So Steven Gerrard has walked away after three and a half years as manager at theRangers. After his first game away to Aberdeen he immediately marked the cards of the Scottish refereeing fraternity, telling them that not enough had been done to help over the previous seasons. Even it that was true – and of course it was complete nonsense – it was a message that would increasingly sink in and assist him in his job.

Yet for all that covert assistance, Gerrard managed to get his hands on just one trophy in three and a half years in Scotland. He won the Scottish Premiership last season and his team went through their entire league campaign undefeated, benefiting presumably from the absence of their support at matches as much as the Celtic implosion.

Aston Villa Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Steven Gerrard as our new Head Coach. 🟣

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 11, 2021

Celtic were awful pretty much all last season and did nowhere near enough to win the title, effectively becoming a non-runner in a two horse race. That wasn’t down to Gerrard but he was more than happy to be the right man in the right place as far as theRangers were concerned to stop Celtic winning ten in a row and to deliver the first piece of silverware to the latest Ibrox club since it was established in 2012.

As an aside, have a wee look at this official team sheet from 2010 which sort of gives the same club game away does it not as they clearly brand The Rangers Football Club plc – Founded in 1872 – as playing Kilmarnock that day. The PLC wasn’t;t founded in 1872, that was the club, this illustrates that they are one and the same, and that plc was liquidated in 2012 having run up debts of tens of millions that they could not pay.

Getting back to Gerrard, he was under severe pressure and was perhaps heading for the sack back in March 2020 after his side had lost 1-0 at Ibrox to Hamilton and effectively surrendered their last lingering chance to win the Scottish Premiership as Neil Lennon’s Celtic moved 13 points clear.  Having won the New Year game ahead of the Winter Break – the game where John Beaton allowed four stamps or kicks on Celtic players to go unpunished – it was advantage to theRangers at the top of the league.

Yet having got their noses in front their bottles crashed and Celtic were “relentless” according to Gerrard in establishing a gap. By the time they’d lost to Hamilton the natives were restless and were calling for his head.

In the words of their leading podcaster…

Your last home game of the 19/20 season https://t.co/FJydN8MfNp pic.twitter.com/h3ub03NEqY

— Tam sellic son (@TamsellicsonIII) November 9, 2021

WATCH THIS…FANS TURN ON STEVEN GERRARD as HAMILTON BEAT RANGERS AT IBROX…

That campaign was curtailed after one more match each, “relentless” Celtic winning 5-0 at home against St Mirren (we’d dropped just two points since the turn of the year) and theRangers edging out Ross County at Dingwall in a game where the home side had the better of the action.

Gerrard played his part in the desperate and shameful Null and Void lobbying after that but ultimately Celtic were out of sight and had Covid not curtailed that season, then given the reaction from theRangers fans which you can see above then the possibility of him losing his job was high.

If Covid played it’s part in Gerrard getting another chance – and it would have been a final chance – there was only going to be one manager left standing in Glasgow last season as the Ten-in-a-Row hysteria reached fever pitch, ironically with not a fan in sight. Behind closed doors football helped Gerrard enormously as his side played their football without having to endure the grunts and groans from the stands.

Celtic on the other hand were drastically weakened without the Celtic Support behind them but plenty of other factors from our club made things much easier than it should have been for Gerrard. That though was not his problem and he deservedly lifted the trophy that had last been at Ibrox when the old club was still playing there. They had won their 52nd, 53rd and 54th title – which were records – yet strangely these numbers were never mentioned. The 55 stuff is simply them trying to bury their mess in the way a dog does after doing it’s own business. It stinks.

In Gerrard's time in Scotland he was the 4th most successful manager

Yes, the 4th. What a job he did.

1. Brendan Rodgers (Celtic)
2. Neil Lennon (Celtic)
3. Calum Davidson (St. Johnstone)
4. Steven Gerrard (Rangers)

— Eoin Moynihan (@Moynihan_4) November 10, 2021

Perhaps the most significant point on Gerrard’s record is his abysmal record in the two domestic cups in Scotland – the League Cup and the Scottish Cup. Gerrard’s record of zero wins from six attempts is glaringly bad and if the Scottish Premiership can be criticised for being a two horse race then that is not the case in the cup competitions.

Gerrard only reached one cup final in six attempts, losing the League Cup Final in December 2019 to Celtic with Christopher Jullien scoring the only goal of the game.  In the other five cup competitions – three Scottish cup campaigns and two league cups – Gerrard failed to reach the final in any of these campaigns and was knocked out by Aberdeen (twice), Hearts, St Mirren and St Johnstone.

Gerrard’s side did achieve some very decent results in the Europa League – few if any coming against any of the teams from Europe’s big five leagues – but his achievements in European competition is worthy of praise, although having won the Scottish Premiership last season the attempts to reach the Champions League through the easier Champions route was just about as bad as Celtic’s one the previous few seasons.

All this talk about winning more trophies than Rangers in Gerrard’s time at the club when in actual fact we’ve won more major trophies than their entire football club.

Drink it in. Inhale it. Inject it. 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/tP3jBLCfiN

— St. Johnstone FC News ★★ (@sjfcnews) November 10, 2021

Gerrard recently noted the lack of transfer activity as the money worries at Ibrox intensified, the huge efforts throwing cash to stop Celtic reaching the ten was clearly a problem. And with the supporters back in the stands the pressure was back on his players as the quality fo football – according to their supporters – dropped.

Yet Celtic were in the early stages of a major rebuild under Ange Postecoglou and when a number of honest mistakes were factored in,  Gerrard was able to leave with his old side four points clear at the top of the league.  However it was clear to everyone that Celtic had momentum and were looking at strengthening further in January – whereas out coming transfers is probably the main focus down the river.

Gerrard’s timing therefore is perfect, quit while you’re still winning and move on. For theRangers they have some much needed compensation – repeated to be around £3m – and have a chance to recruit perhaps a better  football manager than Stephen Gerrard.  Ange Postecoglou meanwhile is busy concentrating on creating his own beautiful house over in the east end of the city.

And the last word, to Chris Sutton…

Good luck to Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa. He was great for Scottish football and raised its profile. He will be a big loss to Rangers. Stopping Celtic winning 10 was a big deal but Callum Davidson did win more trophies than him over the time… who will Rangers turn to??

— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) November 11, 2021