Gerrard says "I should have played for Celtic or Rangers"

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Aintree Iron said:
I honestly think saying Celtic before Rangers to most English people is just a natural alphabetical thing and does not mean they are your favourite team. If you've always spoke of the old firm that way you will continue it.

I mean if he said Celtic and the 'opposition'...then maybe yes. Over the years I've heard their name mentioned before ours as much as the other way round down here by people who really don't have any allegiance. Storm in a teacup, really is.

Have you ever heard anyone say McCartney and Lennon ?
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I always thought the team that you mentioned first were the team playing at home.
 
douzpwa said:
I suppose when comparing and measuring love nothing beats the fans that is true imo anyone be it SG or anyone else who comes through as part of our journey through history will have differing levels of affection!

Doesn't the term "He gets it' not come from some of the fans most likely after a good or great performance?
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After anyone gives a vaguely positive comment about the club it would seem.
 
The media are taking great delight in framing it that Gerrard would have loved to have played for Celtic.

His answer was a typical diplomatic answer from someone who’s been carefully media trained most of their adult life.

Gerrard doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to Rangers as I do but I’ve got no doubt that he definitely has an affection for the club now.
 
truebluerfc said:
The fact he says Celtic before Rangers tells you everything you need to know…..no Ranger would ever say it that way round
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He didn’t name either team verbatim in that sentence he was talking about the old firm and said “I wonder if I should have played for one of them instead of going to the MLS.”
 
MYR_93 said:
Cue the Uber offended…

He’s clearly meaning at the end of his playing career in hindsight he’d have liked to experience an OF match. At that time he had no allegiances to us.
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The way he came across when saying it was exactly like that.
 
I am well over Gerrard leaving now couldn’t give a f*ck to be honest.

The dig he has at our board in that worries me more.

Anyone else noticed some people who were raging more than anyone else at him when he left have changed there tune and want him back etc?

Even worse that behaviour, vomit inducing stuff.
 
ItsInTheNet said:
THERE is naturally one regret that stands out in the glittering playing career of Steven Gerrard. That one will, of course, never be rectified after he missed out on a Premier League title with Liverpool.

But it is only now that another 'what if?' scenario has started coming to mind. The time for this one has come and gone too, though.

It is seven years since Gerrard made the decision to leave Liverpool and opted to head thousands of miles across the Atlantic as he clinched a deal with LA Galaxy. It was his final move, his first step into retirement.

A switch across the border never held any appeal and was never on the cards but - having lived and breathed and embraced the Old Firm environment - Gerrard has another reason to ponder just what might have been.

"I should have played for Celtic or Rangers," Gerrard said in an interview for 'The Overlap' with former England team-mate Gary Neville. “Up there Celtic v Rangers, it’s constant. In press conferences, in the streets or the supermarket.

“It’s intense. It’s an intense rivalry. And unless you are actually in it you don’t realise how intense.

“I can say this now because I am out of it, both atmospheres are sensational. Really top.

“I almost say to myself now, out of hindsight, should I maybe have gone up to one of them rather than go to America. But I probably went to America for different reasons.

“They are fantastic games to be involved in, not at the time, you just want them out of the way and you want the right result.”

Life in LA, both on and off the park, was very different to what Gerrard was used to. He was a legend in Liverpool and he retains God-like status in Glasgow despite the timing of his Rangers exit.

His appointment in 2018 was revolutionary for Rangers and the pressure and the demands of Old Firm battle and an expectant support would give Gerrard the buzz that he longed for.

“I am very much someone who goes out much when I’m in a job," Gerrard said. “Don’t get me wrong, in Glasgow people were very respectful, when you were in a restaurant they left you alone.

“It’s better than what you think. People think it’s easy up there, it’s not. The pressure is intense when you are in it and I know it maybe doesn’t get the same coverage down here, but when you are in there a draw is a ‘no’.

“A defeat is a ‘no-no’ and you’ve got to live that. There were a lot of bumps but to actually achieve the remit I was set.”

The Gerrard era delivered the ultimate reward for Rangers as title 55 was won and 'The Journey' was completed as the club reclaimed their place at the top of Scottish football.

The process was long and difficult. The challenge excited Gerrard from day one, however, and the effort was all worth it as Celtic were toppled at the third time of asking.

“I think more in other people’s minds," Gerrard said when asked if the Rangers job came too soon.

“I think they were maybe thinking, ‘well how has he got this job? On the back of what, he’s only been at Liverpool’s academy for two years, has he got this on the back of being a good player?’

“There was certainly a lot of talk around that in the media at the time. I had a feeling inside, I had enough belief in myself and the team of people if they agreed to come along with me that we could take the task on.

“I felt we could certainly improve things. Did I believe at the time we could go and knock Celtic over?

“Well, look, Brendan is up there, he’s done top, he’s had a certain period of time, why can’t we go and challenge that?"

In his first two seasons, that challenge proved beyond Gerrard, his staff and the squad that he had assembled as the Ibrox board backed a boss that overhauled Rangers at all levels.

The club was in a far better place when he left than when he arrived. The unseen side of the Gerrard era will continue to be part of his legacy.

“I knew there was a gap," Gerrard added. "It maybe wasn’t until I got there that I realised how big a gap.

“There was a lot more that needed doing in terms of improving the infrastructure and the facilities.

“It needed a new medical department, it needed a new canteen, a better gym, better football pitches.

“It needed a lot because if we were going to attract a certain type of player.

“We were all building a club. To be fair to the board at the time and the sporting director, Mark Allen, that helped me.

“The owners had been through enough pain and they wanted to improve things, they backed us on and off the pitch.

“It took time, it took a lot of set-backs, it took a lot of disappointments and real tough days for us to get the team and the club where we wanted to be.

“And that was probably in year three. We should have won the League Cup in year two, we totally dominated them and that still doesn’t sit well with me. We had to do a full recycle.”

Christopher Jack , Times
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I remember Walter talking about Rangers n Celtic/Celtic n Rangers (albeit never said he'd like to play, from memory) - I'm taking it in that context, think SG will always be Red, White n Blue north of the border, I think working with Walter has rubbed off on him, what a great man to learn from.
 
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