“I have three years left at Liverpool. You sign a contract and you stick to it,” said Jurgen Klopp. The German dismissed claims this week that he might replace Joachim Low as national team manager after this summer’s European Championships, referencing the agreement he made to stay at Anfield almost 15 months ago.
It was on December 13, 2019, that Klopp committed his future to Merseyside for four-and-a-half more years. A few hours earlier on the same day, another coach signed a contract of the exact same length.
Perhaps Liverpool and Rangers genuinely weren’t aware of the other’s intentions. It seems remarkably unlikely that both were oblivious to the supposed coincidence. One of those teams in particular had built its reputation on meticulous foresight and careful planning so they would have positively revelled in setting up a succession plan years in advance.
But from that point on, supporters were given a date for destiny. July 2024. Steven Gerrard. Liverpool. It was decided.
The events of this season have seen some try and accelerate fate ahead of schedule: not necessarily for Gerrard to usurp Klopp immediately, but for him to set those wheels in faster motion. For him to sacrifice and abandon his phenomenal work at Rangers. For him to willingly leave that project long before its fullest potential was realised. For him to, most bafflingly, manage ‘West Brom, Crystal Palace, or even Newcastle next’ in preparation for his preordained ascension.
It is a belief that relies on one significant supposition: that Gerrard believes his entire managerial career to be defined solely by the Liverpool job and everything must therefore point directly to it. One of his ambitions will undoubtedly be to lead his boyhood club from the dugout as well as he did on the pitch at some point if the opportunity arises at the right time, but it does him a disservice to overlook any desire he might have to take Rangers to an unbeaten league season, to establish a dynasty instead of simply preventing Celtic’s ten in a row, to keep progressing and impressing in Europe. The Champions League beckons next season; a stepping-stone post in the lower reaches of the Premier League could not be less appealing or appropriate right now.
Even those who regard achievements in Scotland as worthless must admit that the sort of dominance Rangers are exerting is remarkable. These are frankly ludicrous numbers at any level: 77 goals and nine conceded in the league; 45 games and a single defeat in domestic and European competition. There is far greater stock for Gerrard in continuing to build something meaningful at Ibrox than there would be guiding Brighton or Fulham to mid-table for one performative audition of a season.
That would do nothing but further the idea that he will manage Liverpool one day because of who he is, while taking Rangers to greater heights would earn it through what he has actually done. If he ever reaches that holy grail he would prefer to do it based on his professional accomplishments rather than name value. It is a case of professional pride.
Indeed, that burden of proof seems to fuel Gerrard. “Is it a dream for me to one day be the Liverpool manager? Yes, it is,” he said on Tuesday, “but not yet and who’s to say I’ll ever be good enough?”
Three years remain for the evidence to stack up. Liverpool and Rangers both chose 2024 for a reason and Klopp has honoured every contract he has ever signed. There is no reason to believe his predestined successor will be any different.
The post F365 Says: Gerrard, Liverpool and the burden of proof appeared first on Football365.com.