Steven Gerrard's Rangers arrival will 'put fire' under Brendan Rodgers, says journalist Darren Lewis
Sunday 6 May 2018 13:12, UK
Steven Gerrard's arrival at Rangers will "put a bit of fire" under Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, says journalist Darren Lewis.
It was announced on Friday that the retired Liverpool midfielder would be taking over at Ibrox from June 1, and will go up against his former Reds manager next season in one of football's biggest rivalries - the Old Firm derby.
The Mirror's football writer Lewis believes the appointment will spur Rodgers on even further to achieve success with Celtic, and praised Gerrard for taking on the role.
"Rodgers was interesting when he was asked about it because he said Gerrard was "stepping into my world", which was a fascinating thing for him to say," he said on the Sunday Supplement.
"We're talking about Gerrard being motivated to do well but it will put a bit of fire under Rodgers as well because he won't want to be the master up there and then get upstaged by the apprentice in managerial terms.
"He has worked under some fantastic names at Liverpool and he will have brilliant contacts as well to call on but most tellingly, when he walks into that dressing room, he'll have more authority than any of his last four or five predecessors and I think that will be key for what he is trying to do.
"I think British football needs him, and the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry to bring in a new wave of managers. We have to stop recycling the same managers again and again.
"We respect what they've done in the game and they have made wonderful contributions - Crystal Palace wouldn't have got out of trouble without Roy Hodgson and David Moyes has done the same at West Ham.
"But we need younger managers - like Darren Moore - to decide not to go into TV, but to go into the dugout and show what they've learnt and for me, that is a big part of why it is fascinating to see Gerrard doing it."
The Sunday Times' football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft also agreed that the head-to-head between the pair would be intriguing, and believes Gerrard needs time to succeed at Rangers.
"One thing that is interesting is that it does say to me that he thinks he can take on Brendan Rodgers, which is fascinating," he added.
"I covered them when they were at Liverpool together and Stevie was his captain. It was a close relationship at one point and then wasn't so close at the end so that is a fascinating sub-plot.
"I hope he gets good advice, he is going to speak to Graeme Souness and there is one job he has to do, which is get Rangers back to Celtic's level and that is hard.
"In taking the job, he's shown the first characteristic of a good manager which is courage. It has whetted his competitive spirit because Rangers is such a big club. It is a huge challenge and you can't underestimate how good a job Brendan Rodgers has done at Celtic.
"I just hope he gets time because if he does, he could really give Rangers that energy and sense of purpose they've been lacking since being reborn. If he doesn't get time, he'll just be another casualty of the madness that has affected that club in the last few years."
