Steven Gerrard is reportedly in advanced talks to take over as Rangers manager at Ibrox.
Steven Gerrard’s former Liverpool teammate Emile Heskey has told the Daily Record that he believes Gerrard’s reportedly imminent move to Rangers could see him mirror former Celtic manager Neil Lennon.
Sky Sports claim Gerrard has agreed a deal with Rangers, with the 37-year-old now expected to replace Graeme Murty who was relieved of his duties on Tuesday afternoon after Sunday’s 5-0 loss to Celtic.
Gerrard is set to take charge in what will be his first voyage into senior management, after retiring from professional football in 2016 to take over Liverpool’s Under-18 side and forage into TV punditry with BT Sport.
Heskey believes the jump from Liverpool’s youth side to managing a club like Rangers is huge, but expects Gerrard to cope with it as did current Hibernian manager Lennon did when taking over Celtic.
“It would be a massive jump for Steven to manage Rangers and you need belief in yourself to do something like that,” Heskey said. ““But Neil did it at Celtic and he was fantastic – and he came down to Bolton and did well considering the problems we had off the pitch.
“Now he’s gone to Hibs and has done very well again. I can see Steven making a similar jump. Neil’s situation is slightly different because he was Celtic through and through and coached at the club after being a player.”
Lennon began Celtic’s run of seven consecutive Scottish Premiership wins, holding aloft the title in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, before joining English side Bolton in October 2014. He also won the league with Celtic five times as a player, making it eight career wins.
The former Celtic captain has orchestrated a superb season at Easter Road with Hibs, gaining promotion before guiding them to a healthy fourth place with second still in sight.
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