Football News: Steven Gerrard Deserves Respect For His Time At Rangers

It's fair to point out the flaws, but you can't look at Gerrard's time at Glasgpw Rangers in a vacuum. When he arrived in 2018, the club was miles off Celtic, both financially and on the pitch. We were a mess after years of instability, and turning that around was never going to be instant.

Yes, he won 1 trophy out of 9, but that 1 trophy was the most important one, the league title that stopped Celtic's 10 in a row. That's not a small achievement, that's historic. It reset the balance of power in Scottish football at the time and restored Rangers' credibility.

On Europe, Gerrard deserves credit. Rangers consistently punched above their weight under him, group stages, knockout runs, big scalps against teams with far bigger budgets. That progress built the coefficient that directly benefits Scottish football giving Rangers automatic entry to later rounds.

The 70 player turnover sounds and looks bad on paper, but you also need to remember he inherited a squad full of deadwood and had to rebuild almost from scratch. Out of that process came players like Kent, Morelos (improved), Aribo, Kamara, Patterson breaking through players who either delivered on the pitch or brought in solid resale value. like Bassey and Patterson, Aribo

As for wages and contracts, that's part of modern football. Not every signing works, but a lot of those deals were still an upgrade on what we had before. You could argue it laid the foundations for the squad that reached a European final the season after he left.

Yes, he left abruptly for Aston Villa, and it stung. But managers move when opportunities arise that's football. It doesn't erase the progress he made at Rangers or the fact he left us in a far stronger position than when he arrived. that's a fact?

So, would you hire him again? Maybe not, time has moved on. But to dismiss his tenure as "horrendous" is rewriting history. Gerrard gave Rangers back credibility, broke Celtic's dominance, and put us back on the European map. That record, whatever you think of him personally, deserves respect.

And I have to point out the DOF had a very big say in the players contracts, wages etc, and when they could have perhaps sold others when stock was high?
It can't all be laid at Gerrard's feet?

Written by Thestigno1 September 27 2025 12:36:48