‘No disrespect to Rangers’: Glenn Hoddle makes Gerrard & Aston Villa claim fans won’t like

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Glenn Hoddle has made it clear that Steven Gerrard leaving Rangers for Aston Villa in the Premier League is the ‘next step’ for him in his career, as he told talkSPORT (18/11/21 at 9:35 am).

The England legend stated that he means ‘no disrespect to Rangers’, but he feels moving to Villa is the right call from Gerrard.

As Rangers still search for their new manager, Villa unveiled Gerrard in his first press conference on Thursday.

A lot was made of Gerrard’s call to leave the Scottish Premiership champions for the Midlands giants.

Debates were raging far and wide about the size of the two clubs, who is bigger and whether it is a step up.

Well, Rangers fans won’t like what Hoddle has had to say, as he backed Gerrard to do the business at Villa Park.

“I think he will do excellent,” said Hoddle. “I think it’s the next step for him. No disrespect to Rangers. He wants to be in the Premier League.

“I worked with him as a pundit for BT and, off-air, I looked at him and I thought ‘yeah, you have got what it takes to be a good manager’. He really has.

“I expect him to do well at Villa. It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to have the players. He can improve them, of course, he can. He can get a different system going.

“At the end of the day, I see him as a successful man as a player and I think he will be successful as a manager. But it’s going to take time. Villa fans shouldn’t expect now that he will get into the top-eight.”

Life for Gerrard will begin at home to Graham Potter’s Brighton, who have started off the season in a bright fashion but have tailed off slightly of late.

The one thing that Gerrard needs to stop is the five-game losing streak Villa are on.

With a re-energised home crowd behind him, it’s going to be a lively game with goals certain given the positive mood both teams will be in.

These first two games will be slightly easier on paper to deal with for Gerrard because it’s Brighton, then Palace, before they face the likes of Man City and Liverpool next month.