learn in the future.’

With Gerrard’s appointment bringing with it a palpable sense of excitement to Scottish football, Clarke is fully aware of the air of positivity that will engulf Ibrox purely through landing a world-renowned name.

Clarke watched his first Killie game from the Firhill stand last October. The upshot of his presence, a first league win of the season, should be all the warning his players require today.

‘It might gee the supporters up and give them a little boost after a disappointing month for their club,’ added Clarke. ‘But there’s not a lot I can do about that. All we can do is look after our own business and make sure we’re properly prepared, which we will be.’

Four days after that win over Partick Thistle, Clarke took a point from Ibrox on his first night in the job to end Pedro Caixinha’s troubled Rangers tenure.

Having also won there in March, his players will clearly travel to Glasgow without fear. Which is not to say they are cock-a-hoop about being handed the dubious privilege of going there for a third time by dint of the vagaries of the split.

‘I think we didn’t get the best of the post-split fixtures,’ said Clarke. ‘I don’t think we could complain too much about it because we haven’t been a fixture in the top six. We haven’t been there often enough, so we don’t really have a voice at the top of Scottish football that could maybe help to influence and sway the fixtures a little bit in our favour.

‘We’ll take what we get but, I promise you, if we get there next year and get bad post-split fixtures I’ll have a little bit more to say.’