Steven Gerrard will seriously consider Rangers return after Giovanni van Bronckhorst sack – BT pundit
Steven Gerrard “will seriously consider” returning as Rangers manager after Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked, according to Alex Rae.
The Dutchman was let go on Monday morning (21 November) after a miserable run of European form bled into the domestic season and left the club nine points behind Celtic in the title race.
Attention has understandably turned to a replacement, with the likes of Sean Dyche linked, but BT Sport pundit Rae believes that Van Bronckhorst’s predecessor, who left for Aston Villa this time last year after capturing the SPFL title but was himself sacked a month ago, would definitely not rule out coming back.
He told Grosvenor Sport, as per Football Scotland: “Gerrard would seriously have to consider the job. It hasn’t worked out for him at Aston Villa, now he has the opportunity to come back to Rangers which has almost presented itself to him, it might be a case of him coming back to somewhere he’s familiar with and worked with the board previously.
“The manager will still have a good relationship with the board, don’t forget Rangers got £4million for him to leave, so I’m sure Gerrard will seriously consider it.
“However, I would be very surprised if Rangers went down that road again, especially with the way Gerrard left. I’m not sure whether a certain section of fans would welcome Gerrard back.”
Surely not
The former England captain had success at Ibrox previously, but has been anything but a success since he returned to the Premier League in a coaching capacity.
That doesn’t mean he couldn’t do well in returning to a situation where he was comfortable before, but the manner of his exit has changed the context in Glasgow.
Even if the board are still on good terms with him and were happy to receive the compensation that doesn’t mean the fans were pleased to see him jump at the Villa chance.
The board are hardly the most popular people with the fanbase as it is, so if they went back to Gerrard and it didn’t immediately deliver results then there would be a bad atmosphere immediately.
He will surely have been discussed as an option given that he is currently out of a job and won’t cost anything in compensation, but it doesn’t seem like a truly viable option.
And unless the Bears board were now willing to sanction a much more significant spend in the transfer market than they allowed during Van Bronckhorst’s reign then even the former manager will hesitate, as he felt significant strengthening was needed when the title was won, so that is no doubt going to be multiplied now.
In other Rangers news, confusing update emerges on Gers transfer chase.