Steven Gerrard interested in Rangers exit to manage Newcastle United – Sky Sports pundit
Steven Gerrard is interested in taking the job at Newcastle United after he failed to say he’s 100 per cent committed to Rangers, according to Kris Commons.
Gerrard has been linked with replacing Steve Bruce at the world’s new richest club with The Times recently reporting that he’s a leading candidate and has support of the Newcastle board.
When quizzed on the speculation, Gerrard said he’s “very much focused on” his job at Ibrox and refused to give any kind of reaction [BBC Sport].
Brendan Rodgers was also linked but is seemingly out of the running after the ex-Celtic manager reiterated his happiness at Leicester [Independent].
Commons feels Rodgers’ stance was stronger than Gerrard and suggested the Rangers manager may be inclined to succeed Bruce at St James’ Park.
Speaking about Rodgers in his column in the Scottish Daily Mail [print edition, October 18, page16], the Sky Sports pundit said: “His comments were so strong, in fact, that his name immediately fell out of every bookmaker’s shortlist. Everyone now knows he’s a non-runner in the race to replace Steve Bruce once the axe inevitably falls.
“Compare and contrast that with Steven Gerrard’s response to the same question: all that talk about him taking a ‘keen interest’ in events at St James’ Park and how the Geordie fans ‘deserved a break’.
“It wasn’t exactly a manager distancing himself from a job, was it? It was certainly an awful long way from the kind of solid commitment Rodgers gave to Leicester.
“All Gerrard had to say was he had absolutely no interest in the Newcastle job and that his only concern was improving Rangers and winning more trophies.
“That he did not speaks volumes for me. He had the chance to put an end to the mounting speculation and refused to take it.
“Let’s not forget this also came on the back of publicly expressing his dismay at being unable to spend serious money in the past two transfer windows.
“He knows exactly how his comments will be viewed. Whether Newcastle are interested in him is one thing. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s interested in Newcastle.”
Absolute rubbish
Who else is shocked to see a former Celtic player talking up a former Celtic manager while also tipping a Rangers manager to move on?
Gerrard said that he’s focused on the job at Ibrox. What more does Commons want? Does the Sky Sports pundit want the manager to do a whole song and dance on how much he loves the Gers? How about a rendition of Four Lads Had a Dream at the next press conference?
While we’re not ruling out the possibility of Gerrard moving south to take charge of Newcastle, we are saying that Commons’ assessment of the Liverpool legend’s press conference is absolute rubbish.
Rodgers has his way of dealing with speculation and Gerrard has his. He doesn’t even want to entertain it and that certainly doesn’t mean he’s interested in a move away.
Newcastle may have all the money in the world now but is it any more an attractive job than it was before?
Think how much pressure their next manager will be under. They’re still a team in the Premier League’s bottom three and could be relegated this season due to how bad their squad is.
Gerrard is better off staying put at Ibrox, winning another title and managing in Europe.
In other Rangers news, BBC Sportscene swept controversy under the rug after the Gers’ draw with Hearts on Saturday.