Gerrard’s “Name” Has Raised Their Profile Especially With Transfer Targets.
This is a particular favourite of mine; Gerrard has given them a chance to sign a better class of player.
But where exactly are these superstars which he has granted them access to?
Where are the blue chip footballers who would not have come to Ibrox without him?
Gerrard has brought in a handful of Liverpool reserves, none of whom have done the slightest good in making them a better team.
He has signed assorted SPL level dreck, like Jones, Hastie, Kamara and Kamberi.
He has spent big money on the very defensive players he is now lashing on a weekly basis, such as Goldson and Katic.
Would Edmundson have stayed in England’s third tier if anyone but Gerrard had been manager?
Of course he wouldn’t.
This bizarre belief appears to be based on just a handful of players; Defoe, Barasic, Hagi, Aribo and Kent.
Really, though, let’s look at it, starting with the English veteran striker.
No club down south was going to guarantee him first team football with the regularity he was being offered it at Ibrox. Celtic could have made a move for him; indeed, many urged us to, but we realised that he was an expensive piece of bling and we had better options.
Defoe didn’t have a better offer than Ibrox on the table; I think Gerrard had very little to do with it.
Hagi had flopped in Belgian football. Aside from a couple of moments against Braga and a goal on his league debut, I see nothing to suggest that this is a superstar in the making. Gerrard’s name did not land them the player; he would have gone anywhere they offered him games.
The same applies to Barasic who has been reinvented by their fans as some sort of superstar; bear in mind they wanted shot of him not that long ago. He went to Ibrox for the same reasons as Aribo; he went there for the money.
Now Ryan Kent, on the other hand, might well have moved to Ibrox because Gerrard was there.
But is that really something worth boasting about? He has cost them a monumental transfer fee which he has shown not the slightest sign of living up to.
Someone at Anfield is still laughing about that, I assure you.
So who else has Gerrard enticed to Ibrox that no-one else could have?
The best and most consistent players in his squad were here before he arrived, save for Arfield. You could argue that he moved to Scotland to play for Gerrard, but again I’d suggest the alleged size of the club and the hefty wage packet would have swayed him anyway, regardless of who was in the dugout.