Rangers confirm Brendan Rodgers's ward Steven Gerrard as new manager

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London, May 4: Rangers have appointed former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard as their new manager on a four-year contract. The ex-England midfielder will take over for next season after he was confirmed on Friday as the man tasked with breaking Celtic's domination in Scotland.

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Though he has no senior managerial experience, the Ibrox outfit have turned to Gerrard in the hope his high profile and extensive contacts can help the club compete against their Glasgow neighbours.

Rangers look set to finish third for a second successive season having struggled to challenge rivals Celtic since returning to the top flight in 2016, including losing four of the five Old Firm derbies this term.

The last of those was a humiliating 5-0 hammering that led to Graeme Murty's dismissal and paved the way for Gerrard's appointment, which sees the 37-year-old - who previously turned down an opportunity at MK Dons - leave his role as a coach at Liverpool’s academy.

Gerrard said: "I am honoured to become the next manager of Rangers. I have enormous respect for this football club, and its history and tradition.

"I can’t wait to start this new journey at Rangers as we look to build on the many successes that this club has achieved."

Chairman Dave King added: "We are delighted to confirm today that Steven Gerrard will become the next manager of Rangers.

"From the very beginning, talks have been extremely positive and we believe that Steven is the right man to drive Rangers forward.

"He was extremely impressive throughout our negotiations and we are convinced that he has the necessary knowledge and temperament to lead the club to the success we all desire.

"This a special day for our club, our fans and for Steven."

Gerrard, whose backroom staff will be announced in due course, will be presented to the media on Friday afternoon.

Rangers director of football Mark Allen said: "From the moment we met with Steven to discuss this opportunity, we felt that his ambitions and desire to succeed equalled our own for the club.

"Make no mistake, Steven fully understands the demands that come with managing a club of this stature and we look forward to exciting times ahead."

'Welcome to land of no sleep'

Brendan Rodgers has hailed Steven Gerrard's arrival at Celtic's arch-rivals Rangers but laid bare the demands on an Old Firm manager.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's trip to Hearts, Rodgers said: "Welcome to the land of no sleep! His role will be to make it work, my job is to try and make sure it doesn't.

"I'm delighted for him because he's obviously had an incredible career, wanted to go into management and coaching and now he gets the opportunity to do that.

"I'm happy that he enters into my world of coaching and managing.

"As a guy he was ultra-professional and had incredible quality as a footballer.

"That level of professionalism he had all his career made him the great player he was. He'll take that into management and it's something he'll look to impose on his team."

Source: OPTA