The Liverpool icon has struggled in his last two jobs after winning the league at Ibrox
17:13, 07 Mar 2025
Steven Gerrard coach of Al Ettifaq
Steven Gerrard(Image: Getty Images)
Fabio Capello still believes Steven Gerrard has what it takes to have a career in management at the very top level - amid clamour from some Rangers fans who want to see him back at Ibrox next season.
Gerrard famously led the Gers to the Premiership title in 2021, their first in over 10 years -and more importantly stopping rivals Celtic from knocking up 10 league championships on the spin - but the Liverpool icon's career on the sidelines has spiralled downhill since then. The England hero lasted less than 12 months at Aston Villa following his departure from Ibrox before ending his disappointing 18 month spell with Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League back in January.
After sacking Philippe Clement, Rangers have placed former skipper Barry Ferguson at the helm for the remainder of the season, but with the San Francisco 49ers takeover moving ever closer, could well be in the market for a big name in the dugout next summer. And legendary Italian boss Capello - who coached Gerrard during his time as England manager between 2007 and 2012 - reckons the ex Gers manager and former international teammate Frank Lampard will go onto manage 'important' clubs again in the future if they can learn from their mistakes.
In an interview with Flashscore, he said: "When you start to play, when you finish playing, you have to do something different, you have to prepare something different. You can manage that one team immediately, one team in the first division. (Andrea) Pirlo managed Juventus, Lampard managed Chelsea.
"When I finished playing, for the first five years, I worked with the academy. When you work with the academy, you understand what you have to do, when you speak to the players, when you speak with the youngsters.
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Steven Gerrard captained Fabio Capello's England team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa(Image: Sunday Mirror)
"It’s, for me, it’s a university. A university where you can understand what you have to do because when you finish playing at the top level like Lampard and Gerrard, you can enter immediately into another job. You have to understand.
"I believe the players, they have to do something before being a manager. I noticed these two fantastic players, (Gerrard and Lampard) two of the best players I managed, and I am sure that in the future they will also be very good head coaches in important clubs. Because they understand the mistake they made at the start."