Former Celtic head coach explains how Rangers boss Steven Gerrard could become next manager of Liverpool

Steven Gerrard could be the next manager of Liverpool even though the big clubs in England won’t be overly impressed with his title success at Rangers, according to former Anfield hero John Barnes.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard. Picture: SNS

The ex-Celtic manager believes the relationship Gerrard holds with his former club could lead to them ‘overlooking’ his lack of experience in the EPL.

Gerrard is set to win his first trophy as manager with Rangers holding a seemingly insurmountable 23-point lead over their Glasgow rivals in the Scottish Premiership title race.

The 40-year-old will be the first man to win a title with the Ibrox side since Walter Smith’s men managed to secure the 2010/11 championship and end Celtic’s much-coveted quest for ten-in-a-row.

Despite this, Barnes doesn’t feel some of biggest clubs will be overly interested in the former England captain when it next comes time to picking a new manager, though Liverpool may be a different story.

In an interview with BonusCodeBets, he said: “The top teams in the Premier League often look for experience in their managers, so that might rule Gerrard out of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United or similar teams because the experience of managing Rangers in Scotland might not be enough, but his relationship with Liverpool means that if Jurgen Klopp moves on, that could be overlooked.

“I’m sure that there’s going to be Premier League teams interested in him that will think Gerrard will do a good job for them, but I don’t think that they’ll be a queue of four or five clubs now that he’s won the league with Rangers. He has a great future ahead of him.

“What Steven has done at Rangers hasn’t surprised me, I thought Steven would be a great manager. Importantly, he’s been given time. In his first year he didn’t finish anywhere near Celtic, in his second year this was the same and in the past managers that came before him have been fired because of this.

"The difference here is Rangers recognised he is a good manager and gave him time so that eventually he would be able to compete with Celtic.”

The ex-Parkhead head coach is staggered to see the collapse of his old club, whom he managed unsuccessfully in the 1999/2000 season under the tutelage of director of football Kenny Dalglish.

Celtic have limped from one disaster to another in the 2020/21 campaign with fans calling for the sacking of manager Neil Lennon and the removal of the club’s board.

Barnes reckons the nine-time Scottish Premiership reigning champions have folded under the pressure after finally being challenged fully by their closest rivals.

He added: “What has been surprising during his time at Rangers is the demise of Celtic.

“I always expected Rangers to do well because when you have a hungry manager and some good players the team is going to be competitive, but you don’t expect the top team to fall away like they have.

“What’s worked against Celtic is that the last nine years have been so easy and comfortable and now that they have faced pressure they’ve folded.”

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