It’s official; Gerrard is our new manager. This is really risky.

So it’s official then. Steven Gerrard is our new manager after the club released a statement around an hour ago.
It’s believed that negotiations are ongoing with regards to the Rangers background staff, but it would seem it’s pretty much a formality and they’ll all be following Gerrard down to Villa park.

The good news is that it’s rumoured that we’ll only have to pay compensation of £4 million maximum and it could be less. In today’s world, that seems cheap to me and it seems the Gers dropped the ball there in not ensuring it was a higher figure.

I know this appointment has captured the imagination of a lot of Villa fans, particularly the younger amongst us, but I have to hold my hands up and say straight away that I’m worried.
Yes, I get it all. He’s a winner and a leader. He’s done very well at Rangers, in winning the title. I personally don’t think that’s much of an achievement, but the fact is you still have to actually win it and he did.
I get all of that.

And when you look at it, it’s a really good move all round and even more so for Gerrard.
We get a young, dynamic manager who’s on the up and even though I’m not wholly convinced, when I look around and consider who we might otherwise get, I really don’t see much.
Yes, I could name some managers who I would have much preferred, but there’s no way we’d have got them.
So Gerrard is pretty much about as good as we could have hoped for.

And in return, there’s no way Gerrard was going to get a top Premier league club yet. I saw it written elsewhere by a Rangers fan, that Villa and Everton are probably in the next tier, so we’re ideal.
Add in that there will no doubt be some very serius money to spend and we already have a very good squad anyway and there is no doubt that we’re about as good a job as Gerrard could expect at this stage in his career.

There is of course the fact we all know that Gerrard is hoping to use the Villa as a stepping stone on the way to running his beloved Liverpool. That does on the face of it annoy me and I know it really irks many of you.
But I’m okay with it really. It doesn’t matter what club a manager might support or end up managing, they will all have the ambition of maybe one day running one of the really big clubs. It’s only the fact that he has such an allegiance to Pool that makes it a big deal in some eyes.

But then, keeping my level head on, I have to see this as massively risky all round.
The plain and simple fact is that Gerrard has no experience of managing in the Premier league.
Indeed, it’s something that was thrown at Dean Smith by some fans that didn’t rate him when we first got promoted.
I thought that was harsh, as though he lacked Premiership experience, he had at least spent a good few years as a manager, which would stand him in good stead.
Well, we all know how that’s worked out and those early nay-sayers have possibly proven to be correct. Sadly Dean Smith was rapidly beginning to look out of his depth.

So Gerrard also lacks Prem experience, but also lacks much experience at all and it worries me.
Gerrard hasn’t had to struggle as a manager before and it’s all going to be new to him. Which would be fine, but our current position means that if Stevie doesn’t get us rolling instantly we’re going to be mired in a relegation battle as we approach probably our worst string of fixtures of the season.

And wow, does he have a major job on his hands.
He has to try and sort out our awful defence, gel our new signings (maybe after he’s found out why they’re still not fit) and try and get kids more involved before they decide they’ve had enough empty promises of games and opt to leave.

The good news here is that it’s very much in the manager’s interest to suceed, because if he doesn’t, he’ll only be setting himself back

I might seem as though I’m being overly cynical, but it’s only out of concern for the club.
But of course, I wish him the very best of luck and will try not to adopt an approach where he has to win me over.

UTV! Onwards and upwards.