Englishjournosmight reckonit’swritetime forGerrardmove butIbroxboss doesn’thaveto jumpatthefirst bigofferthat comeshisway
ERIC CANTONA’s epic seagulls and trawlers rant sometimes comes to mind when it comes to Rangers and Celtic.
The fly-kicking Frenchman bizarrely told us the birds follow the boat because they reckon it’s dinner time but when English journos begin coming over the border, it usually means there’s a few gigs coming up down south.
We saw it in the latter stages of the Brendan Rodgers reign at Celtic.
After the initial interest died down, there was a period of calm.
But then the Fleet Street expenses started showing trips up the M6 and the interviews with the English papers started appearing, along with the sight of scribes in Scottish press boxes.
It’s happening again now with Steven Gerrard. The big sit down interviews at the weekends, the extra bodies in the press box for Sunday’s Old Firm clash. Interest in
Rangers’ high profile manager has never really gone away.
However, there’s a definite rise in attention since he led the Ibrox men back to the big time.
Gerrard is no longer just a famous former player. He’s now a rising managerial star.
Attention has to be expected – welcomed even. It means Gerrard has been successful.
Wrestling the league off Celtic when they looked so dominant was no mean feat.
But the results in Europe remove any chance the southern scribes can use to scoff at the level of our game up here.
Rangers might have gone out to Slavia Prague last week but they did so with their heads held high – especially their manager.
The way Gerrard has dealt with the horrendous Glen Kamara racism incident has been as impressive as any achievement on the pitch.
It won’t have gone unnoticed. Gerrard’s anger was apparent but so was his cast iron backing of his player.
There will be guys in dressing rooms down south who will have seen that and already be in awe of Gerrard the player but will also now think that’s the kind of gaffer they’d be willing to run head first into brick walls for.
It will also have been noted in various boardrooms.
This summer will be interesting as several jobs will come up in the English Premier League.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Spurs, Crystal Palace, Newcastle – if they survive – and others looking for managers. Whether they would tempt Gerrard is a different matter.
Everyone knows it’s tough for him working away from his family in Liverpool but there’s still a sense there’s unfinished business for him in Scotland.
Palace or Newcastle surely wouldn’t hold much appeal even with the huge finances those kinds of clubs could offer when there’s the prospect of leading Rangers into the Champions League.
Spurs might be more tempting if Jose Mourinho goes but even that would be a gamble.
There’s an assumption he’ll hang around in Glasgow until the time is right to return to Liverpool. That might be sooner than some folk think, mind you, as Jurgen Klopp could easily decide on taking a break.
But would Gerrard need another move before the inevitable second coming an Anfield? Only he will know.
What is certain is there will be offers. He told English papers at the weekend there already has been. Unlike Rodgers, Gerrard doesn’t really have the need to jump at the first big chance he gets. There’s a sense he could land an EPL gig at the timing of his choice. Rodgers felt he had to go when his stock was high. His timing was terrible but you can’t fault the job Rodgers has done at Leicester and he has put himself in the conversation for every big position that comes up now. Gerrard will already be in the same conversations but his Anfield status will rule him out of a few of those gigs. It means Rangers fans can sleep a bit easier this summer. When the time comes, Gerrard will be showered in rose petals. But it may be a while before they need to hit the garden centres. It’s not lunchtime yet for the circling seagulls as Gerrard has plenty on his plate at Ibrox.
Gerrard is no longer just a famous ex-player. He’s now a rising star as a manager