London: Former Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard has said he will resume talks with Scottish Premiership club Rangers over their vacant manager’s job on Thursday. The 37-year-old Gerrard has been coaching Liverpool’s development squad after retiring from playing in 2016 and has said he wishes to become a manager. Gerrard and Rangers chairman Dave King attended Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final, first leg against AS Roma at Anfield last Tuesday and the former national team captain has confirmed initial talks took place.
“Yes, there’s truth in the rumours,” Gerrard, who has no direct experience of Scottish football, told BT Sport on Tuesday in his role as a pundit on their Champions League coverage. “I’ve held initial talks with Rangers and the plan is to pick them up in a couple of days time. There’s an interest. I’ve held positive talks with them,” he added. “The plan is, obviously I’m busy for the next couple of days now, but I’ll pick it up on Thursday and we’ll see if I can progress it.” Rangers sacked manager Graeme Murty with three matches left in the season on Tuesday after an embarrassing 5-0 loss to arch-rivals Celtic, who won their seventh straight league title at the weekend.
The 43-year-old Murty, who had been coach of the club’s development squad, was appointed in December until the end of the campaign following the dismissal of Pedro Caixinha. Rangers have won a record 54 Scottish top-flight titles but have been badly hit by financial problems and were last crowned champions in 2010-11, leaving Celtic to dominate. Should Gerrard be appointed manager, he would follow another ex-Liverpool midfielder, Graeme Souness, who won three titles and four league cups in five years as manager from 1986-1991. Another Liverpool great, John Barnes, proved less successful at Celtic, lasting just eight months as head coach in 1999. — Reuters
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