Lets Look at Their Spectacular Playing Careers.
Wayne Rooney
He's won the Premier League 5 times, League Cup 4 times, an FA Cup, the Europa League and the Champions League. Also, there are the less prestigious trophies such as 4 Charity Shields and the FIFA Club World Cup. Basically he's won the lot domestically.
In terms of individual awards, he won PFA Young Player of the Year, twice. 2004-05 and 2005-06. At the time becoming only the third player in history to win the award twice after Ryan Giggs and Robbie Fowler. Since Dele Alli and Phil Foden has reached this. In 2009-10 Rooney also won PFA Player of the year joining an elite list of players to have won the award.
Top goal scorer for Manchester United. The most successful team in English football history. Think of the players that have played for The Red Devils. The likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, the late great Dennis Law, more recently Andy Cole, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo. He tops all of them.
Enough said? Enough said.
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Frank Lampard
Being part of that Jose Mourinho Chelsea side Lampard collected and impressive 3 Premier Leagues, 4 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, a Europa League and the Champions League. Mourinho might not have been there for all those trophies but when you mention his name at Chelsea you picture that side. Hard to beat, don't concede many goals and no mercy up top.
Lampard Jr also won Chelsea's player of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2009. The Englishman placed second in the 2005 and when you think it was the year that Ronaldinho won the award you kind of think, "how was he ever going to win it ahead of the Brazilian magician?"
He is the clubs top scorer with 211 goals in all competitions, and to think he scored that many from midfield. I bet there's a lot of strikers out there that don't give the same returns as Lampard did.
Steven Gerrard
When you compared Steven Gerrard to players like Rooney, Lampard or even Paul Scholes, he may not have as many trophies and his goal scoring stats may not be as high, yet if you were there and you know ball you have this guy higher than the others. In my opinion the best midfielder the Premier League has ever seen. He carried Liverpool to a Champions League. He captained them to win the FA Cup. He may not have been the top goal scorer, yet the importance of his goals and the timing of them over looks any stat counter or top goal scorer table.
His goal against Olympiakos just to get Liverpool out of the group stages. AAAAHHHH YOUUU BEAUTTYYY!!! Yeah that one. To think if he doesn't score that to make it 3-1 in about the 85th minute, Liverpool are out in the group stages, never mind beating AC Milan in the final.
What about the 2006 FA Cup final against West Ham United. He's been on one leg for about 15 minutes and pops up with an injury time goal to take it into extra time. Neither of these goals a goal poacher, Darren Bent type tap ins. They're a good 25 yards out.
Istanbul. One word to get the attention of any Liverpool fan. They're 3-0 down against that great AC Milan team. At half time they must of been thinking, "we're about to get humiliated here." Out of nowhere, the captain scores a header from about 12 yards. He starts the come back. And the rest is history, as they say.
By the way, he's also won: the UEFA Cup twice, UEFA Supercup twice, got 3 League Cups, 2 FA Cups and 2 Charity Shields to his name. Not really that shabby.
For the individual awards, he collected PFA Player of the Year in 2006 and Liverpool's Player of the Year 5 times, including 4 years in a row from 2003-04 to 2006-07. Only a certain Fernando Torres stopped him winning 5 in a row. Gerrard won in the following year any way in 2008-09.
See what I mean by he carried his team. This is the biggest English club behind Manchester United, and he's had it almost solely on his back for a good few years. People may chime in with the likes of Scholes, Lampard, David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne. I hear that, some very good midfielders. Maybe the greatest Premier League midfielder is a discussion for another blog. For me, it's Gerrard.
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The Same Men, but As Managers.
First Managerial Jobs in Football.
- Gerrard worked with Liverpool U18/19 for a year from 2017-18.
- Lampard's first job at Derby County in the 2018-19 season
- 16 months after Lampard leaves Derby County, Wayne Rooney gets the job as manager.
3-4 months later, Derby have acquired 31 points from a possible 54. They went from being 6 points deep in the relegation zone to being 18th in the league. At this stage Rooney becomes 25/1 odd on for the Celtic job. He has been in management for all of 5 months and he is in the running for the biggest job in Scotland... Is that right or fair?
