Rangers fan coming in peace. Congratulations on getting rid of Ashley - our club know all about him as well.
I wanted to give you some detail on Gerrard as a manager. I’ll preface this by saying I hope he doesn’t leave and as a fan base we love the man.
Honestly, I think he’d do a great job for you and if you appointed him you should be excited.
What he’s achieved at Rangers has been, overall, phenomenal.
When he took over we were a million miles behind Celtic. If we didn’t lose an Old Firm by more than 3 goals it was a relief. In Europe, we were absolutely nowhere. The season prior to his appointment we crashed out in the first round of Europa qualifying to a team who finished 4th in Luxembourg.
He immediately secured us qualification for the Europa League and has now done this four years in a row. In the last two years we’ve reached the last 16. We’ve also played some genuinely great football against teams with significantly bigger budgets like Porto and Galatasaray, and deservedly beat them.
Domestically he built an absolute juggernaut last year. We finished undefeated with 102 points and I believe a record for fewest goals conceded. He’s also crushed our inferiority complex against Celtic and they’ve now lost five of the last six matches between us.
He’s shown an aptitude for developing and improving players as well as blooding youngsters, and he’s brought in a culture of accountability amongst the squad.
He also aims to play attacking football with marauding fullbacks, a high press and a narrow front three. Normally he’ll play 4-3-3 but he’s shown tactical flexibility to go to a 4-4-2 diamond with good results.
He’s the sort of manager who will stand up for the team and will say the right thing publicly. He just gets the club and I’m confident he’d do the same with a proper football team like Newcastle.
In the interest of balance, it’s worth pointing out that he is a young manager and does have some clear flaws. Chief amongst them being that he makes substitutes too late, often waiting until the 70th minute or until something goes wrong. It’s also worth noting that our performance levels have dropped this season, although we’re still top of the league.
These are things that will improve with experience though, and he has what you can’t learn - an aura. He’d be great for you guys as he has instant credibility with a player of any calibre based on his achievements as a player.
I hope you find this useful and that you won’t be offended if I tell you all to keep your hands off him. If you do end up appointing him then I think you’ll grow to love him.
With that being said, enjoy the adventure under the new ownership. Always had a soft spot for the Toon as my dad was a long-suffering season ticket holder.
EDIT: Here’s footage of Gerrard driving to our stadium on the morning of the game we officially won the league. For years our fan base was completely divided and at odds with each other and as you can see he’s brought us all together.
