Thursday 3 May 2018 08:11, UK
Frank Lampard has tipped Steve Gerrard to be a success as Rangers manager and says it is only a matter of time before he follows suit.
Gerrard has been in talks over the vacant job at Ibrox after Graeme Murty was sacked, and Lampard says his former England team-mate and Premier League rival has "huge" knowledge of the game.
Lampard says he has been gaining vital coaching experience himself at Chelsea this season, while completing his UEFA coaching badges, and is eyeing a route into management himself.
He said: "I certainly think Steven will make a success of it. I've known him a long time. He's a serious thinker about the game. I work with him now and his analysis and extent of knowledge about the game is huge.
"He'll be a great acquisition for anyone to take on, and good for him. It's what he wants to do and I think he'll be very good at it.
"If a Steven Gerrard is linked with a job immediately, people say he needs experience. But he has to gain that experience somewhere.
"I've learned so much day-to-day on the training pitch with Chelsea this year. It's a great way to cut your teeth, and Steven doing it there at Liverpool's academy has been smart."
Lampard also praised the FA for their role in helping ex-England stars become coaches and says he would consider the right opportunity into work, at the right time.
He said: "I'm doing my coaching badges at the moment. I've spent a lot of time at Chelsea this year, gaining hours of experience. I've already managed to get my A Licence in coaching.
"With the right opportunity and right timing for me, I'd really take a very close look at it, because you do want to give back, show you can help try to develop players, and help them tactically and whether you can be a good man-manager.
"The FA are working much more closely now with ex-players to try to get them into their coaching badges.
"I think we had some barren years when the help wasn't there, and players went away from the game. But now I think they're trying to help players go straight into getting their coaching badges."
Lampard won 106 England caps between 1999 and 2014, and retired fully in 2016 after a stint with New York City in Major League Soccer.
Lampard was speaking to launch Barclays' 'Game Changing Fans' report, in partnership with YouGov, examining the relationship between supporters and Premier League clubs.
