Home Aston Villa ‘Unfinished business’ – Laudrup gives verdict on Gerrard, Villa links
Date published: Tuesday 9th November 2021 8:52 – Jason Soutar
Brian Laudrup insists Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has “unfinished business” at Ibrox and says he is unlikely to leave to join Aston Villa.
The Villans sacked head coach Dean Smith on Sunday after the club suffered their fifth successive defeat against Southampton two days prior.
Gerrard was instantly linked with the vacant role at Villa Park and is currently the bookies’ favourite to replace Smith.
Gerrard should grab Aston Villa chance while he can
Rangers legend, Laudrup, believes there are “a number of issues” when it comes to the 41-year-old’s potential move to the Premier League outfit.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Laudrup said: “The first thing I would say about Aston Villa’s interest in Steven Gerrard is the same as when he was linked with Newcastle.
“It’s great for the image of Scottish football to have one of its managers being talked about for the English Premier League.
“Otherwise, though, I see a number of issues. If you look at the best managers in the world, it is quite rare for them to go to a team midway through the season.
“My brother, Michael, always said if you wanted to achieve something then you couldn’t do it by coming into a job halfway through a season. You can’t change that much, you don’t have a pre-season to prepare things and you probably can’t buy many of the players you want.
“It’s definitely not a win-win situation. I’d be surprised if Gerrard went to Aston Villa at this point. I’d hope he would stay at Ibrox for the rest of this season.
“He has shown loyalty towards Rangers over his time in charge, but the club has also shown huge loyalty to him since first offering that chance to take his first step in management.
“Listen, Gerrard paid them back by delivering the title last season, but I still see unfinished business in the current campaign – another title, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup. There is a chance to get Rangers into the Champions League, with all the huge benefits it would bring to a club which last week posted a £23.5 million loss.
“There are so many things still in front of him for the next six or seven months. I’d like to think his focus will stay at Ibrox over that period.”