Gary is right man to give Stevie a steer
SAYS JASON McATEER
Sometimes it is frustrating to try and get players to do things you did
DISARMINGLY honest at times, Steven Gerrard never did claim to have all the answers to all the questions. On the pressing issue of having zero managerial experience upon his arrival at Rangers in June, the Anfield icon simply accepted it was a widely-held concern but vowed to counter it by excelling in other areas while leaning on those in his backroom staff who could fill in the blanks.
A man who knew him inside-out from their Liverpool days, a former boss in his own right with Coventry and Leeds as well as a native of this land, Gary McAllister might well have been the identikit of what the incoming Rangers manager was looking for as he sought to appoint a No 2.
For Jason McAteer, another Anfield old boy, the 53-year-old Scotland hall-of-fame member is the perfect power behind the Ibrox throne; Sage enough to appreciate that a manager has to stand or fall by his own decisions. Yet experienced enough to step in and air an opinion when the moment asks.
‘It was important for Steven when he stepped up from the academy coaching role at Liverpool into such a massive managerial job at Rangers that he needed the experience of someone beside him who had been in and around a first-team dressing room with top international players and who had coached at that level,’ said the former Liverpool midfielder.
‘It is a totally different animal dealing with academy players and what Steven will have been used to.
‘So in order to bridge that gap bringing in Gary Mac as his assistant was the perfect appointment for Steven and Rangers. Gary knows his way around Scottish football and he is a good coach.
‘He is also a great man-manager and someone who the younger players at Rangers will listen to, look up to and idolise.
‘Having the experience of Gary by his side to deal with things like players hammering on his door demanding to play will prove to be invaluable to him. Gary is also very good at keeping players who aren’t playing happy and sweet.’
McAllister was already 36 when he arrived at Liverpool under Gerard Houllier in 2000 and it’s fair to say his signing didn’t exactly bring the marching bands on to the streets around Anfield in celebration.
By the time he left two years later, though, his contribution was beyond all question. Liverpool won a treble of cups in his first season, a feat which elevated the Scot to No 32 in a survey of 100 Players Who Shook the Kop. For Gerrard, then only at the outset of his career, it was a case of stop, look and listen to a master of the midfield craft. Much of that shared knowledge is now on public view in Glasgow.
‘Stevie and Gary will have their football philosophy and it will be interesting to see how they will implement it at Rangers,’ added McAteer.
‘Sometimes it is frustrating for players of that quality when they are on the training ground to try and get players to do things that you could do.
‘Sometimes they just can’t. I found that out with Roy Keane with Republic of Ireland and he got frustrated at times because some players just couldn’t do what he did. Then again Roy was world class.
‘Stevie and Gary will have to adapt to that and be aware that it will take a bit of time for them to get their ideas across.’
The scrutiny to which Gerrard’s work in Glasgow has been subjected is extraordinary. At Rangers, it was always thus.
McAteer, though, begs to differ with those who believe the 38-year-old might have been better served starting off at a lower level in England.
As he found to his cost during a short-lived spell at Tranmere with John Barnes a decade ago, the profile of certain individuals doesn’t shrink simply because they have dropped down the divisions.
‘I am sure Stevie was offered a number of jobs in England,’ said the former Republic of Ireland man.
‘I think without being in any way disrespectful to Scottish football that Stevie will not be in the limelight as much.
‘I went in to Tranmere as assistant to John and bearing in mind that was League One level. Barnesy was getting spoken about on Match of the Day and Tranmere were in the national papers almost every other day.
‘Everyone was watching how we did at Tranmere because it was Barnes and he was a big name in football.
‘Unfortunately, we couldn’t turn it around due to budget constraints and before we knew it we were under immense pressure and that was with a club in League One.
‘Pressure comes with the territory of being a big football name in England. Now that Stevie is in Scotland he is kind of out of the English limelight.
‘It is massive job being Rangers manager but he can possibly get on with doing it without the constant pressure of everybody in England looking over his shoulder and nit-picking at everything he does.’
To date, Gerrard and McAllister get pass marks for their efforts in Scotland. If the defeat — and especially the manner of it — in the Old Firm game bookended an underwhelming start to the league campaign, emerging through four rounds of the Europa League to make the group stage was extremely laudable.
But as McAteer readily acknowledges, as welcome as they are, jousts with Villarreal and the like aren’t the yardstick by which his fellow former Anfield men will be measured.
‘From the results so far they both seem to be doing a decent job,’ he said. ‘They have done well in Europe by getting the club into the Europa League group stage.
‘It is a tough job and for many years they have been in the shadow of Celtic.
It is going to take a few years for Rangers to get back to a certain level.
‘It is an ideal opportunity for Steven and Gary Mac to step in to. It is a massive football club and it is a big ask but they will both get time.
‘I think Stevie and Gary’s contacts in the game down south will be crucial to Rangers moving forward.
‘I know they have done well in Europe but Stevie and Gary will have their eye on winning the league title. Whether they get there remains to be seen.’