Arfield was one of Gerrard’s first signings at Ibrox and played a starring role in the Invincible Premiership title triumph in 2021
Former Rangers star Scott Arfield insists Steven Gerrard is the man to wind the clock back on Celtic.
The club’s incoming American owners are on the hunt for a new gaffer and Arfield believes they should seriously consider his old boss.
The former Liverpool skipper has leapt to the head of the betting markets as money piles in on a sensational return to Glasgow.
Gerrard previously spent three-and-a-half years in charge of the Light Blues, earning himself icon status at Ibrox that was every bit as lofty as his Anfield reputation by halting Celtic’s bid for 10-in-a-row.
However, he quit Gers just six months after his side’s Invincible Premiership title triumph in 2021.
Frustrated over the failure to reinvest in his championship-winning squad, he moved on to Aston Villa but is out of work following a frustrating spell in charge of Saudi club Al-Ettifaq.
Those struggles in the Middle East have left some supporters questioning whether he is the right man to lead the club forward once Andrew Cavanagh completes his Ibrox takeover.
But Record Sport columnist Arfield has no doubts and reckons Kevin Thelwell – the club’s newly-appointed sporting director – should make the ex-England captain his first call.
He said: “I would have no reservations about bringing Steven back. As much as there were some dark times during his first couple of years in charge, I think there was an air of inevitability that it was going to click at some stage.
“I felt that because of the way he worked, the way he made demands of the players and the staff at the club.
“And I was always impressed by the way he added to the squad. Bit by bit, the group got stronger and stronger and that culminated the year we won the league with the signings of Kemar Roofe, Cedric Itten and Leon Balogun.
“The frustration the following season was the fact we didn’t make the further signings required to move the team on again and perhaps that’s what led Steven to make the decision to leave. But I’d like to see him return.
“I know that he did enjoy living in Glasgow, he enjoyed the pressure you operate under at a club like Rangers because that’s how he was raised at Liverpool.”
Barry Ferguson has been placed in charge of the team until the end of the season following Philippe Clement’s sacking.
But the former Gers captain’s chances of getting the gig permanently have faded amid a disappointing run of league results and the club’s Europa League exit.
Cavanagh and his partners from the San Francisco 49ers have yet to even get their hands on the keys to Ibrox but there is already pressure mounting on their shoulders to get their managerial pick right as Celtic get set to celebrate what could be a sixth Treble in the space of just nine years.
But Arfield is convinced Gerrard will grasp the severity of the situation in a way Clement never did.
He said: “Steven gets Glasgow. He knows what is required.
“The staff he had first time round – Gary McAllister, Michael Beale and Tom Culshaw – really complimented him but obviously I’m not sure whether he’d be able to get them all back on board, especially Mick.
“Would he want to return to a club as an assistant when he’d previously been in the top job before?
“But I really believe Steven would be a good fit for the new owners. He knows the club, knows the demands and how things work up here.
“There’s that old saying, ‘never go back,’ but I was inside the building when he was here and know how diligently he worked.
“Steven was the last man to deliver a league title so for me it would be an appointment that makes sense.”
