'Hearing stories' - Peter Schmeichel makes huge Aston Villa claim as he rates Steven Gerrard

Peter Schmeichel has praised Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard after having a first-hand experience of the former midfielder's coaching talents whilst completing their coaching badges together.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport, Schmeichel had this to say regarding Gerrard: “I have taken some of my coaching badges with Steven Gerrard and it’s incredible to see somebody you know as a player.

"How clever and how shrewd he is. How he absolutely knows precisely what it is that he wants. You kind of knew straight away that this guy is going to go far in management.

“He’s done the right thing. Rangers is a massive club. But in a smaller league. He learned his trade and made them champions. That was a very, very big turnaround for that football club."

The former Villa shot stopper then went on to talk about the situation at Villa over the years.

He stated: "Now he was ready for this challenge. And it’s a big challenge. Dion (Dublin) and myself we played together at Villa and it’s a very difficult club to be at. It’s difficult also to pinpoint why.

"It’s like for years and years and years, they have got it good, but they have never really got it right, so there is always something missing.

“There has always been someone in the chain of command, I am not saying there is one now, stopping development. And making people unsafe. I remember hearing stories some of our staff used to pay for their own newspapers and it was actually taken off their wages! Stuff like that doesn’t make people go that extra mile.”

Gerrard recorded his seventh win in charge of Villa on Saturday, as his side ran riot in a 4-0 win against an in-form Southampton outfit.