Steven Gerrard: Rangers exit driven by desire to be closer to family
Former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has opened up about his Ibrox exit, saying he wanted to move closer to his family.
The 41-year-old led the club to their first title in 10 years last season, going unbeaten throughout the league campaign.
But he called time on his three and a half year tenure in November as he made the switch to Aston Villa.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Sport yesterday (17 December), Gerrard revealed the deciding factors in his decision to leave Glasgow.
“I understand that there will be noise and opinion on the outside and people will put two and two together to come up with whatever they want to but for me it is about the now,” he said. “I am happy here, I want to be here and I decided to take this challenge on.
“It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down for two main reasons: one, being back in the Premier League with the size of the club, to challenge myself against the best and working with elite footballers.
“And, from a geographical point of view, to be close to my kids. My son is four and a half and I was missing for three and a half of those years.
“In any walk of life, to not have one night in your own bed is not the ideal or perfect situation. We decide what career paths and decisions we want to make and we have to go and do that.
“I committed everything I had to the Rangers project and we did a very good job up there but for me it was about the next challenge, the opportunity to come back into the Premier League.”
Good for all parties
There was a fair degree of anger when Gerrard’s departure was announced, largely because of the timing as it came just before the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Hibernian.
It always seemed inevitable that the Englishman was going to leave at some point, as it is known he has aspirations to manage Liverpool, but he left Rangers slightly in the lurch in November.
That frustration has mostly subsided now thanks to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s fantastic start to life in the Ibrox dugout.
The squad seems to have been given a new lease of life by the Dutchman’s arrival, winning six of his first seven matches and drawing the other one away at Lyon in the Europa League.
The managerial switch has worked out well for all parties, with Gerrard closer to home and off to a flying start himself at Aston Villa.
In other Rangers news, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has provided an update on contracts for two key players.