Jamie Carragher: Steven Gerrard will want second Rangers title but Aston Villa would be 'great move'
Aston Villa sacked Dean Smith on Sunday after a run of five consecutive Premier League defeats, concluding with Friday's 1-0 loss at Southampton; Rangers boss Steven Gerrard is the Sky Bet favourite to take the vacant role at Villa Park
Monday 8 November 2021 12:50, UK
Jamie Carragher says joining Aston Villa would be a "great move" for Rangers boss Steven Gerrard - but ideally he would win a second league title in Scotland first.
Gerrard is the favourite to take over the vacant position at Villa Park following Dean Smith's sacking on Sunday, after leading Rangers to their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade last season.
Carragher, who played with the 41-year-old with Liverpool and England, told Sky Sports the Villa job would be one of the best he would be offered in the Premier League, but suggested there could be better timing for him to take over, with Rangers again leading the Scottish Premiership by four points this season as they look to retain their crown.
He said: "I think Aston Villa as a club would be a great move for Steven Gerrard. But the situation he finds himself in right now is that he took the title away from Celtic last season, and he's in a great position to win it again. I think in a perfect world you'd want to stay at Rangers to the end of the season and come away from there with two titles.
"I mean, this is not something coming from Steven Gerrard but, 'I look I've been in a job for four years in the Scottish Premiership', and I think sooner or later there's going to be a great chance Steven Gerrard is going to come to the Premier League. But for me, it's a difficult one.
"If he got offered the Aston Villa job, I don't think there'd be many jobs in the Premier League which he would get offered better than that. People talk about Liverpool, and that might be another two or three years with Jurgen Klopp but you're not going to get any jobs better, so it would be a decision for him.
"But, in a perfect world, I think Steven Gerrard wants to come away from Rangers with another couple of trophies."
Redknapp: I feel sorry for Smith
Jamie Redknapp pointed to Aston Villa's big summer of spending following the departure of captain Jack Grealish to Manchester City as raising expectations around the club - and said the slow starts of new arrivals Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia had been difficult for Smith.
Redknapp suggested the Villa hierarchy had already had reservations about their manager before the five-game losing run which cost him his job, having reportedly come close to sacking him at the end of 2019/20.
He said: "I think from Villa's point of view, they bought in Bailey for £30m, he's not started the season well, he needs time, it's a new league. Buendia's struggled as well. I like Dean Smith, I feel sorry for him, because it looks to me that they were perhaps waiting for him to have a little bit of a bad run and they've gone 'right, we need to change now'.
"Now you've got to look at it from a job perspective - it's an incredible job. Huge club, great potential. Someone's going to get very lucky I think, with this squad.
"They can build, they'll back the next manager, they've spent a lot of money, so unlucky for Dean Smith - someone else will certainly reap the rewards. It doesn't surprise me if Steven Gerrard is favourite, he's done a great job at Rangers."
