Gerrard backed to take over at Liverpool ‘the moment Jurgen Klopp decides he has achieved all he can’

Steven Gerrard is setting himself up to walk into a managerial post at Liverpool “the moment Jurgen Klopp decides he has achieved all he can”, says Rangers legend Barry Ferguson.

The iconic figure at Anfield decided to cut his coaching teeth in Scotland during the summer of 2018.

His debut campaign at Ibrox is considered to have been a success, with Rangers suggesting that they are once more ready to close the gap and ultimately overtake Old Firm rivals Celtic.

If Gerrard is able to complete that task, adding more major silverware to an already enviable CV, then a return to his roots on Merseyside is a given.

There is no role for him to fill at present, with Klopp having turned Liverpool into Champions League winners, but Ferguson can see Gerrard following the lead of new Chelsea boss Frank Lampard in time by retracing his steps to a club that means so much to him.

The former Rangers captain told the Daily Record: “Let’s be honest, we’ve all known from day one that Steven Gerrard hopes to go back to his own spiritual home at Anfield the way Lampard has returned to Stamford Bridge.

“But I just hope he has to wait an awful lot longer than his old England team-mate. And the good news is if his dream is to manage Liverpool one day, first he’s going to have to take Rangers back to the top of Scottish football.

“If he can do that and win the title he’ll walk straight back to Merseyside the moment Jurgen Klopp decides he has achieved all he can in England.

“But that all depends on the job he does right now. Gerrard has to make Rangers successful or it will throw a massive spanner in his works.

“If he can then, like Lampard, he won’t have to make the journey back home in steps or stop off along the way to cut his teeth a bit more with a West Ham or a Wolves. No, he’ll be fast-tracked directly into the one job he wants above all others.

“And in the meantime he can focus entirely on finishing the job he has started with Rangers because he has made some humongous strides up here over the last 12 months.”

With Rangers having finished nine points behind Scottish Premiership champions Celtic in 2018-19, Ferguson added: “Gerrard won’t want to move on until he has achieved what he set out to do when he took this job on.

“You can tell when you listen to the guy he is as desperate to get Rangers back to the top of the Scottish game as any of the diehards in the stands.

“So what he has to do now is lead the club to some cup finals and make Rangers properly competitive in the title race by taking it down to the wire.

“Any thoughts the manager might have of following Lampard’s lead will have to wait. There’s a huge job for Stevie G to be getting on with and the most important part of this entire project is just about to begin.”