Gerrard wants budget pledge
Steven Gerrard wants assurances over his budget before he agrees to become Rangers manager, according to his ex-liverpool team-mate Danny Murphy.
Murphy believes the Anfield coach will only take the job if he thinks he can compete with Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic.
“I don’t think he’s going to put himself into a position where he walks into a job with his hands tied in terms of the resources he’s got to compete with Brendan,” Murphy said. “I think he’ s probably needing some more reassurances.”
because they can only go one way and that’s up.
“The two big things he needs to tell Rangers is, ‘I need some money, I want to bring in some players to help the team.’
“Rangers need that; they need a lift in the dressing room. Then it’s about who he can get rid of. There are plenty there brought in by Pedro Caixinha. They haven’t stood up, they haven’t been good enough. They’ve let the club down, they’ve let the fans down, they’ve let themselves down.”
Hartson does not believe that the capitulation at Celtic Park on Sunday which helped their hosts claim a seventh successive title will have deterred Gerrard in the slightest.
“He would have known what was needed before Sunday’s game,” he said. “He would have seen the semifinal and also how many games Rangers have lost at home.
“Steven’s not stupid. He is a young, intelligent, up-and-coming, inspiring coach. He will do his homework and speak to people. I don’t think he had to watch Sunday’s game to make his mind up.
“He’ll take a bit of time, as you’d expect. But, as I said, I really don’t think it’s too much of gamble for him. If he fails, then so what? The last three or four have failed anyway.
“Rangers is a big club, it’s a great club, it has got magnificent fans. He will certainly give them a lift and give the whole place a lift. I don’t think he’s got an awful lot to lose really.”
0 Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard during their playing days at Liverpool. Steven Gerrard is “excited” about the prospect of becoming Rangers manager but needs reassurances over the resources available to him, according to his friend and former team-mate, Danny Murphy.
Gerrard is set for more talks with Rangers this week after emerging as the frontrunner to take over when Graeme Murty’s short-term deal expires in the summer.
The Liverpool youth coach would have seen a stark illustration of how far Rangers need to progress to challenge Celtic when they lost 5-0 at Parkhead on Sunday as Brendan Rodgers’ side retained the Ladbrokes Premiership title. And Murphy does not believe his former Liverpool and England colleague will sign up for a mission impossible and try to challenge his former Anfield boss without the necessary finances.
After speaking to
the 37-year-old over the weekend, Murphy told TALKSPORT: “The truth is there’s nothing definitive. He has had talks and they were positive. He’s got more talks this week.
“He’s a really ambitious guy, Stevie. He always has been from the day he walked on to the training field at Melwood as a young lad.
“But he’s also bright and I don’t think he’s going to put himself into a position where he walks into a job with his hands tied in terms of the resources he’s got to compete with Brendan.
“I think he’s probably needing some more reassurances.”
The club’s latest financial figures showed they had received £17.7million in interest-free 0 Murty: His short-term deal as boss expires in the summer. loans from shareholders and other investors by the turn of the year, at least some of which they plan to turn into equity.
They also received a shortterm external loan, reported to be £3m, and concrete plans for a proposed income-raising share issue have not yet materialised.
And Gerrard is likely to press the Rangers board over the finances available to him should he take over a club who are third in the Premiership and level on points with fourth-placed Hibernian.
Murphy said: “The only thing with that, I was thinking really, is that how do you get concrete reassurances with something like that?
“I suppose as a football club Rangers can’t be trying to get someone like Stevie, who is young, hungry and ambitious, to go there and compete and sell him a dummy. You have to think there’s some credibility in what they are trying to do.
“He was excited but without the confirmation of what they are actually going to give him.
“I certainly think there’s legs in it but there’s a bit to go.”