Steven Gerrard risks wrath of Rangers fans again with admission over Celtic regret

Steven Gerrard has admitted that he has regrets not playing for Rangers or Celtic in the Old Firm derby before ending his on-field career.

Gerrard left Rangers to succeed Dean Smith at Aston Villa in November after spending three years as manager of the Scottish side. Despite overseeing Rangers’ first Scottish Premiership title win in 10 years to end Celtic’s domination of the league in the 2020/21 season, the former Liverpool midfielder was greeted with backlash from Gers fans.

The role was Gerrard’s first major one after he entered coaching with Liverpool following his retirement in 2016. The 41-year-old called time on his career after spending the 2015/16 campaign at LA Galaxy in MLS.

Gerrard has now suggested that, rather than go to the US, he should have ventured north of the border to play for Rangers or Celtic during his career swansong. “Up there, Celtic v Rangers, it’s constant. In press conferences, in the streets or the supermarket,” he told Gary Neville on The Overlap .

“It’s intense. It’s an intense rivalry and unless you are actually in it you don’t realise how intense. I can say this now because I am out of it, both atmospheres are sensational.

“Really top. I almost say to myself now, out of hindsight, should I maybe have gone up to one of them rather than go to America? But I probably went to America for different reasons. They are fantastic games to be involved in, not at the time, you just want them out of the way and you want the right result.”

Gerrard established himself in Rangers’ folklore for overseeing an unbeaten Premiership campaign in 2020/21 to break Celtic’s stranglehold on the league. But the way he left mid-season for Aston Villa did spark a minor backlash in the blue half of