Villa could be perfect stepping stone from Rangers to Liverpool
NOT for the first time, Steven Gerrard finds himself being strongly linked with a job in the English Premier League. It was Newcastle United just a couple of weeks ago, now it’s Aston Villa — two big clubs who are struggling at the wrong end of the table and are ripe for improvement.
When Gerrard was asked about the situation at Newcastle United following their mega-bucks takeover by the Saudis, his comments were intriguing.
‘I think it’s interesting, what’s happening at Newcastle,’ he said at the time.
‘I think if anyone deserves a break, it’s the Geordie fans. So I’m sure that excitement levels are very high down on the Toon.
‘And obviously everyone connected with the game is looking in with interest, to see how that develops.’
Gerrard later played down the speculation, insisting that he was happy and settled at Rangers.
But I believe there was enough in those initial comments to suggest he’s open to the idea of moving on from Ibrox, should the right opportunity come along.
Does a relegation scrap at Villa represent that opportunity? Well, on the face of it, you’d have to say probably not.
Villa also don’t have the same level of finance available to them as Newcastle. But they’re not skint either.
After selling Jack Grealish to Manchester City for £100million in the summer, Villa went and ploughed almost £90m of that windfall straight back into the squad.
A combined outlay of just over £50m was sanctioned to sign striker Danny Ings from Southampton and winger Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen.
Almost £35m was spent on Argentinian playmaker Emi Buendia from Norwich City. The season prior to that, they forked out £30m to take Ollie Watkins from Brentford.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Rangers can only dream of spending that kind of money. Gerrard has already spoken this season of a need for greater investment to compete in Europe.
What you also have to consider in all of this is the fact that Rangers posted a loss of £23.5m last week.
As the manager, that doesn’t inspire confidence that the club will be able to provide significant investment in the playing squad any time soon.
There will come a time when Gerrard needs to test himself at a higher level, because he’s not just going to leave Rangers and go straight into the Liverpool job.
If he does end up at Anfield eventually, as everyone seems to suspect, there needs to be some sort of stepping stone in between.
The Villa job could be the perfect opportunity in that respect — but it could also ruin his reputation if he’s not able to turn it around this season and they end up relegated.
It’s a game of risk and reward. If Gerrard looks through this Villa squad, what sort of quality does he see?
Losing Grealish was obviously a massive blow to them. But you’ve still got the likes of John McGinn, Tyrone Mings, and Watkins and Ings up front. That’s a decent spine.
Gerrard might feel like they are in a false position and back himself to turn it around, on the basis that the board allow him to reshape the squad in January.
David Moyes took charge of West Ham in December 2019 when they were languishing 17th in the Premier League.
Look at them now. They’re absolutely flying and will believe they can challenge for Champions League football after yesterday’s victory over Liverpool.
That’s what can happen when a club appoints a proven, quality operator at Premier League level like Moyes.
That’s probably what Villa need right now, but they’re being linked to young managers like Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry to name a few.
Listen, Villa are a big club. They are former European champions, have a brilliant stadium, and are extremely well-supported, home and away.
They are a bigger club than Leicester. I know Leicester had a freak season when they won the league but, historically and traditionally, and in terms of the fanbase, Villa are by far and away the bigger club.
So, if Brendan Rodgers can leave Celtic for Leicester City, Gerrard can most certainly leave Rangers for Villa. It’s not out of the question.
But Rodgers already had real pedigree as a manager. He established Swansea in the Premier League and came within a whisker of winning the title at Liverpool — all achieved while playing brilliant attacking football.
He then came to Scotland and was winning domestic Trebles year in, year out with Celtic as well as securing Champions League football.
Gerrard hasn’t done any of that. He’s only won one trophy out of a possible nine across three seasons at Rangers.
Presented with the chance of getting them into the Champions League, they blew it spectacularly against Malmo at the start of this season.
So, when you look at it like that, he’s actually fortunate to be getting linked with jobs like Newcastle and Villa.
It’s largely through his reputation, along with some decent results in the Europa League.
If I was putting money on it, I reckon he will probably stay at Rangers. But stranger things have happened.