Steven Gerrard has revealed he took advice from Sir Alex Ferguson after being sacked as Aston Villa manager in 2021.
Gerrard’s bright coaching reputation took a knock when he was sacked at Villa in October 2021, following a poor start to the 2021-22 season that saw the club win just two of their opening 12 Premier League games.
The former Liverpool captain had earlier enjoyed success at Rangers, who he led to the Scottish Premiership title and an unbeaten league campaign in 2020-21.
However, a tough tenure at Aston Villa saw him sacked, with Gerrard now rebuilding his reputation in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Ettifaq.
The 43-year-old has opened up on how his exit from Villa ‘knocked his confidence a little bit’ and how he sought advice from an unlikely source, in ex-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“It was tough. It hurt. I felt it. But what people need to understand is if I didn’t feel that, if I didn’t take that personally, if I didn’t take full responsibility for that, then I am not Steven Gerrard anymore because when it’s football and it’s professional and it’s something that I love I will always own it,” he told The Telegraph.
“I am not one of those people who looks to blame, who looks to point fingers. It’s not my style and that’s the reason why I needed a period of time to process that hard toughness. It knocked my confidence a little bit. It does. I spoke to a lot of managers around it. I went to see Alex Ferguson for a couple of hours and he said ‘take your time, don’t jump into anything. Take your time and process it, analyse it’.
“And that is what I have done. But it has not affected my ambition. I didn’t have any targets when I set out on this different journey. I didn’t have a plan to go to Glasgow Rangers. I didn’t have a plan to go to the Premier League after three and a half years. I didn’t have Aston Villa on my resume. I am going along trying to be the best version of myself and have a career in coaching because I am passionate about it.”
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