“Where’s the money, Dave?” Gerrard to ask King the awkward question

STEVEN GERRARD would have been absolutely thrilled last night in Rome after watching Liverpool reach the Champions League Final.

On the back of his mind as he enjoyed the post match celebrations with his broadcasting colleagues at BT Sport, was what was he going to do about Rangers?

Gerrard has always had a soft spot for Celtic, as we revealed last week when the story of Dave King’s approach to the Anfield legend broke. But that counts for little in the big money business that Steven Gerrard has operated in all his time as a professional.

So there was no real debate about the opportunity that Gerrard has been offered – as a complete rookie in management – but perhaps the questions being asked in Rome in the wee small hours were WHY is he being offered the Rangers job and WHERE IS THE MONEY?

The English Premier League clubs seem to change managers on an increasingly regular basis, with maybe Arsenal the one notable exception from that. And even they are looking for a replacement for Arsene Wenger this summer.

Clubs at the bottom of the league fearing relegation are prone to pushing the panic button and sacking their manager. Your Stokes, Southamptons, West Broms and Newcastles and the like are all prone to changing their manager after a few defeats and as their league position begins to looks precarious.

None of them turned to Steven Gerrard to offer him the chance to revive their fortunes.

Presumably they know that he is a Liverpool legend, that he famously turned a 3-0 half-time deficit in a Champions League Final into a victory, that he has won over a hundred England caps and that he has been doing well at Liverpool Under 18s.

In fact the ONLY club to offer him a job was MK Dons. There Gerrard looked at it carefully and said thanks but no thanks.

So the opportunity, all else being equal, to manager a club the size of Rangers, can be regarded as an exciting one for a guy as ambitious as Steven Gerrard.

After Liverpool’s 7-6 aggregate success against Roma, his mind was on all of this very early this morning.

Des Kelly, BT Sport’s Chief Reporter, was still hard at it on the TalkSport broadcast from Rome this morning with Alan Brazil and Dean Saunders. The bubbly was flowing, and inevitably the subject turned to what Stevie G has had to say about Rangers.

“Marnin!” Was up bright and early with @AlanBrazil and Dean Saunders talking @ChampionsLeague & @LFC on The Spanish Steps, #Roma, for TalkSport. One of us hasn’t had much sleep. So we had a livener. Not #Ribena either @JamesMilner pic.twitter.com/Xp6OhEzYuX

— DES KELLY (@DesKellyBTS) May 3, 2018

Asked whether the Rangers job offer had been discussed by the team which includes Frank Lampard, Gary Lineker and Rio Ferdinand – Kelly had this to say:

“It was discussed yes, that was later on.”

Brazil asked Kelly if Steve Gerrard wanted the job: “He said he’s had talks and he’s very positive about what he’s heard so far.”

Brazil then asked: “Do you think there’s a chance he’ll take it?”

Kelly replied: “Yeah of course there is.

“It’s an opportunity. I don’t know the ins and outs of the Rangers finances but I would want a great deal of information before taking the job.

“I think it’s one of those jobs…it sounds very enticing.

“But you’d want to look behind the façade.

“You’re measured against Celtic whatever happens.

“I don’t think anyone could go in there and not improve Rangers in terms of their playing staff.”

Saunders then asked how much money Gerrard would need to challenge Celtic.

Kelly replied: “How long’s a piece of string?

“He’d need to recruit. But maybe he’s got some clever plans and maybe some good advisers.”

Brazil asked about Gerrard possibly looking to take some of the Liverpool Under 18s to Ibrox.

“I have no idea. At 3am I don’t think we were talking about that kind of stuff!” Kelly replied.

While you can appreciate that point – Liverpool had just reached the Champions League Final after all and the celebrations would have been in full flow – but the one line from all of that that should worry the Ibrox ‘faithful’ – is WHERE IS THE MONEY?

The better hope that Dave King has the right answer…

The Celtic Star, since we named these games against Rangers as Beautiful Sunday, have decided to release a very special, limited edition t-shirt, in a choice of colours – green and white. Have a look at the designs and if you would like to order these are available to buy now at www.thecelticstarbookstore.co.uk

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