Steven Gerrard was a former Liverpool captain who played as a midfielder. He turned to management when he decided to hang up his boots. He began with Scottish side, Rangers. In the process, he managed an invincible side (went unbeaten in the league). He then moved to Birmingham to manage Aston Villa and then found himself managing Saudi Arabian side, Al-Ettifaq. He has, in the past week, left his role.
Steven Gerrard's 18-month stint in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq has come to a disappointing end this week. The manager's decision to leave was announced in a lengthy statement on Thursday following speculation about his job being at risk.
"Ettifaq Football Club and Steven Gerrard have today mutually agreed to part company. The decision follows an amicable conclusion to the relationship with the manager," it stated.
The Liverpool legend took over as Al-Ettifaq's manager in the summer of 2023, lured by the Saudi Pro League's drive for big names from European football and the promise of a hefty salary. However, his tenure in the Middle-East began on shaky ground, with numerous issues surfacing in his first season where he only managed to secure a sixth-place finish.
Despite kicking off his second season with three wins on the bounce, The Knights plummeted down the league as the goals dried up, leading to Gerrard even being booed by his own supporters. The Liverpool legend now departs Al-Ettifaq mid-season with the team just five points clear of the relegation zone and a whopping 16 points behind the top four.
"I want to express my gratitude to the club, the players, the fans, and everyone involved for the opportunity and the support during my time here," Gerrard said on Thursday as his departure was confirmed.
"From the first day I was warmly welcomed and I have enjoyed the chance to work in a new country with a different culture. So overall I have learnt a lot and itâs been a positive experience personally and for my family as well. But football is unpredictable and sometimes things donât go the way we want."
Though Gerrard's Saudi adventure has ended, the experience has left him considerably wealthier. Reports initially suggested he signed a deal worth ÂŁ15 million-a-year in the summer of 2023, ranking him among the highest-paid managers in world football. However, GiveMeSport clarified in January 2024 after Gerrardâs new extension that his initial salary had been closer to ÂŁ5m. They claimed that, according to Saudi sources, Gerrardâs new deal last year saw him receive a 25% pay-rise to earn around ÂŁ6.5m-per-year, with bonuses on top based on the team's success.
Upon signing the lucrative deal, Gerrard said, "This is very pleasing for myself and my family and feels like recognition for a lot of hard work and commitment."
Gerrard brought in well-established Premier League names in his bid to make Al-Ettifaq a serious outfit, including former Liverpool midfielders Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson. Henderson, in particular, was a key signing, penning a three-year deal worth a reported ÂŁ700,000-per-week in July 2023.
Gerrard suffered a significant setback when Henderson decided to leave within just six months. Al-Ettifaq agreed to end his contract early, paving the way for his January 2024 move to Ajax, with reports suggesting the parting was mutual. Speaking to The Telegraph about Henderson's exit, Gerrard said, "I respected his decision because I love him as a guy, I love him as a player and I have nothing but ultimate respect for him. I was disappointed. Any manager who loses his captain during the season is not ideal and I told Jordan that. But if someone is not settled."
"If someone has some family things that are affecting him. If someone has got different outside goals or opportunities, like England for example, then I have to respect that and understand it. And I do. But was I disappointed? Of course, I was."
He continued, "I did [try to convince him to stay] but I didnât overdo that because it had to be Jordanâs decision. Heâs a big boy and I didnât want to be someone â for example, if I had convinced him to stay and he felt further down [the line] that it was the wrong decision then I didnât want to be that person who he was told: 'Why did you convince me to stay?â It had to be Jordanâs decision. He needed his own time. He needed to go through his own processes. The advice I gave to Jordan was: âDo whatâs right for your family'."
Henderson's exit marked his return to European football while Al-Ettifaq benefitted from saving on his substantial wages, yet Gerrard lost an important leader in the dressing room. Perhaps more poignantly, it was a sign that financial incentives offered by Saudi alone were not enough for some players, further undermining Gerrardâs project.
After a rough start to his second season, Gerrard received more bad news. The club sacked sporting director, Mark Allen and assistant coach, Dean Holden, immediately after an early exit from the King Cup.
