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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Steven Gerrard draws Rangers comparision with Al-Ettifaq role

Steven Gerrard has drawn a Rangers comparison with his job as Al-Ettifaq manager.

The former Ibrox boss has revealed his role at the Saudi club is best compared with his remit in Glasgow - but admitted the clubs are not comparable in their size.

Gerrard - who moved to Saudi after being sacked by Aston Villa - reckons his job at Ettifaq comes close to the work at Rangers in terms of being given time and space to "build something".

Rangers lifted the Scottish Premiership title under Gerrard in his third season at the helm in 2021 but the manager moved on to Aston Villa the next term.

However, Gerrard has cited key issues at Al-Ettifaq that are comparable with his ambitions at Rangers; building a team, developing an infrastructure, giving opportunities to academy players and helping people grow.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Gerrard explained: "I think the opportunities to go straight back in quickly when I probably wasn’t ready, they were high-risk, really high-risk in terms of they could again have been a tough knock if it wasn’t the right opportunity.

“So, I needed to sit down with people who shared a lot of things with me, maybe in terms of wanting to build something, in being given a little more time… that felt a bit more like Rangers.

"Now, I am not comparing clubs and sizes but in terms of a project. Can you build something special? Can you build a team? Can you build an infrastructure? Can you give academy people opportunities? Can you share your experiences and let people grow?

“For example, I was offered the chance to go back into the Premier League late on, where a team had very little time to go, where a team needed to have that lift and that reaction. But if I didn’t get that reaction and they went down it would have felt like another blow on the back of Villa.”

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