“We want Gerrard out,” bellowed Aston Villa fans as their team lost 3-0 at Fulham on Thursday. Within an hour of full-time at Craven Cottage, they had their wish. Steven Gerrard, having completed media duties, was sacked, a two-line statement revealing the club’s decision.
“It was a tough night for me, personally,” he said in that final press conference. Beyond the dull football and the increasingly poor results, Gerrard’s frequent self-reference, a conceit that the bad times would one day make him a better manager, irked Villa fans. As did the idea Villa was a stepping stone towards one day managing Liverpool.
The chances of Gerrard managing the Reds are now distant. Unlike Frank Lampard, his England contemporary and erstwhile midfield partner, he is unlikely to manage the club where he is a playing legend.
Not that managing Chelsea worked out too well for Lampard, sacked in February 2021 after 18 months before the same players went on to win the Champions League.
At least Lampard is still working in management. He saved Everton from relegation last season and though this season has been difficult, he has far more of a bond with his club’s fans than Gerrard ever found – or indeed sought – at Villa. Lampard has a sharper personal touch.
The pair were key members of England’s “Golden Generation”, that group of high-achieving club players who underachieved on the international stage. They were also part of the first generation whose earnings made them so financially independent they did not need to work after their playing careers. Gerrard, in managing Rangers and Villa, and Lampard, in managing Derby County, Chelsea and Everton, do so because they want to, for personal ambition.
A glance at the players England took to the 2006 World Cup is a litany of disappointing managerial careers. Most have moved into media work, bar David Beckham, who moved into the David Beckham industry, including owning Inter Miami in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Wayne Rooney is also in MLS, managing DC United, taking over in July and unable to revive the worst-performing franchise in the Eastern Conference. Beyond Michael Carrick, who this week took on the vacant role at Middlesbrough, nobody else of Sven Goran Eriksson’s 2006 squad is in management.
Gary Neville bizarrely chose to manage Valencia in 2015 when he was unable to speak Spanish. He predictably flopped. Sol Campbell rescued fourth-tier Macclesfield from relegation but could not repeat the trick with third-tier Southend. John Terry was Villa’s assistant manager but departed in July 2021. Which, beyond Theo Walcott, still a Southampton player, leaves Ashley Cole, Lampard’s assistant at Everton, for involvement in frontline football.
Great English players rarely make good managers. Only Jack Charlton of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team found success – with Ireland’s national team. His brother, Bobby, failed at Preston. The captain, Bobby Moore, also struggled. Gerrard has found himself unable to buck such a trend when the same had already gone for his contemporaries.
