Why it may be time for Gerrard and Rangers to consider a break-up...
LET’S begin by mentioning what appears to be the great unmentionable. That it is difficult to see the benefit for either party in Rangers and Steven Gerrard remaining together beyond the end of this season. Yes, yes. It sounds like an overreaction to a handful of bad results. An opinion for the sake of having an opinion. SMSM clickbait. A refusal to countenance the progress that has been made since Gerrard started trying to piece the bombsite left by Pedro Caixinha’s time at the helm back together again.
Who could Rangers get that was any better? Who would get any closer to Celtic when faced with such a financial chasm?
Both fair points. Points weakened, though, by what unfolded for Gerrard at Rugby Park on Wednesday.
That didn’t just feel like Groundhog Day. It looked like Groundhog Day. To the letter. And it raised questions among even fervent Bluenoses over whether the 39-year-old has developed sufficiently as a manager from the rookie whose team bombed in the title race in his debut season and couldn’t get past Aberdeen in the cups.
Gerrard never had to win the Premiership this term. Such is the monetary advantage Celtic enjoy that it was unrealistic to expect him to trade blows with them over an entire campaign.
What the Ibrox manager was expected to do in his follow-up season, though, was take the championship race into the latter stages, at least, by finding the consistency to grind out win after win against another 10 clubs who have a fraction of his resources.
He was expected to build a squad with adequate quality and strength in depth. He was expected to show greater flexibility, nous and in-game management.
Instead, 12 months on from those images of Gerrard sitting, silent, in the technical area at Rugby Park with his hands in his pockets and a face like fizz with his team 2-1 down and a campaign starting to crumble, there we were again at Kilmarnock in midweek as the cameras cut to him in the wake of Eamonn Brophy’s winner.
Sitting. Silent. In the technical area. 2-1 down. Hands in pockets. Face like fizz. With what even looked like the same black anorak.
Given the fact his team had lost all control half an hour earlier, it just fed into the suspicion, now growing among Rangers fans, that he doesn’t influence games effectively from the sidelines. That nothing significant has changed.
Other than the fact, of course, that a whole load of extra funding has gone into a team that still can’t handle it when it matters.
Cash is king. It dictates everything. At all levels.
Rangers were spending £34million on wages last term. First-team players swallowed up £23m of that — and it will surely be more now with £7m Ryan Kent and £3.5m Filip Helander in the ranks.
That’s a high price to pay for the league being dead in February again. A high price to pay for a team that collapses when a goal up against a Kilmarnock side paying 10 times less in terms of salaries — or disintegrates in front of one of the worst Hearts teams in living memory.
Much, of course, is made of results in Europe from those who plead Gerrard’s case. Four points out of six against Porto was a fine achievement. From a wider perspective, though, Rangers are of similar size to their erstwhile group rivals Feyenoord and Young Boys.
Reaching the last 32 of the Europa League should be a realistic target. Instead, Gerrard taking them there still seems to be spoken about as something akin to Moses parting the Red Sea on the journey out of Egypt.
Knock out Braga and we can re-evaluate things. Right now, though, this squad makes director of football Ross Wilson’s pre-AGM predictions that it has the potential to raise more than £100m on the market look faintly ridiculous.
It lacks strong cover in key areas. There is no settled defensive pairing. Why was so much focus put on recruiting wide players? Are Flo Kamberi and Ianis Hagi really good enough to make a difference?
Gerrard, always honest, effectively admitted after the Kilmarnock loss that his players are not as mentally tough as he thought.
His problem, of course, is that he brought most of them in. Pointing fingers now, whilst understandable, isn’t likely to alter much.
Having handed Gerrard a new four-year deal in December, it is unlikely Rangers could even consider sacking the manager.
Yet, ploughing on with the status quo carries clear danger — and that applies every bit as much to Gerrard as the club itself. That must be playing on his mind — a process that may be the deciding factor in how this all works out. Of all the things he said in a calmer, more bullish address at Auchenhowie on Friday, one resonated.
‘The challenge here is never going to get easier,’ remarked the Rangers manager. ‘If anything, it will get tougher and tougher.’
Ain’t that the truth? Another league title for Celtic should mean more Champions League cash next season on top of whatever they get for Odsonne Edouard.
Rangers, meanwhile, are under orders to become self-sufficient following £35m of losses since 2015 with more to come.
There is a planned share issue, of course. However much it raises, though, it is hard to see it establishing a level playing field.
In any case, Gerrard won’t have even half-a-chance of making Celtic sweat over 10-in-a-row when he can’t beat Kilmarnock, Hearts and Aberdeen pretty much every time he faces them. Like Celtic do.
A third year of this could damage his standing badly. What he needs to ask himself is if that’s a risk he is willing to take?
The future for Rangers beyond this term, which always did look like one last push to stop ‘The Ten’, is uncertain due to several factors such as chairman Dave King stepping down and ongoing legal disputes with Sports Direct.
Gerrard’s reputation alone could easily land him a decent English Championship club this summer, one needing a soupcon of box office to fuel its Premiership ambitions.
There is more breathing room there. Less pressure. A chance to start again.
As Frank Lampard proved at Derby, finishing sixth and failing to negotiate the play-offs can still be enough to get you the dream move to the super club you used to play for in the end.
It is quite true that Rangers might not get anyone better than Gerrard. Churning out wins against the lower lights in this unforgiving environment is hardly straightforward.
They would get handsome compensation for the former Liverpool captain, though, at a time when incomings are going to take on a whole new significance.
Lots can happen in the coming months. However they shake down, Rangers would be wise to spend them by keeping a strong idea of who they might like as their next manager in mind.