Steven Gerrard told taking over at Wrexham or Birmingham could prove to be springboard to future Liverpool job

Smicer believes that the best way for former teammate Steven Gerrard to become Liverpool head coach in the future is to take over at Wrexham, who have been linked with Gerrard to succeed Phil Parkinson, or Birmingham. The Championship pair face off on Friday night and could well provide the perfect stepping stone for the ex-Reds midfielder.

Gerrard's senior managerial career started in 2018 when he took over at Rangers before moving on to Aston Villa in 2021, and then to Al-Ettifaq in 2023. However, the 45-year-old has been out of work since leaving the Saudi start in January this year.

Gerrard may be back in work sooner rather than later as the former midfielder is linked with a return to Rangers. Current Gers boss Russell Martin is under mounting pressure to turn the club's fortunes around after a dire start to the season that sees the Scottish giants languishing in eighth having won only one of the opening six league matches.

Smicer though believes Gerrard should remain south of the border should he eye up the Liverpool head coach position further down the line, and that a well-backed team is perfect for his return to management.

Speaking to Boyle Sports, who offer the latest football odds, Smicer said: "It's important that if you sign for a club, you need to know where you want to go and what the club's ambitions are."It's not good to sign for a club that is financially struggling and has no future. Of course, Steven Gerrard has been a fantastic player, one of the best players I played with. "But as a manager, as I said, he's still very young. His name is big in England, Europe, and world football, Stevie is fantastic. I know his mentality, he's a winner. He definitely wants to go to a club where he feels he has a chance to win games, be a strong team, and build something. So if they show him plans for the future and he feels it's achievable, it's interesting for him."

And Smicer threw Gerrard's hat in the ring to one day be Liverpool manager, adding: "But it must have a future, it must have ambition. People sometimes ask me if he can one day be the manager of Liverpool. And I'm saying yes, I think one day Stevie G can be a manager of Liverpool. 

"He would be a very good manager of Liverpool in my opinion. But we'll see in the future. He needs to have some success with a team. Could it be Birmingham or Wrexham, maybe. But if he has success, why not Liverpool one day?"

Wrexham are currently 15th in the Championship ahead of their meeting with Birmingham, who sit 11th. Both need a morale-boosting win, but Friday's clash is between two teams with the biggest profiles in the second-tier, and all eyes will be on what promises to be a mouthwatering clash. The two sides met for the first time since 2006 last season, with Birmingham winning 3-1 at St Andrew's and the pair playing out a 1-1 stalemate in Wales. 

Birmingham boss Chris Davies is taking the encounter in his stride, telling reporters: “I know there is a lot of talk around us playing Wrexham. What was important for me was on the pitch last season; we finished first, they finished second, they were a really good League One team, and we had some good games against them, beating them at home and drew with them away.

“We know they are a really challenging prospect, especially at home. I know because I’ve been there, what type of game we are in for, but we have a lot of belief that if we play our game as well as we can, then we can get the result we want.”