Stevie’s G-force as boss is unstoppable... just like when he ruled in Istanbul
his desire just off the scale. I saw that many times over the years at Anfield, saw it the day he first trotted out, slightly nervously but full of mouthy character, on the first-team training pitch at Melwood.
And I’m seeing it now from Stevie, in Scotland.
If you’re watching from a distance, don’t be persuaded that he’s struggling up there, that he’s doing a bad job because Rangers are only fifth in the league, eight points behind a Hearts team that – let’s admit it – most of us don’t know too much about.
Rangers play Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup semi-final today, and it’s a huge moment for Stevie. Getting to a final at his first attempt will show people what he’s about.
He can’t do anything out there on the pitch, of course. He can’t win a cup tie by sheer force of personality like he did that 2005 final, or the 2006 FA Cup final (another bad memory, I had to watch that from the stands too, because I was cup-tied).
But he can give his side the knowledge of what it takes to win those games, because he’s done that often enough.
Gerrard has already broken one record at Ibrox. He has now gone 11 games unbeaten in Europe, which is even better than the great Rangers team of 1993, which did so well in the European Cup. That’s some achievement.
Probably more important though, is he’s given them a real chance of getting out of their group and making the knock-out stage.
Financially, that is massive, because it could well give them an edge over Celtic, who look up against it in their group.
It comes at a price of course, because playing all those Thursday nights impacts on league form. But it’s worth it. Totally. I’ll be honest, I had a few doubts about Gerrard going there. But winning a trophy in his first season would be huge – winning one at the first attempt would be even bigger.
And there’s a chance they could play Celtic in the final if they get through today, so that would be massive.
If he can do that, then expect Stevie to have a decision to make at the end of the season... especially if he steers his side through to the latter stages of the Europa League.
A manager who wins trophies and knows how to do well in Europe? I can think of quite a few really big clubs who would take that CV!