FORMER Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes he learned more from ex-Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers than any other head coach he worked with as a player.
Rodgers, now in charge of Leicester City, managed Gerrard at Liverpool for three seasons between 2012 and 2015 – notably mounting an ultimately unsuccessful title challenge in 2014.
The Northern Irishman would go onto take the reins at Parkhead in 2016 for a successful two-and-a-half-year stint in Glasgow and the pair’s paths would cross again when Gerrard was named Rangers manager two years later.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Gerrard – who last month quit Ibrox to join Aston Villa – admitted that Rodgers had more of an influence on him then any other manager he had worked with.
And the Liverpool great added that he would have been foolish not to take on board some of Rodgers’ methods when formulating his own philosophy and practices as a coach.
“I learned a lot off Brendan,” Gerrard said. “Probably more than my previous managers because of the age I was at.
“Under Gerard Houllier, I wasn’t a top student of the game and I wasn’t that interested in the tactical side of it – and I probably wasn’t in the early days under Rafael Benitez either.
“It was towards the back end of Rafa’s reign and into Brendan Rodgers’ time that I started thinking about my own game intelligence.
“I believe that had I worked with Brendan earlier, we’d have had more success together for sure.
“I think he’s a top coach and he’s very slick in the way he delivers it. He’s really good with his one-to-one stuff, how he manages dressing rooms and deals with individuals.
“If I didn’t take stuff off Brendan, I’d be very stupid and naive because he’s going to manage at the top for a very long time.
“I experienced him as a player, I’ve seen it from afar and I’ve competed against him already as a coach up in Scotland. I’ve learned tons off Brendan and I’ll admit I’ve stolen a few things off him as well.
“I’m quite lucky as I worked as a player with a lot of managers that liked to be defensive and pragmatic in their style, but also towards the back end of my career, I worked with the likes of Brendan and he was very technical.
“He wanted to build everywhere and to overload in every area of the pitch so that gave me something different to think about in terms of how I wanted my teams to play.
“I’ve tried to get a combination of both. If I can get the balance right in terms of being organised whilst having the right players who can hurt the opposition, I feel we can move forward.”
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