Steven Gerrard: “He’s a big boy and he knows it’s all part of the gig,” Richard Keys

Richard Keys has come out and told Steven Gerrard to grow up after his goading of the Celtic supporters in a charity match between the Bhoys and Liverpool at the weekend. The former Liverpool captain and boss of theRangers scored a penalty and proceeded to run over to the 2000 or so Hoops supporters in a corner of Anfield to wind-up the travelling fans.

However, Keys has responded to this recent puerile display from the ex-Premier League midfielder by insisting that if Gerrard wants to be taken seriously in the game when it comes to management, he should really give instances like this a wide-berth. Of course, Gerrard escaped Ibrox the first chance that he got, leaving for Aston Villa in the blink of an eye in the Novemebr of 2021.

The former Sky Sports anchor, writing in his own blog, said: “A quick word about Steven Gerrard. If Gerrard still has ambitions to manage/coach in the PL I really think he should be swerving the legends games – the likes of which we saw at Anfield last weekend. Gerrard needs to distance himself from Liverpool for a few years more yet. One of his biggest problems at Villa was that their fans largely saw him as Liverpool’s captain.

“It was ok to start with – Gerrard said all the right things. But as time progressed and things weren’t going so well, it was an easy stick to beat him with – even though he’d had those two years at Rangers as well. Perhaps he’s given up believing that he’s got a coaching career, but if he hasn’t, I firmly believe he’s definitely got to give those games up. Either way – he shouldn’t be taunting Celtic fans as he did after scoring.

The man who now works for Bein covering the English Premier League with former Sky Sports colleague, Andy Gray, revealed that he should know better considering his experience in the game. He added: “I know it’s hard and I know they’d been on at him all through the game – but he’s a big boy and he knows it’s all part of the gig. Those fans had paid their money to charity (the players always get paid btw) and so they had a right to get involved in the occasion.”

Incidentally here’s what the leading Liverpool fan media site, Empire of the Top had to say about the Celtic support at the weekend…