After his spell at The Rams, the Liverpudlian moves across the Atlantic back to the MLS. As he played in the MLS. Guess what? The same team that he played for; D.C United; he went back to manage. Is that cliquey or what... To us here in England it is not considered a huge club or a huge job. So maybe it is a good move for him. Out of the spot light and the English media's main focus, this seems a great place for Rooney to learn his craft of becoming a manager. Nope. Within 18 months, after not qualifying for the play-offs for the second season running, Rooney leaves D.C United.
At the start of the 2023/2024 season, Birmingham City are flying. 15 games into the season The Blues are 6th in the league just 4 points behind the auto-promotion places. For some unknown, bizarre reason, the suits at Birmingham decide to sack John Eustace. Who do they bring in? Wayne Rooney. Why? I don't have an answer. Instantly the club is rocked and did it show. Rooney lasts 15 games in charge. In his short spell The Blues win two games and are down to 20th in the Championship. They've gone from 6th and challenging for promotion to 20th and looking over their shoulders, treading water into a relegation battle. Subsequently, Birmingham are relegated to the third division of English football for the first time since 1995.
So after all this you think that's it for Wayne Rooney at any sort of known club in English football. Right? Does alright at Derby but nothing special. It didn't really go to plan across the pond. Then Birmingham is a disaster. Right? WRONG!
On 25 of May 2024, Rooney is hired by Plymouth Argyle on a three-year contract.
To me there is only one reason to hire Wayne Rooney in this situation. If I am the Plymouth Argyle owner the only reason I'm hiring Wayne Rooney is to get viewing figures up, attention from media and interest from the journalistic side of the game. I bet the media rooms of these clubs look very different from the game before Rooney's appointment and after. TV coverage will also go up. What will all this attention bring to the club? More money. I highly doubt the main reason this has happened for Birmingham and Plymouth is on the pitch reasons.
Is it fair?
Next
Frank Lampard also started his managerial career at Derby County. This was just before Wayne Rooney. In between Lampard and Rooney was Philip Cocu. That's a weird image. 16 months at the club separated them. Lampard did slightly better at the club than Rooney. Both Englishmen did alright there, Lampard slightly better in the end. Frank Jr was able to take the club to the Championship play-off final in the 2018-19 season. Unfortunately they were beaten by Aston Villa. It's a good season. They finish 6th in the league and are essential 90 minutes away from being promoted to the Premier League.
After this one season, all of a sudden Lampard is linked with the vacant Chelsea job. How? He's had one season as a senior manager. Yes, Chelsea are hit with a transfer embargo for breaking certain rules. Maybe this is a reason they aren't able to attract a big name manager, yet are you telling me no manager with experience doesn't want that job. Even if you take it and fail, maybe it's a blotch on the managerial CV but really it's a win-win. If you fail you have the excuse of a transfer embargo to fall back on and if you succeed you can say, "imagine what I could have done if I could have brought in the players I wanted."
Anyway, Chelsea hire Lampard in July 2019. His first game in charge he loses 4-0 to Manchester United, his second game in charge he loses the UEFA Supercup Final to Liverpool. Not a great start is it. 2 games in and you've got the clubs biggest loss since 1978 and no silver wear. Winning a trophy early on would have been massive for the momentum and his job security.
In this season, the England Golden Generation legend does have a good month. In October, Chelsea do have a perfect month, obtaining full points from the games and Frank Jr becomes the third manager in Premier League history to have won Player of the Month and Manager of the Month, after Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pearce.
Not long later, the transfer embargo ends, the results aren't amazing and Lampard loses his job at Chelsea in January 2021. He spends a year out of the game. You're there thinking he might be done and go into punditry or presenting. Something in the game just maybe not coaching or managing. Maybe the other side of the TV screens. Even if he gets a job it's going to be a lower division team for his to learn his trade. Something safe. Right?
WRONG!
After the dismissal of Rafa Benitez in January 2022, Everton Football Club hire Frank Lampard. The Toffees are positioned in 16th place in the Premier League and clearly in a relegation battle. The Englishman brings in his methods and philosophies to try to improve the position of the club. Does it work? Does it chuff. Everton stay in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth. One thing I can applaud Lampard on in his time at Everton is that he changed his ways when he saw it wasn't working.
The Chelsea legend's style of play was not working at the club fighting for their lives to stay in the division. How many times have we seen it where the manager doesn't change? Vincent Kompany, Marcelo Bielsa, Russell Martin. Fair play for letting go of his ego, admitting his ways weren't working and changing it up. Essentially, it is what saved Everton that season from relegation.
