There and back again, a Steven Gerrard tale?
After going on a footballing adventure, south of the border and then across to Saudi Arabia, Gerrard may soon get the chance to return to the scene of his first senior managerial post.
And the fact Rangers are firmly a club in crisis could actually ease Gerrard back into the role. Seriously. Because the club are eighth, yes eighth, in the Sottish Premiership table after seven games – meaning it can hardly get much worse.
“It can!”, in your best Mick McCarthy accent, is a suitable riposte there, but Gerrard’s potential reappointment would undeniably signal an immediate mood boost given Russell Martin’s tenure ended on Sunday with a police escort back home from Falkirk.
Although it is home no longer for Martin, whose 123-day reign produced five wins from 17, and just the one victory in the league from seven games.
An exhausting eight matches in Europe has also seen them fall short in Champions League qualifying – a 9-1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge ending those hopes – before a winless start to the Europa League’s league phase.
While Gerrard is the front-runner, it may even be Sean Dyche – with whom sporting director Kevin Thelwell worked alongside at Everton – with ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl and former Gers defender Kevin Muscat also in the frame.
With the benefit of options and time to peruse them, Rangers would be wise not to rush this decision over the international break. They supposedly landed on Martin after a “really rigorous process” in June, chief executive Patrick Stewart said, meaning they will have to be extra thorough now.
They will not need telling they can ill-afford to go wrong again. Rangers have not finished below second since 2017-18, the season before Gerrard’s first stint, and have no intention of dropping further back behind rivals Celtic, who appear to have league leaders Hearts for title contenders this term.
The true hope for Rangers will be finding a manager capable of taking them back to the dizzier heights of 2020-21, when Gerrard steered them to the title and denied Celtic a 10th straight in the process.
That is not a quick fix, but makes Gerrard the standout candidate, as one foundation he would have from the off is a fanbase who remember the highs of 2021 and are willing to give him more time than Martin was ever afforded.
What Gerrard would need to do though is grovel just a little, having left mid-season in 2021, and also prove the world of management is one he is suited to.
For the doubts are great and understandable. In the four years since Gerrard left Rangers, he has failed at two clubs.
His Liverpool audition to succeed Jurgen Klopp ended acrimoniously at Aston Villa, who drastically improved (with virtually the same squad) under Unai Emery to further damn Gerrard’s credentials.
After 13 wins in 40 at Villa, it was then over to Saudi, where 19 wins in 55 at Al-Ettifaq damaged Gerrard’s reputation further and led to him leaving by mutual consent in January.
The Gerrard that Rangers could appoint now is therefore not the Gerrard they hired in 2018. It would warrant a gamble, as it did back then, but for different reasons, as he is no longer the next young and hungry manager worthy of a big first gig, but instead an embattled manager nearing last-chance saloon.
Although age is at least on his side. At 45, Gerrard is two years younger than Frank Lampard, who has already gone through a full managerial cycle and found himself back at a Championship club, where once more he is thriving.
Now Gerrard could do the same; run it back to where it all started in order rediscover that fire, which has clearly been lost.
“I don’t want to be back in work,” Gerrard told That Peter Crouch Podcast in April. “I am happy waking up, being free, doing the family stuff and being free from the stress.”
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Gerrard did add, on top of enjoying going “down the boozer”, that “I will go back in at some point”, so we could soon discover whether six months is long enough to change his mind.
And it may be that he finds few opportunities are better to interview for than Rangers, who like him are wounded and are therefore kindred spirits – impassioned man and impassioned club coming together for a second shot.
Last time, Gerrard inherited a flailing Rangers side that finished third and transformed them into a smashing squad of champions, a mighty 102 points ending Celtic’s dominance and delivering the long-awaited 55.
On this occasion, Gerrard could take on a similar mess, but he would at least have time to reinstill some belief before the prospect of a full-season showdown with Brendan Rodgers.
In this regard there is certainly “unfinished business,” as ex-Rangers chairman Dave King put it in light of Martin’s exit, with Glasgow bragging rights for years potentially on the line.
It may just come down to how much Gerrard actually wants to finish it.
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