Former Rangers striker Billy Dodds has warned Steven Gerrard that he would face “serious questions” about his future at Ibrox if the ‘Gers do not win a trophy in the next year.
Since taking charge at the Light Blues in May 2018, the ex-Liverpool captain has finished second in the Premiership and guided Rangers to the last 16 of the Europa League. However, their failure to halt Celtic’s total domestic dominance has led Dodds to fear for Gerrard’s position if he doesn’t win silverware soon.
He told Glasgow Times: “Their season is practically over barring an absolute miracle. Where does that leave Steven Gerrard? How long do you give a manager who has not won a trophy at a club like that? Now I know it is difficult to catch Celtic because they are away out in front financially and they have good foundations. But if you don’t win games and trophies at a club like Rangers then you can’t expect to go on as the manager long term.
“For me there is no doubt that he has closed the gap, I know it maybe hasn’t felt like that with the bad run that they’ve had, but there’s no doubt he is getting Rangers closer to Celtic. But I don’t know if that is close enough, he has to get them really close really soon.”
Dodds added: “He’s gone trophyless in the first season, now it looks like the same in the second. I think Steven Gerrard and anyone in football for that matter knows if it goes on for a third season then serious questions will be asked.”
It is understandable why Dodds thinks that Gerrard could be in a precarious position if Rangers’ fortunes fail to improve once Scottish football resumes. Even before the coronavirus hit Europe, the ‘Gers had endured a very difficult start to 2020, losing three league games and drawing another two, as well as exiting the Scottish Cup at the hands of a struggling Hearts side. Having gone into the year just two points behind Celtic, they now trail the Hoops by 13 points and, irrespective of the outcome of the SPFL’s resolution talks, harbour only a mathematical possibility of winning the league this season.
That would push Rangers’ wait for a major trophy out to 10 years, a yawning gap for notable silverware even when accounting for the financial collapse of 2012 and the subsequent rebuilding. Gerrard has shown he can get one over on Celtic by winning three derbies since December 2018 – he just needs to do so on a tangibly defining occasion.
However, Dodds is perhaps being unfair to Gerrard with only a token acknowledgement of the job that the manager has done in his two years at Ibrox. After consecutive third-place finishes in 2017 and 2018, he took them to second last season and had them on course to maintain that position again in the current campaign. He has also restored respectability to Rangers’ name in Europe – from the humiliating defeat to Progres Niederkorn under Pedro Caixinha less than three years ago, he has masterminded wins over the likes of Porto, Feyenoord and Braga in getting them to the last 16 of the Europa League this term, their best continental performance in nine years.
There have been plenty of positives to Gerrard’s reign at Ibrox and, while Dodds understandably feels that the manager needs a trophy soon, it seems a little premature to be so openly undermining his job prospects given where Rangers are now compared to when he took over.
Rangers fans, do you agree with Dodds’ verdict on Gerrard’s future at the club? Have your say by commenting below!
