LOYALTY GOES OUT OF THE WINDOW WHEN IT COMES TO PROBLEM PAIR
OF all the kind words directed towards Steven Gerrard on the occasion of his 40th birthday yesterday, those referring to the person rather than the professional resonated most. Praise for his loyalty and care for the welfare of colleagues came through in abundance.
His former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier ventured that the humility he shows in relating to others — his ‘big heart’ — will be the making of him as a manager despite some mixed experiences so far in his first job at Rangers.
Fernando Torres detailed how Gerrard protected him as a teammate when he arrived at Anfield with no grasp of the language.
However, it was the testimony of Hugh McAuley, responsible for Liverpool’s Centre of Excellence when Gerrard came through as a child, that spoke to the true character of the man.
‘He cares deeply for people,’ said McAuley. ‘He was a leader in terms of bringing the best out of his teammates and taking care of them rather than needing to generate fear.’
Gerrard is authentic. He does care. He is loyal. It is surely why the Ibrox fanbase remains behind him in the wake of results which would have brought down the guillotine on almost anyone else.
If he was interested in taking care of himself, he would be looking for a club in the English Championship, hitting the reset button and working through some of his recent mistakes in a less-pressurised environment than trying to stop Celtic winning 10 in a row in the open-air asylum of Glasgow.
Yet, no matter how much sense that makes, there are no signs it is on the cards.
And that is why Gerrard is going to have to reposition himself to some degree on those commitments to loyalty and protection and deal with the mess left by the collapsing blancmange that was last season — by, first of all, getting rid of Alfredo Morelos and stripping James Tavernier of the captaincy.
Those are hardly the only jobs he has to deal with, of course. He needs to resource several new players in difficult financial surroundings and build a resilient team capable, at the very least, of winning a trophy and pushing hard in the league.
However, they represent a good place to start because they remain a hangover from another campaign of failure and have to be dealt with firmly before forward planning can take place in earnest.
It is time for some honesty regarding Morelos, for starters.
Sure, he can score. Yes, he can link up play and leads the line well. However, he cannot be trusted to keep it together for an entire season and has a mental block when it comes to playing against Celtic. That is not what Rangers need ahead of such an important campaign.
Managing director Stewart Robertson’s warbling over landing £20million for the Colombian was always pie-in-the-sky, but he needs to get director of football Ross Wilson on the case with regard to finding a buyer.
The price? It is anyone’s guess in a market muddied by coronavirus, but £10million or so should be acceptable in the circumstances. Morelos is a liability. Potential replacements have been identified. It is time to move on.
Gerrard was way too protective of Morelos in his first season in Glasgow. The striker’s disciplinary record was atrocious and damaging, and he was never properly taken to task for it.
How did he repay the manager for sticking by him? By making a clown of the guy towards the end of last term and helping get Rangers knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Hearts.
Morelos returned 24 hours late from a trip home. Gerrard dropped him. The rest is history. Morelos, after a great first half of the season, simply looked like he didn’t want to be here any longer after the winter break.
As he sat in Tynecastle after that gutless 1-0 defeat to a side that couldn’t buy a win against anyone else, a defeated Gerrard carried the air of a spurned mistress when addressing the impossible nature of his centre-forward.
‘This is a kid who I have loved and still love,’ he said. ‘He is a top player and has scored a great volume of goals for us, but I think we all know, from time to time, what he does and what he’s about.’
That didn’t stop him from starting Morelos in Rangers’ next three games before lockdown, mind you. This cycle of forgiving, forgetting and being made a fool of should now be brought to a halt.
Tavernier, of course, is another issue that needs put to bed. Like
Morelos, he has his attributes. However, he isn’t a captain.
Those programme notes from the match in which Rangers lost at home to Hamilton — where he admitted the team wasn’t good enough to handle domestic opposition getting in their face — should have been the end of it.
Yet, after missing the following match away to Ross County, he was back in possession of the armband for the visit of Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League.
Tavernier is steeped in the loser mentality of the Mark Warburton era. If he is to stay at Ibrox, it would probably benefit him to step away from the pressures of being skipper and focus on eliminating the elementary mistakes that continue to blight his progress.
Allan McGregor, Ryan Jack and maybe even Filip Helander would be options to step in should the market not bring an obvious contender to replace Tavernier in that role.
Gerrard has to get cracking on making sure next season is better than his previous two and his list of issues is long with no settled defensive pairing, a decision to be made on Connor Goldson’s long-term worth and a lack of proper cover in key areas.
He needs to work hard with Wilson on getting more bang for his buck when paying out for transfers, too.
Ryan Kent has offered little to justify his £7.5m fee, Eros Grezda was a £2m embarrassment and Ianis Hagi has to show much more after costing £3m.
Gerrard can’t be expected to overcome Celtic in the league. However, with other clubs working in reduced circumstances as a result of Covid-19, there will be no excuses for failing to beat the likes of Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Hamilton and Aberdeen this time round.
The former England captain, to remain credible as a Rangers manager, also has to win something. Anything. That’s the nature of the ruthless world he inhabits.
And, as he tidies up the loose ends from his last unsuccessful attempt with Morelos and Tavernier in tow, Gerrard has to get ruthless too. No matter his conflicting principles.