Steven Gerrard can relaunch stalled coaching career at Al Ettifaq

Where’s the logical place to work next for an ambitious manager who has enjoyed success in a middle-ranking league in Europe? As Steven Gerrard, the last manager to guide Rangers to a Scottish league title, posed himself that question, he surveyed what others with similar coaching distinctions are doing. His answer? That Saudi Arabia’s Pro League is a powerful magnet, a place not only attracting a caravan of superstar footballers in this busy, monied summer, but tacticians with CVs rather like 43-year-old Gerrard’s. As the former England captain, out of work since losing his job at Aston Villa last October , deflects some shrill criticism back home for his decision to take up the post of Al Ettifaq’s manager , he sees an opportunity to measure himself against managers on a parallel career rung. Gerrard’s best work so far in coaching was at Rangers, a weakened club when he arrived in 2018 as a novice first-team coach. Three years later, they became Scottish Premiership champions for the first time in a decade. Some of the same shrewd leadership admired in Gerrard as a midfielder for Liverpool and England had driven Rangers to the top of a Scottish hierarchy that had been dominated by Celtic. He left with the Rangers side in strong enough shape to reach a Europa League final in the months following his departure, a significant achievement: Scotland’s top division is ranked only the ninth-best domestic league by Uefa, the European game’s governing body. That’s a place below Belgium, where Yannick Ferrera, the 42-year-old who was last week appointed Al Riyadh’s new coach, won his first silverware as a manager. It’s two spots beneath Portugal, where Pedro Emmanuel, the manager of Al Kahleej, lifted his first trophy as a senior coach. Elsewhere in the Pro League, Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s club, have just appointed Luis Castro, who guided Shakhtar Donetsk to a Ukrainian title and the semi-finals of the Europa League when Ukraine’s domestic football was ranked 10th-best in Europe. Nuno Espirito Santo’s previous silverware, before moving to the Pro League a year ago and claiming the Saudi title with Al Ittihad , was for winning the English Championship – England’s second tier but wealthier than Scotland or Belgium’s top tiers – as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Like Gerrard at Villa, Nuno had been sacked from a job in the English Premier League, at Tottenham Hotspur , before setting out for the Gulf in search of a positive uplift to his career. In that context, directly up against peers who have a managerial history rather like his, Gerrard’s intrepid – and certainly well-paid – choice of new job makes sense. His best alternatives, as he sought a return to management this summer, were found mainly in the Championship. He has instead elected to work in the league that, according to Ronaldo, can “step by step, become one of the top five leagues in the world .” The hurdles will be plenty, but of a distinct sort to the ones Gerrard took on, amid huge expectations, back in November 2021. When he joined Villa, he was plunged into an English Premier League he had experienced only as a player, and where a promising start was punctuated by reminders of how far he still had to travel as a manager: His first three defeats in charge of Villa were at the hands of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, all Champions League-winning managers. He lasted less than a year, replaced by Unai Emery , a boss with almost 20 years of managerial experience and four Europa League titles to his name. Whether Gerrard can boost Al Ettifaq in the way he elevated Rangers is moot. They finished seventh in the Pro League last season and the Dammam-based club have not yet made the headline-grabbing swoops in this transfer market of rivals freshly boosted by sovereign wealth. These club include Al Nassr, where Ronaldo will be joined by Croatian star Marcelo Brozovic; Karim Benzema’s Al Ittihad, who have hired N’Golo Kante ; or Al Hilal, who have just reappointed the worldly and decorated Jorge Jesus as manager, along with midfielder Ruben Neves and defender Kalidou Koulibaly . Gerrard has been promised a significant recruitment budget by Al Ettifaq to try to keep up with those Pro League pacesetters. His new employers hope his fame will help draw in ambitious players. His personal, longer-term aim is that his managerial reputation will have been boosted by the end of the adventure.

Steven Gerrard can relaunch stalled coaching career at Al Ettifaq

Former England captain has moved to Saudi Pro League hoping to restore reputation that took a hit after Aston Villa sacking