The duality of man is portrayed perfectly by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and also by Philippe Clement’s Rangers team.
A squad capable of going toe-to-toe with teams from the Premier League shouldn’t struggle to breakdown a team from the Scottish Championship, and yet that is exactly what happened to leave a manager holding onto his job by a thread.
With talk of Clement being sacked, Rangers fans have turned to an obvious name to replace the Belgian.
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Rangers fans react to calls for Steven Gerrard return
The romanticism of Steven Gerrard’s tenure is understandable given the high of ‘55’, and his availability makes him a desirable option for those wanting silverware brought back to the Ibrox trophy room.
With fans asking if Gerrard should be asked to return, common sense seemed to prevail amongst the majority:
“Absolutely not,” said one fan.
“He certainly raised the standards around the place, and could attract a player, but some of the football under him was dire, and some of his signings were very poor. The Rangers/Gerrard partnership is history. He delivered #55 & stopped their 10, but that’s it.”
“Nope. No better than what we have,” said Iain MacRae, bluntly.
Another agreed that the Liverpool legend wouldn’t take Rangers forward, “No, he was right at the time but his record (apart from 55) wasn’t outstanding.
“The respect and the big player reputation he brought were important at the time as we were reestablishing ourselves following years in lower divisions.
“But he has shown since he’s not got it to be half as great a manager as he was player.”
This fan made a valid point about Gerrard’s trophy count at Rangers despite over three years in charge, “Gerrard and Clement have the exact same amount of trophies as a Rangers manager. Calls for Gerrard to come back are absolutely insane.”
Should Gerrard be welcomed back with open arms?
Those that pine for the return of Gerrard do so with blue-tinted glasses.
It’s easy to forget that two of his last games as manager were a defeat to Dundee United and a home draw with Motherwell.
He also consistently struggled against teams who set up in a low block with even the title winning season seeing points dropped against Livingston and Motherwell as well as narrow defeats against similarly defensive sides.
In fact, a lot of games mirrored the defeat to Queen’s Park, side-to-side, horseshoe and resorting to throwing crosses into the box.
Then there was Gerrard’s record in the cup competitions, one final out of six does not make for pretty reading when you consider the teams who he lost against; Motherwell, Aberdeen, St Johnstone and St Mirren.
Gerrard restored hope and standards at the club, and also delivered one of the most memorable title wins, but his place at Rangers should be consigned to the history books.
