BeIN Sports pundit warns Steven Gerrard not to return to Rangers as Giovanni van Bronckhorst replacement
Rangers have been warned not to hire Steven Gerrard as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s successor by former England defender Glen Johnson.
Gerrard left Ibrox to join Aston Villa just over a year ago, but has since been sacked at Villa Park while Van Bronckhorst was sacked on Monday (21 November) following a string of poor results.
There has been some speculation that Gerrard could return as manager to pick up where he left off at Ibrox, but former teammate and beIN Sports pundit Johnson told Genting Casino (22 November) that neither party should be looking at a reunion.
“No Gerrard should not go back to Rangers,” he said.
“I’m against going back to places you’ve been to, you don’t go back to a lit firework.
“What Gerrard did at Rangers was great, but the expectations, if he did go back, would be so high that he could only fail, because what else can he do?
“I’d be surprised if he goes back.”
Interesting
There is absolutely some truth in what Johnson is saying here, because should Gerrard return then there is no doubt that expectations would be sky high.
The squad is very different to how it was when he left a year ago and he would need time to turn things around and get it back on track. With that said though, we do know he is capable of doing it and dethroning Celtic.
Whether Rangers should go for him is a different argument and one that can equally be argued both ways too.
It would seemingly be a step backwards to bring in the last manager to replace the most recent outgoing manager, but then it should be remembered that he was never sacked and instead left.
Whether relationships with those above are completely burnt or rectifiable is unclear, but it seems more unlikely than likely that he returns anyway so we’ll probably never truly find out.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist shares verdict on latest reports of Ibrox managerial vacancy