Former England midfielder Steven Gerrard was one of the world’s leading midfielders, not only for Liverpool, during his playing days.
After retiring, he took charge of his beloved club’s academy, and when he was appointed manager of Rangers, he achieved impressive results, including an undefeated championship.
His achievements in Scotland earned him his first challenge in the Premier League with Aston Villa. After a promising start to the new season, he was unable to keep the momentum and was dismissed midway through the 2022-23 season. After that, he was away from the field, although he had received some offers.
Although he was expected to stay in Europe, Gerrard made a surprising decision and chose Al Ettifaq, a Saudi Arabian league club, as his next club. He revealed the “three things” he considered before taking the job and expressed his eagerness to make his debut at his new club.
“I think my message to the supporters is that I am really happy and I am really excited. I am a coach that is very ambitious, that likes to work tirelessly to make sure the team is very competitive and I am looking forward to meeting the supporters and so are my staff.”
“If we’re all together and we all stay aligned I am sure we can achieve our goals together. I think the league will continue to grow and evolve and I think with fantastic support from the government and the ministers and all the clubs in the Saudi Pro League, all the supporters, the players, everyone involved, we all have ambitions to grow and evolve and make it one of the best leagues in the world.”
“I think the club already has an outstanding culture and fantastic support. It has a really important president and we’re about to change to a new president but the board are all aligned and ambitious people who give a lot of time into this club.”
“I want to be part of that culture from the playing side and try to improve and build relationships with the people above me and hopefully together we can be the support the team needs to get better and move up the table.”
“I think there were a lot of reasons for me wanting to join the football club and I think the club has a lot of good people that represent the club from the board down.”
“When I went to Saudi I got a real family feeling. It made me actually feel welcomed. There are three things I always consider in order – it needs to be right for my family first and foremost. We have to be excited and motivated by the challenge.”
“Secondly I think the football project needs to be ambitious, it needs to be for the right reasons in terms of the challenge and the remit and then of course you need to feel secure with the contract, but this comes at the very end.”
“So it was a combination of reasons. I am extremely excited, I am happy and I can’t wait to start. I can’t wait to meet all the supporters and all the players. But the people I have met so far who represent Ettifaq have been absolutely outstanding and I think we share a lot of things in common.”
BT Sport