Mark Lawrenson: 'Steven Gerrard not ready to replace Jurgen Klopp'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 08 March 2021

Steven Gerrard has done a great job at Rangers but is not yet ready to succeed Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, according to former Reds player Mark Lawrenson.

Liverpool great Mark Lawrenson has insisted that Rangers boss Steven Gerrard must first manage another Premier League club before taking over at Anfield.

Gerrard ended Celtic's decade-long dominance of the Scottish Premiership by winning the title at the weekend in just his third season in management.

The 40-year-old spent almost his entire playing career at Liverpool and has been tipped to succeed Jurgen Klopp, whose position is uncertain amid an alarming run of form.

However, Lawrenson - who won 13 trophies during his seven years at Anfield in the 1980s - cannot see Gerrard replacing Klopp anytime soon.

"What I would say is that, for all the success at Rangers, managing Liverpool is on a different spectrum," he told BBC Sport. "It would be a massive step. It would be a big gamble for the club's owners - Fenway Sports Group - to appoint him.

"I think the one-eyed Liverpool fan would be saying 'Get Stevie G in' if Jurgen Klopp were to leave, but I think others would take a step back and go: 'He's done an absolutely fabulous job at Rangers, he was a great player, but maybe he would need to take another job in the Premier League first'."

Meanwhile, former Rangers chairman Dave King has claimed that there is zero chance Liverpool will lure Gerrard back to Merseyside this summer.