Redknapp delivers verdict on Gerrard joining Rangers after Sunday walloping by Celtic

Mon 30 April 2018 5:12, UK

By Richard Parks

Jamie Redknapp has hailed Rangers as a “monster of a club” in the Daily Mail and claimed it would be the “bravest” decision of Steven Gerrard’s career if he accepted the manager’s post.

The Glasgow giants are reportedly on the cusp of appointing the Liverpool icon to replace Graeme Murty after holding “very positive” talks.

The Daily Record claim the director of football Mark Allen is confident a deal will soon be done after Rangers were demolished 5-0 by Celtic in Sunday’s Old Firm.

“Going to Rangers would be the bravest decision of Steven Gerrard’s career,” Redknapp wrote in the Mail. “I have heard good things about his coaching in Liverpool’s Under 18s and everything is set up for him to develop his career at Anfield.

“Should Jurgen Klopp call time in a couple of years, I am sure Stevie would be at the top of the list to succeed him. Yet this shows he wants to cut his teeth and prove himself elsewhere.

“Rangers have had big problems in the last decade but it is a monster of a club if someone gets it right. Too many players have been lost to the media and I would not discourage Stevie from taking this opportunity.”

Football Insider verdict:

It appears that Rangers are very confident that Gerrard will soon be installed in the Ibrox hotseat, a move that qualifies as a sensational one as well as a calculated gamble. The ex-England international is an all-time great of the game, with a playing CV to die for, but he has yet to manage at senior level and the Rangers job has proved far too much for, among others, ex-youth team boss Graeme Murty, English Championship expert Mark Warburton and globetrotter Pedro Caixinha in recent years. Few in the game expected Rangers to move for Gerrard, or for him to say ‘yes’ to a club with a small playing budget. It is a blockbuster move, and an exciting one. As Redknapp suggests, it is also a courageous one. The gap between Rangers and Celtic is growing rather than diminishing, and Sunday’s walloping demonstrates the size of the task.