Nevertheless, almost exactly a year to the day later, Lampard is sacked in January 2023. After a run of games seeing the club win once win in 11 games the board saw it was time for a change and replace Lampard with Sean Dyche.
Was it a success?
Well they didn't get relegated, but was Everton Football Club in a better position after Frank Jr left than when he joined the club a year earlier. Not really.
Lastly, I think Steven Gerrard has started his managerial career in a more respectable way. He wasn't thrown into the spotlight at an established senior club in the Championship. What because of their name in football, are they unable to go lower than the Championship? Are they too high and mighty for League One or Two?
Gerrard was coach in Liverpool's academy. Yes, he's obviously got ties there so it's a given he could get a job there. in the 2017-18 season he managed there U19 team in the Youth League.
After a year Gerrard finds himself being appointed by Glasgow Rangers. A year...
After a year into Rooney's managerial career he's linked by the bookies for the Celtic job and now a year into managing at youth level, Gerrard gets the Rangers job. To me it's mental. They've got no experience this side of the white line.
The Liverpool legend does alright at Rangers. In his second season he wins Rangers' first league title in almost a decade. This is a good achievement. I said good... but it's not great really is it. There's two teams in the Scottish Premiership that you really think could win the league. Some will chime in with teams like Aberdeen or Dundee United, yet when did they fully challenge for the title against Celtic or Rangers. Maybe they finished second or third but a good few points behind.
In the aftermath of winning his first silver wear as a manager, Gerrard is linked with Aston Villa. And in November 2021 Villa prize him away from Rangers, paying £4 million in compensation fees. £4 million... This guy has a year of youth team and 2 years of senior team managing under his belt, and they've paid £4 million for him. It's mental.
He is given a three and a half-year contract after replacing Dean Smith and only lasts one. Under Gerrard, Villa don't really change their position in the league. They stay a midtable team. They play some good football and you can see Gerrard has a philosophy and a style of play that shows strong play through the middle to encourage wing play from the wing backs on both sides. There is something there.
Unfortunately, he is subsequently replaced by Unai Emery in October 2022. Look at Villa now. Only two years later with a very similar squad and team, they have qualified for the Champions League and they're not just there to make up the numbers.
For more on what I think of this check out another blog I have written...
https://acrossthetouchline.blogspot.com/2025/01/why-is-new-england-manager-not-english.html
With an actual experienced manager in charge, who has years under his belt, look at what teams can do.
After this, Gerrard takes a job in Saudi Arabia's up and rapidly growing Saudi Pro League. With the likes of stars such as: Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema, this league has definitely brought some attention. Almost wrote bought then...
I think here, Gerrard can really learn his craft. You can see he will absolutely want the Liverpool job in the future. However, surely he knows he is not ready for it right now and that job only comes around once in a life time. I have no doubt he will get the job one day, it's just will he succeed there.
With the "slip", (sorry Liverpool fans) he will want nothing more in his life to win the Premier League with his boyhood club and seen as he didn't do it as a player, he will be thinking the next best thing is to do it as their manager.
In Conclusion...
It really does baffle me that team after team keep hiring players just like these three to be their head coach or manager. These are only 3 of about 10 just in England. There are great managers out there such as: Graham Potter, Roy Keane, Tony Pulis, Mick McCarthy, the list goes on; who have great experience and vast knowledge of how to manage a football team in all sorts of circumstances. You could have a great escape from relegation. You could have a team that needs rebuilding a little, and bringing a few youth players through integrating them and starting their careers into first team football. Even just steading the ship after a rough out of form patch from the manager before. Many out of work managers know how to deal with these problems and 9 times out of 10 they put the fire out.
This seems to happen less and less now a days. It might be a change in the game because of the change in society. We're in an age of social media, click bate and views equals revenue. Hiring an older, more experience manager isn't getting the headlines as much as hiring a legend of the game who was a superstar with the national team. It is very clean cash is king now. Maybe it always has been but now people don't seem to care that it's obvious that you're doing something for the money.
All in all, I think it is very clean that managers are chosen on their name and what they have done in the game maybe as a player. Even if they have failed at a football club or three, they will still be hired by another Championship or even Premier League club. That's just the way it is now as it can bring in more attention and the attention equates to more money.
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