Timing has worked out just right for Rangers boss Steven Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD reckons he left Liverpool a year early, and regrets not playing another season in the United States.

But he is delighted with a pathway that has led him to be the 38-year-old manager of Rangers.

It is early days, and it will probably take a while for the Scottish football fans to become accustomed to the sight of the England and Liverpool icon clad in the blue of the Ibrox club.

For the man himself, the transformation from superstar player to shiny new manager has been a few years in the making.

“This is what I’ve craved since I came out of a playing kit,” he said.

“That responsibility, that pressure, that three important points at the weekend. The highlights of staying in cup competitions.

“I probably first started thinking about it five or six years ago while I was still playing, and it was because I loved the game.

“It has been such a big part of my life. I was at Liverpool from eight years of age and went full-time at 16 when I left school.

“From 16 to 36, it was all that I knew – full-time football, being around top players, top managers. That’s where the education began.

“Towards the end of my career, I knew I wouldn’t really be able to just walk away from the game and go into anything else because football is all I know.

“I think when I became Liverpool captain at 23, I accrued the responsibility of being a leader. And I really like that man-management side of it.

“It wasn’t a totally natural progression. I probably became captain a little bit too soon.

“I took over from Sami Hyypia, and there were a lot of older players around the squad.

“So I’m not sitting here thinking that I’m a top manager right now. It is something that I will also try to grow into, mould into and improve.

“I don’t want to stand still. I want to keep trying to grow.

“I feel as if I should have maybe played on for one more year. Not for the lifestyle in America. For the actual buzz of playing football.

“I went there to come out of Liverpool, just to breathe.

“I knew my Liverpool days were coming to an end, and I knew emotionally I would have found that tough.

“So I’d have played on in the States for football reasons. But my wife got pregnant while I was out there in the MLS and it just made sense to come back home.”

That move back to British soil saw him connect with his many footballing contacts, and was to lead to Ibrox, first as spectator then as job applicant and finally as manager.

“I worked with Andy Scoulding (Rangers Head Scout) at Liverpool and England, and that is where my invite to the 3-2 Old Firm derby back in March came from,” said Gerrard.

“He invited me up to watch the game, and I brought Tom Culshaw and Jordan Milsom with me. That is the reason we were at Ibrox.”

Former Light Blues star Andy Goram recently suggested Gerrard should be there as a player because his ability would allow him to dominate in the Scottish Premiership.

The notion makes Gerrard smile.

“I don’t know about that now, there’s no chance!” he said.

“My body has moved on from that. Andy has obviously not seen me move in the last three months!

“There are going to be times you’re joining in the training, getting involved. I enjoy that side of it. It’s nice to be in the shape where I can join in.

“There are many different ways of coaching. You can coach from the side, one-to-one.

“But you can also coach when you’re in the middle, you can really push the demands and standards by being in amongst it. I’m happy to coach in different ways.”