Steven Gerrard can relaunch stalled coaching career at Al Ettifaq

Where’s the logical place to work next for an ambitious manager who has enjoyed success in a middle-ranking league in Europe? As Steven Gerrard, the last manager to guide Rangers to a Scottish league title, posed himself that question, he surveyed what others with similar coaching distinctions are doing.

His answer? That Saudi Arabia’s Pro League is a powerful magnet, a place not only attracting a caravan of superstar footballers in this busy, monied summer, but tacticians with CVs rather like 43-year-old Gerrard’s.

As the former England captain, out of work since losing his job at Aston Villa last October, deflects some shrill criticism back home for his decision to take up the post of Al Ettifaq’s manager, he sees an opportunity to measure himself against managers on a parallel career rung.

Gerrard’s best work so far in coaching was at Rangers, a weakened club when he arrived in 2018 as a novice first-team coach. Three years later, they became Scottish Premiership champions for the first time in a decade.

Some of the same shrewd leadership admired in Gerrard as a midfielder for Liverpool and England had driven Rangers to the top of a Scottish hierarchy that had been dominated by Celtic.

He left with the Rangers side in strong enough shape to reach a Europa League final in the months following his departure, a significant achievement: Scotland’s top division is ranked only the ninth-best domestic league by Uefa, the European game’s governing body.

That’s a place below Belgium, where Yannick Ferrera, the 42-year-old who was last week appointed Al Riyadh’s new coach, won his first silverware as a manager. It’s two spots beneath Portugal, where Pedro Emmanuel, the manager of Al Kahleej, lifted his first trophy as a senior