Steven Gerrard would turn down the chance to swap Rangers for a return to the Premier League and Newcastle United, former Ibrox midfielder Andy Halliday has told the Open Goal Podcast.
Since hanging up his boots and swapping his captain’s armband for a tactics board, Gerrard has already proven he has the managerial chops to shake a sleeping giant from their slumber.
He has turned Rangers from a Luxembourg laughing stock into all-conquering Invincibles in the space of just three years.
But, realistically, how much further can the Liverpool legend take the reigning Scottish Premiership champions?
Domestically they can’t do much better than last season – a first league title in a decade, 32 wins out of 36, 92 goals and 102 points.
And while Rangers have spun plenty of surprises on the continent during Gerrard’s tenure, there’s only so much the Glasgow giants can achieve in European football given limited resources.
‘Limited resources’ isn’t an accusation you can throw at Newcastle United these days. The Toon are now the richest football club in the world, with Saudi billionaires willing to put their money where their mouth is.
But, according to a man who played under Gerrard before joining Hearts in 2020, there’s only Premier League club the former England skipper would leave Rangers for – and it’s not Newcastle.
Would Steven Gerrard take the Newcastle United job?
“I don’t think he would take that job. If you had asked me a couple of months ago ‘would he take the Newcastle job?’ I would have said no,” says Halliday.
“Now (Newcastle) have an open chequebook. But I still think the obvious one is he’s going to want the Liverpool job down the line.
“What’s his best opportunity of getting that? I think he loves it here, I think he loves Glasgow, I think he loves Rangers.”
Newcastle have also been linked with Andre Villas-Boas, Lucien Favre, Graham Potter, Paulo Fonseca and others. However, a move for Antonio Conte appears unlikely.
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