Liverpool, May 17 (IANS) English Premier League (EPL) club Liverpool’s departing skipper Steven Gerrard has said he would combine the best qualities of former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and current Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger if he becomes a coach after retirement.
Ferguson and Wenger are two of the most respected EPL coaches. Ferguson retired in 2013 after a glittering 26 year career, winning 38 trophies.
Wenger is still in charge of Arsenal after taking over in 1996 and has claimed three EPL title, five Fotball Association (FA) Cups and five FA Community Shield.
“I must be a bit bonkers to want to be a manager but I certainly want to keep the connection with the club and leave everything open for the future, I wouldn’t mind being either Fergie (Ferguson) or Wenger because both have been very successful managers. I think I’ll be somewhere in the middle,” Gerrard was quoted as saying by goal.com on Sunday.
Gerrard called time on his 17-year Liverpool career in a 1-3 loss against Crystal Palace in an EPL match on Saturday. He will now migrate to America to play in Major League Soccer (MLS) for Los Angeles Galaxy.
The midfielder said he has learnt the tricks of being a coach and hoped those would be helpful for him in the future.
“What I have tried to do with managers I have worked with down the years is to write notes on them all. I’ve kept an eye on the sessions the players have liked and always tried to remember the one-liners or bits of advice, whether good or bad.”
“It’s not a big suitcase full of notebooks but there’s some important stuff that might help me in the future,” he added.
However, Gerrard said coaching at his beloved club could be difficult, aware that a failure at Liverpool could be “brutal”.
“If I feel I am good enough and can contribute and the role is offered to me, I would consider it really seriously but, if I don’t feel I am good enough and there is a danger of ruining my reputation, I won’t go near it,” he said.
“This is a brutal club to get it wrong at. Look what happened with Roy Hodgson (2010-2011) – he never got time and, in a short space of time, he was out,” he said.