After being dumped out of the King Cup, Al-Ettifaq bosses made structural changes in Dammam and appointed Michael Beale as his assistant. Gerrard remained calm on the surface but alarm bells would have been ringing as he said, "The decision was made to bring Michael Beale in who is a super coach, we spent years together previously and it's great to have him back with.
Gerrard was supposed to be the heir apparent to Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. However, when Klopp left last summer, the 44-year-old was nowhere near the running. Instead, Gerrard was slumming it out in the Saudi Pro League, struggling to get a tune out of Dammam side, Al Ettifaq.
It was never supposed to be this way. Gerrard is arguably the Reds' greatest ever player and easily the best to have come through the Liverpool academy. Aston Villa was a misstep, though, and Gerrardâs move out to Saudi Arabia in 2023 felt like an admission that his coaching career was not going anywhere much.
The Scouser did guide Al Ettifaq to 6th in his maiden season but with the team sitting in 12th, Gerrard has walked away. After announcing the news on his Instagram page, Stevie G was inundated with messages from some of his former Liverpool teammates.
Jamie Carragher, always one to have an opinion, left two applauding emojis, while Robbie Fowler added, 'Classy Ste'. Sander Westerveld suggested that Gerrard was now, 'available for the legends game' in March, while John Arne Riise left love hearts and Fabio Aurelio posted a series of emojis, too.
After 18 months of mostly underwhelming results, interspersed by the occasional promising sign, it was unlikely to go on for much longer. Regardless, though, with Al-Ettifaq making more than 30 coaching changes this century alone; Gerrard had more staying power than many of his predecessors.
Coaches come and go in Saudi Arabia and just like with Nuno EspĂrito Santo, fired by Al-Ittihad in November 2023 after a similar length of time despite winning the Jeddah club's first title for 14 years, Gerrardâs coaching career will not be defined by what happened to him at Al-Ettifaq. It wonât help his reputation though. As he leaves, perhaps the positive is that living and working in a different country (literally so as he reportedly stayed in Bahrain, making â as many expats in that part of the world do â the short commute into eastern Saudi Arabia) and in a very different football culture could turn out to be a significant learning experience for a coach who is still relatively young.
For those that do look at what happened on the pitch, however, there was not much to suggest Gerrardâs time at Aston Villa, that ended in October 2022 with the club barely above the relegation zone, was a blip. The first season, from August 2023 to the following May, ended with Al-Ettifaq in sixth, a place higher than the previous campaign when they had been a little lucky to be seventh. For a club that last won serious silverware in the last century but had invested in new foreign players to compliment a solid Saudi contingent, that seemed about right.
Gerrard brought in stars such as his fellow former Liverpool midfielder, Gini Wijnaldum and the French striker, Moussa DembĂ©lĂ©, from Lyon. There was a good start, including a famous win over Ronaldoâs Al-Nassr but when DembĂ©lĂ© was injured, goals became hard to come by.
Rumours that an early dismissal could be on the cards turned out to be wrong as, in January 2024, Gerrard was handed a two-year contract extension, leading to more signings, such as that of the former Fulham, Udinese and Lens midfielder, Seko Fofana. The first campaign subsequently ended in a satisfactory fashion.
What also didnât help was an interview around the same time in which Gerrard said he scheduled training around the viewing of Liverpool games. It may have been a joke and he may have quickly explained he was fully committed to the caus, but it was not well-received in Dammam; given the poor results at the time. Gerrard leaves with Al-Ettifaq only five points above the relegation zone. The top four is 16 points away.
The Knights have spent considerable amounts but they don't have the same Public Investment Fund financial backing of the giants from Riyadh (Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr) and Jeddah (Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli). It is, however, striking how their local rivals Al-Qadsiah have stormed into third place and, while the newly promoted club may be backed by the Saudi oil giant, Aramco, they have no megastars (unless you count an ageing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) and have been fishing in similar waters to Al-Ettifaq. That two of the leagueâs smaller teams and Al-Riyadh and Al-Khaleej, are going well in seventh and eighth also does not reflect well on Al-Ettifaq; even if results and attacking performances of late had started to show signs of improvement.
