Old pals act as Bury face Rangers

It’s a meeting of old friends as English League Two side Bur y provide the unlikely opposition for Steven Gerrard’s opening night as Rangers manager.

That’s because Gerrard and Bury manager Ryan Lowe go way back and the two Scousers have been friends for years.

So when the former Liverpool captain was announced as the new man in at Ibrox, the Shakers boss was straight on the phone to see what could be arranged.

As a result, Bury will be travelling up to Glasgow’s West End on Friday night.

“I’ve been friends with Stevie for about 20 years,” Lowe says. “I was playing non-league and I got introduced to him as I played with his mate, Ian Dunbavin, at Shrewsbury.

“I’ve followed him round the world to watch him play – Champions League games with Liverpool, England matches.

“When he got the job with Rangers, I was desperate to get a friendly with them. Stevie introduced me to Mark Allen, the sporting director and it went from there.

“The match was originally meant to be at our place. But with it being Stevie’s first game, they moved it to Ibrox.

“I can’t thank Rangers enough as this is an unbelievable opportunity for my players and I hear they’ve sold 25,000 tickets already.

“They could easily have got a much bigger club for this match, but they stuck to their word. I’ve never been to Ibrox before myself, so I’m obviously excited.”

While Gerrard is new to first- team management, Lowe has a few months on him having taking over at Bury in January.

He couldn’t save them from relegation in League One, but he’s now trying to build a squad to gain promotion at the first attempt.

But he’s reluctant to offer his old friend too many pointers on life as a No.1.

“I wasn’t at all surprised Stevie took this job,” he says. “He won’t shirk away from a challenge. Like every one, he’s faced, he will face it head-on. The expectations are huge at Rangers, but they were huge as Liverpool captain.

“But I’m sure he has been inundated with calls from agents with players wanting to go and play for him.

“Ask any player in the Championship or League One or even higher and they’d like to play under Steven Gerrard.

“I know Stevie will want his players to do what he did in his career and that’s play with heart and leave everything out on the pitch.”