Eyebrows skyrocketed when Liverpool legend Gerrard entered talks with MK Dons over the vacant managerial role, but was this an opportunity missed or a lucky escape?
Jamie Carragher believes former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard turned down the offer to become MK Dons manager because he knows he lacks the required experience, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
After announcing that he would be drawing the curtain on a brief spell in the MLS with LA Galaxy, speculation intensified that the Champions League winning captain and Anfield legend was ready to jump into his post-playing career at the deep end with a first managerial role at League 1 strugglers MK Dons.
However, Gerrard, who is attempting to earn is UEFA A licence, rejected the offer after talks with chairman Pete Winkleman, deciding that the time was not right to begin a new career so soon after the previous one ended.
The former England skipper has also been heavily tipped to return to Liverpool in an as-yet unspecified coaching role and Carragher believes his long-time team-mate needs more time to develop his knowledge before he can take on a role in management.
“I just think it’s come too early, six or 12 months down the line there would have been a good chance of it happening,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
“I don’t think he is fully ready yet. That’s not to say he couldn’t do the job but maybe he wants to see if he can get more experience and get his coaching badges.
“I think it’s great he’s making noises about going into management. He’s turned it down now but the fact he spoke to a club shows it will only be a matter of time.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hardly played down the fact that he is open to Gerrard returning to Anfield to learn the ropes in a coaching capacity, with a reunion with academy director Steve Heighway, who helped the Liverpool local break into to the senior squad as a youngster, appearing the most viable route.
However, MK Dons may have been the ideal environment for the 36-year-old to learn the trade.
Sir Alex Ferguson famously instructed his budding protégés to ‘choose the chairman rather than the club’ and, in Winkleman, Gerrard would have found a man determined to give youth a chance.
After all, Roberto Di Matteo started his coaching journey with The Dons while the recently departed Karl Robinson stayed for six years, a lifetime in the cut-throat modern world.
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