In truth, the surprise is not that it has ended but that it lasted as long as it did. Whether Gerrard jumped or was pushed, the fact is that for the second time in succession he leaves behind a club worrying about relegation.
Gerrard had been circling the drain for months. Contrary to reports, Gerrard was not sacked in November, after Al-Ettifaq fans turned on their manager following a 2-0 defeat to Al Qadsiah. Al-Ettifaqâs home games may only be attended by a few hundred supporters but the boos and jeers directed at Gerrard may have been a humbling experience for one of the game's greats. Instead, the 44-year-old was allowed to battle on as the weary captain of a doomed ship. Gerrardâs call to his former assistant at Rangers, Michael Beale, didn't revive their fortunes, either.
Then, Al-Ettifaq didn't appear to be too concerned by their lack of progress, not when they could point to their star name in the dugout. Whether Gerrardâs head was in the game seemed immaterial to his position on the touchline. As their manager, he could do no wrong, not even when he admitted to scheduling Al-Ettifaqâs training sessions around Liverpoolâs matches so he could watch his former team from afar. Gerrard, who lived with his family in Bahrain after taking charge of Al-Ettifaq, may come to regret accepting work in the Saudi league.
Gerrard was said to be hesitant when approached by Al-Ettifaq in the summer of 2023 but an offer to become one of the worldâs best-paid coaches proved too good to turn down; even when it moved him further away from realising his managerial ambitions. Perhaps Gerrard was not expected to compete with the big four of Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, the clubs owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund who can afford and attract the higher calibre of foreign star. Perhaps success for Al-Ettifaq would have been fourth but they have fallen far below that.
Still, Gerrard could be defiant and determined to turn the season around but there is a sense that he has now lost the dressing room in his last two jobs, failing to recover from a slide. "I will continue to fight and work to improve the recent results," he said, after Al-Ettifaq were knocked out of the Kingâs Cup by lower-league opposition. It was reminiscent of his final stand in charge of Aston Villa. "I'm a fighter," Gerrard insisted, after the defeat at Fulham in October 2022 that left his side 17th in the Premier League table. He was sacked within the hour, with the ignominy of receiving the news while on the Aston Villa team bus heading home from southwest London.
In that regard, Gerrard may mirror his former team-mate, Jordan Henderson. The reunion of Liverpool captains at Al-Ettifaq, with Gerrard on the touchline and Henderson wearing the armband, was one of the defining early images of the Saudi Pro League's increased investment in football. Now, neither remain. Henderson, having previously positioned himself as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, was heavily criticised for his hypocrisy and lasted just six months; terminating his contract to negotiate a move to Ajax in the Netherlands. That, at the very least, was the admission of an error.
Indeed, Gerrardâs reputation hasn't been helped with Villaâs transformation under his successor, Unai Emery. Taking over a side facing a potential relegation battle, Emery propelled Villa to the top four of the Premier League and a return to the Champions League in less than two years, using much of the same squad available to Gerrard. If Gerrard inevitably remains tied to Frank Lampard, 20 years on from the England midfield partnership that simply wouldn't work, what they now share in common is another chance at a Premier League job is surely beyond them. Lampard is now back in work with Coventry City. Perhaps Gerrard can hardly expect to look further than the middle of the Championship.
Gerrard, though, enjoyed his greatest success as a manager in Scotland, not England. In 2021, he led Rangers to their first Premiership title in a decade, ending Celticâs once-in-a-generation bid for 10 in a row. It's telling that Rangers may not be so keen to welcome him back; either, even as the Ibrox club struggle and with Philippe Clement still battling pressure. Granted a few years of hindsight, Gerrardâs title with Rangers is attributed as much to Celtic relinquishing their dominance and enduring a torrid season under Neil Lennon. With Brendan Rodgers restoring ascendancy, Gerrard would face a different challenge now.
Being a Man Utd fan, I always take great pleasure when Liverpool, in some manner, fail at something or suffer a misfortune. I kind of have the same feeling with this. I believe that it will be difficult for him to get a top job; at least for a while. He needs to build up his reputation by managing a, 'small' club. It's by only doing this that he can re-establish himself as a solid and good manager.