It’s an easy comparison to make – both played and captained Liverpool, both took their first managerial roles at Ibrox, and both have a worldwide reputation from their days as a player.
When Steven Gerrard stepped into the Rangers managerial role he followed in the footsteps of Graeme Souness, the club far from being in a good place when the respected pair decided that Glasgow was the place to be.
Now, former Rangers player and scout, Neil Murray, has explained – to Rangers Review – why the similarities don’t end there:
“For me, he was a role model in a sense that maybe Steven Gerrard is to certain players and younger players at Rangers now.
“You looked at Souness and he had a presence about him. Clearly, he was nobody’s fool when there was a bit of friction between him and some of the senior players, he left nobody in doubt who was the manager.
“He was a winner as well, he wanted good players and high standards – that’s clear and that’s when you got to 16 or 17 you understood you needed to win every game.”
Gerrard has had some incredible mentors since becoming a manager, the death of Walter Smith clearly hitting him hard, and it’s been clear that, although he had a fantastic playing career, he knew that he couldn’t do it alone as a boss and surrounded himself with an experienced team.
But it is his presence, like Souness, that has players going the extra mile and has encouraged ones like Joe Aribo and Connor Goldson to sign when previously they would have stayed in England.
It says a lot for the standards that Gerrard sets that he has never been happy all season despite being top of the league and just a few points worse off than this time last season – the players know that second best just isn’t an option.