The former Ibrox boss led the club to their last Scottish title before leaving for Aston Villa
08:33, 02 Apr 2026Updated 08:40, 02 Apr 2026
Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard has revealed how he now regrets leaving Rangers when he did.
The Liverpool and England legend stunned Ibrox when he left for Aston Villa just six months after leading the Light Blues to the Scottish Premiership title.
Gerrard was in talks over a stunning return to Govan earlier this season before the move collapsed and Ibrox chiefs moved for Danny Rohl.
And he admitted in hindsight it was premature to leave Rangers but reiterated the Ibrox board didn’t want to push the boat out.
Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Gerrard said of his move south of the border: “The level was a big jump. Probably didn’t realise at the time when I made that decision. In hindsight again, we talk about hindsight, we’d all be great with hindsight, wouldn’t we? Would have stayed at Rangers longer, more experience, stay up there for longer.
“So I regret doing it now, sitting here, I didn’t at the time. It was tough. Also the conversations with Rangers after we won it, the recruitment and the finance chats that we were having, didn’t feel like Rangers were ready to go again. It was a bit more of a like, ‘oh, let’s settle this and fix that and do that.’ The promises weren’t as strong as it what I thought they would be. Then the Premier League offer and opportunity comes in, it’s tough. It’s tough to say no to that Villa, a great club. I have nothing bad to say about them.”
Gerrard also confessed Alfredo Morelos was his toughest player to manage as he spoke about the challenging time in charge of the controversial Colombian.
Morelos was dogged with disciplinary problems during his time at Rangers but was a huge asset with his goals, including 17 in the season Gerrard won the Scottish Premiership title at Rangers.
Gerrard revealed he had to bring in Kemar Roofe and Jermain Defoe as back-up because he couldn’t rely on the maverick Morelos.
Former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard with Alfredo Morelos(Image: SNS Group)
The 45-year-old said: “Morelos at Rangers was tough to manage. Maverick behaviours. So important to Rangers because he was the goals but he was challenging.
“He’d bend the rules and after he’d scored a brace, you always knew something was sorted in the post—either him being late or some incident. When you’re going into a job, you want to try and set rules and have values of your team and stuff like that.
“Sometimes you’d have to bite your tongue and turn a blind eye to one or two, it’s just trying to not get caught by the players when you’re doing it. But yeah, he was important to Rangers and I knew he was so important. I knew the time would come where I could get into a place where he’s maybe less as important.
“That’s why I brought Jermain Defoe in. That’s why I brought Kemar Roofe in because when he was having these periods, where he would be challenging or break your rules and your values, Defoe and Kemar Roofe were itching to play and they were as good as him. Jermaine was much better than him at the age but they were the reason why we won the league because their goals in the team and the squad is how we eventually won.”