Steven Gerrard was always going to attract interest from England when he decided to take the reins at Ibrox such is his profile as a footballing icon.
He endured a difficult first couple of years as a squad rebuild struggled to find consistency but now that he has delivered the domestic success to match the incredible European form, the plaudits are rightly flowing in with the latest being former Liverpool team-mate Joe Cole, as reported by The Daily Record:
“Stevie’s been brilliant at Rangers. He’s very driven, he knows what he wants. When he took the job people in football probably thought: ‘Oh, that’s a tricky one for him’ because of where Celtic were at the time.
“He had a mountain to climb at Rangers but he backed himself and has done so well. Steadily, he’s rebuilt the club, brought in the right characters and I’m just so pleased for him.
“It’s great for young British coaches, the new generation, that he’s done so well up there. I’ve been so impressed by Rangers’ performances in Europe since Stevie took over. They have been fantastic.
“But it’s not only been the way that his team have played or the results they’ve got. When I also look at the racism incident with Kamara and the situation Stevie had to deal with, the way he stepped up to back his player was terrific.
“I expected nothing less from Stevie. But things like that can be a problem for managers.
“And moments like that in a managerial career – that’s when you know if they’ve got the finger on the pulse or not. You just knew Stevie would handle it brilliantly for the club – and he did.”
Cole was speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail about the impact of his former team-mate but his comments are almost an indicator of how simplistic outsiders think the job that Gerrard has done at Rangers.
It hasn’t just been his man management skills or respect that players have for him, if that was the case, any former player with a decent CV would be a good manager, it simply doesn’t work like that.
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It has very much been a team effort both on and off the pitch, Gerrard surrounded himself with specialists in tactics, fitness and set-pieces whilst, at the same time, the club employed a proper and well respected sporting director who would lead a hand picked recruitment and scouting department.
This is why Gerrard has been a success, he has been a cog in a wheel, a hugely important cog, but a cog nonetheless.