Steven Gerrard in unwanted Gary Neville parallel as former Rangers boss suffers Michael Beale effect

Steven Gerrard suffered the worst possible start to life after Michael Beale as Aston Villa fell to a humbling opening day defeat to newly-promoted Bournemouth on Saturday.

Gerrard's right hand man Beale departed Villa to take the hot seat at English Championship side QPR this summer. And fans have been quick to draw comparisons of Gerrard 's record at Villa Park to Manchester United legend Gary Neville's ill-fated tenure at Valencia.

Gerrard left Ibrox for the Premier League side in November last year but the former Rangers manager has only won 10 of his 28 matches in charge of the Birmingham based club with a 35% win rate. That win rate is matched by Neville who also only won 10 of his 28 games with the La Liga side before returning to media duties with Sky Sports.

As a Liverpool legend, Gerrard has continually been touted as a natural successor for Jurgen Klopp but his record shows less than one win in three on average since taking over at Villa. He's also lost 13 of those - whereas Neville lost just 11 before he was shown the door by Valencia.

The Villa boss did not mince his words when reacting to the result and performance at the Vitality Stadium: “A really frustrating result and a frustrating day. We got what we deserved over the course of the game. A lot of focus will be on two set play moments but if you look across the board and across the game we haven’t shown enough quality."

Beale was seen as the brains behind the scene when Rangers lifted the Scottish Premiership in 2021 having been a key part of Gerrard's backroom team. He went with him to Villa but broke off on his own to take over at QPR, who beat Middlesbrough 3-2 at the weekend after losing their opening game to Blackburn.

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