After cutting his teeth teaching the kids at Melwood a thing or two about what it means to play for Liverpool, when Steven Gerrard took his first job in management in Scotland it certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Many expected him to take over a side in the Championship, or even sit tight and wait for Jurgen Klopp to finish his project at Liverpool before taking over at Anfield. Unexpectedly, Glasgow Rangers came calling.
However, during UCFB’s exclusive chat with Gerrard at the Rangers Training Centre, it’s clear why the challenge of unseating a dominant Celtic as Scotland’s number one side appeals to him.
“It’s so important to never stand still,” Gerrard told us. “I always had that attitude as a player. When coming into my 30s I was always looking to improve all parts of my game, and I want to continue that mentality as a manager.”
A natural born leader, it was only a matter of time until Gerrard took the armband at Anfield. Leadership from the dugout though is something totally unique, so his brief time as under-18 manager at his boyhood club gave him the grounding and understanding of what it means to manage a team.
“There’s so much and so many parts to being a manager and there’s always somewhere you can gain that extra one percent, he explains. “It could be a different language, it could be on-pitch experience, it could be man management - there are so many different parts.”
A mega club still recovering from years in the lower leagues, the job of a Rangers boss is simple: beat Celtic. So there was something poetic that in the opposite dugout for Gerrard’s first Old Firm match was Brendan Rodgers, the last manager he played for at Anfield. And despite playing under a number of inspirational figures at Anfield, Gerrard knows that even the best never stop honing their skills and learning their trade.
He says: “I think there’s probably only a dozen managers ever who can say they can’t learn anymore – the Fergusons and Wengers of this world – but for me I want to have the attitude where I don’t want to think that I’ve hit my ceiling. I want to continue to push the boundaries and improve and grow.”
Crucially, Gerrard added: “Education is so important for an aspiring coach; in this game you can never stop learning. Every day you come into work is an opportunity for you to grow, learn and develop yourself.”
