I’d imagine the Oirish Scousers are too busy finalising travel plans to Kiev to get too upset about losing a peripheral member of the backroom staff. I’m sure you can remember from this time 12 months ago when you were finalising your own itinerary for your epic trip to Sweden for the Christy Ring Cup Final against Ajax Amsterdam the difficulties of trying to co-ordinate transport logistics and how time consuming it can be.
If any of them are faced with a real dilemna, maybe they could seek out some older Oirish Manc fans, someone like @Mullach_Ide who was on board in the bad old days before Man U were the richest club in the world and winning all before them and ask them how they felt when Govan native and former Glasgow Rangers player and lifelong supporter Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed as manager in November 1986.
It really is an exciting day for Glasgow Rangers and their supporters. One of the world great players of his generation taking on his first job in management. Sometimes it works out for a former great player on their first managerial foray - Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness. Other times it’s a failure - Liam Brady and John Barnes. Gerrard was always the epitome of bravery as a player and it’s a brave decision to take on this daunting challenge.
Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane didn’t work out too badly.
It’s going to be tremendously interesting to see how Stevie does and it will certainly bring neutral interest back and raise the profile of the SPFL.
Strong rivalries are good for the game and the Celtic-Sevco rivalry has shown much potential since 2015.
This appointment is good for Stevie, good for Sevco, good for Celtic, good for Glasgow football, good for the SPFL in general and good for football in general.
Indeed. Steven Gerrard is one of the great players of the modern era and a colossal figure in world football. His appointment will attract a lot of neutral interest and raise the profile of Scottish football in a way that the appointment of the likes of Brendan Rodgers at Glasgow Celtic never could.
+1. The 9-0 aggregate thumping over the last two weeks might have resulted in complacency seeping in such was Celtic’s dominance. There was also the sense that a few players were ready to move on having achieved everything domestically in Scotland (Rogic, Boyata stalling on agreeing contract extensions, Dembélé likely to be sold, possibly Armstrong too).
But the appointment of a name like Gerrard and the hype coming with it will make Celtic want to prove a point again, and I expect Rodgers to be supported in the transfer market. He wasn’t in Tenerife with the squad this week as he was finalising the deal to take French Eddy permanently apparently.
Gerrard’s profile is also good for the league in general ahead of the next TV rights deal negotiation. There’s a good chance the SPFL will command an increase to take it up to English League 2 levels.
As for Gerrard himself, he’s obviously completely unproven and he’s joining an unstable club whose supporters have short memories and massive expectations. I think his strength as a player was his individual ability/skill and athleticism but he relied on others who better understood the tactical and structural requirements of the team (Alonso, Mascherano etc). Basically I’m saying he was a great talent himself but doesn’t strike me as being capable
of organising and developing a cohesive team unit. His name might give them a bounce early on, but I can’t see it lasting.
