Steven Gerrard - yes or no

[artvandelay]

This myth of Gerrard having success with Rangers/Sevco is driving me mad. As far as I can tell, he entered 9 domestic competitions, and has been favourite to win them, yet conspired to win just one. This includes finishing second in a two horse race twice, and then finally winning the league while Celtic implode and the rest of the league are in dire financial difficulty behind closed doors. Have I missed something?

[cdbearsfan]

He could do. Equally, he could be gone next month. They absolutely loved Houllier, Benitez and Rodgers, until they didn't.

None of those won them the title.

True, but plenty of title-winning managers get the push eventually. Wenger, Mancini, Ranieri, all the Chelsea managers. Only the former was really given extra time because of his previous achievements.

I don't really suspect that Klopp will be going anywhere any time soon, but being gone in the next three years is far more likely than still being there in ten.

[ozzjim]

I don't think they were favourites to win any of them until mid way through last season.

[Keeno]

I agree with DW.  Gerrard is only ever going to be a stop gap appointment.  A bit like getting a bricklayer to design your new house.  We can think and act like a big club, define our long term objectives and pursue them or we can appoint somebody to give us a rubbery dead cat bounce and start all over when the dead cat has stopped bouncing.

I think it's naive to think that you need to appoint a 'forever manager' every time.

The managers that stay 5+ years are always rare (as highlighted above).

Deano was one of us and had a good 3 years and will be remembered fondly for it. His fandom and/or love for the club had absolutely no bearing on his ability to be a good manager for Villa at the time and give us what we needed. He took us as far as he could.

Similarly, Gerrard had 3 years at Rangers and got them a title and created a side that has them back on top domestically. There might be some animosity towards us if we pinch their manager but they'll also remember him and last years' title success (after 10 years in the wilderness) fondly.

Why is it a problem for a guy to come in to the job with the aim of performing as well as he possibly can (whatever the motivation) for 3-4 years.

The 'we are a big club therefore we need a guy who worships us' mentality massively restricts who you can realistically appoint. If you have issues with Gerrard as a coach based on what you've seen, fair enough. But way too much of this conversation is dealing in hypotheticals. The idea that because he's connected in a high profile way to another club, he might in some way not give 100% while he's here is ludicrious, and based on no evidence.

We need another positive 3 year cycle to cement us in the top half of the league and regularly challenging for European spots.

[ozzjim]

If he does get us top six, and he does then move to Liverpool, we'll be having to look for another manager. I'd rather pass on that one.

Any manager that gets us into the top 6 will be coveted elsewhere.

[Clark W Griswold]

I've said before I'm half convinced that the actions in the summer will have had an element of preparing for the possibility that Smith wouldn't last until January. The board must've known as well as anyone that Smith had struggled to get results without Grealish so wehn he left they used most of the money to buy players to add creativity but 'kept their powder dry' to have funds in January if needed by a new guy.

Yes Paul, the thought had crossed my mind too. I'm hoping thats the case and last summer wasn't the shape of things to come, essentially aiming to stand still.

Regards Klopp hanging on another 10 years, age wise you would imagine it might be the case but i'd heard he intends to leave when his contract runs out in a couple of years. Could be BS though.

[aev]

I can't imagine for one minute that if we finish 9th then Liverpool would want him.

If we get into Europe, like West Ham have done, then who knows? But if we have to replace him then, you'd think we would be more appealing than we are currently to Conte, Rodgers etc

[Keeno]

I can't imagine for one minute that if we finish 9th then Liverpool would want him.

If we get into Europe, like West Ham have done, then who knows? But if we have to replace him then, you'd think we would be more appealing than we are currently to Conte, Rodgers etc

Absolutely. He's going to have to show some serious results, over multiple seasons, to even be in with a shout of that job whenever it comes up - given their current position of wanting the League and/or Champions League every season.

[Clark W Griswold]

If he does get us top six, and he does then move to Liverpool, we'll be having to look for another manager. I'd rather pass on that one.

Any manager that gets us into the top 6 will be coveted elsewhere.

Maybe but you'd hope that most managers won't have the draw to another club that Gerrard has and that if the owners are trying to get into the CL they'd back a top 6 finishing manager with even more money to have a crack at improving us further.

[PeterWithe]

Frank Lampard got the Chelsea job without doing much to deserve a crack at it, Liverpool could see Gerrard as the successor to Klopp however well or otherwise he does with us? Liverpool have a long standing traditional of appointing ‘their own’ to the managers job, with lower profiles than Gerrard has.

Sometimes sentimentality wins out, as its doing now with Purslow.

[Risso]

Frank Lampard got the Chelsea job without doing much to deserve a crack at it, Liverpool could see Gerrard as the successor to Klopp however well or otherwise he does with us? Liverpool have a long standing traditional of appointing ‘their own’ to the managers job, with lower profiles than Gerrard has.

Sometimes sentimentality wins out, as its doing now with Purslow.

Chelsea was different circumstances though, they were banned from signing anybody so just saw him as a placeholder until they could buy players again.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't think Gerrard would give less than his all, but I do think we'd have to be looking over our shoulders all the time. If any other manager got us top six we'd be looking to improve rather than expect him to leave but whatever Gerrard did we would always have that uncertainty. And more than anything, if we get him we'll have to endure the media agenda that we're just so lucky to have him.

[sickbeggar]

If he did well with us i'd think it would be more likely he'd get the England gig. His eventual ascent to the Anfield throne is more a fantasy in the Liverpool fan's minds rather the people who actually get to choose.

[TelfordVilla]

if he gets the job, I wont be listening to any manager interviews as I cannot stand hearing that bloody scouse accent.

[Villan82]

if he gets the job, I wont be listening to any manager interviews as I cannot stand hearing that bloody scouse accent.

As I said yesterday, it is a pity we can't judge people based on their record and have to bring so much pejorative stuff about where they are from, how they speak etc.