He’s doing it right in the context of a club legend who has transitioned into his managerial career with as much class and cleverness as he approached the football pitch when playing for Liverpool. This in comparison to two other club legends; Frank Lampard of Chelsea and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer of Manchester United.
Both Lampard and Solskjaer were phenomenal servants of their clubs when playing, but both did not have the managerial facilities to instruct these same clubs and meet expectations.
I am not saying either is a bad manager, but neither were the right choices. Ole, arguably, did a great job in beginning a post-Ferguson rebuild at United, but was only ever going to take the club so far. The board’s decision to keep him in his job for as long as they did has damaged United’s title hopes but also tainted the image of Ole at Old Trafford.
Equally, Lampard was never ready to manage the caliber of the squad available at Chelsea, and his sacking was an unfortunate departure for a legend of Stamford Bridge.
Steven Gerrard however, whose intent must be to come back home to Anfield one day as manager, has recognised the requisite process. Gerrard managed Rangers to their first league title in 10 years, and after 3 and a half years at the helm has left for Aston Villa.
Since arriving back in England, Gerrard has won three of his four matches in charge of Villa (at the time of writing), losing only narrowly to Manchester City (1-2).
Gerrard is patiently following the right path as a Premier League manager, and when he one day takes charge at Liverpool he will be far better equipped than either Ole or Lampard were at their respective clubs.
