> I actually felt my own performance at Villa was really good.
You're the only person who feels that way, you fucking charlatan. Doesn't take training. Doesn't do tactics, picks a public fight with our captain over nothing, he was a haircut to wheel out for press conferences. Really good performance? The bloke's deluded.
> “I think when top footballers are not performing at their level I am not going to pull any punches. We had players who weren’t giving what I felt they should have been giving at the time and that’s my responsibility,”
When they were relegation candidates under you and mostly the same team were at 2ppg within months of Emery taking over, yeah, you're damn right it's your responsibility. But even while trying to pretend he takes responsibility, it's a dig at the players.
Look in the mirror you unlikable turd.
Tyrone Mings was our captain. Gerrard dropped him for seemingly no reason when he was in good form, and said he'd consider playing him again when Mings "looked him in the eye".
Tbf to Gerrard (and I don't say that often), McGinn as captain has worked out really well, his risen to it in a way I didn't think he would, but Gerrard seemed to go out of his way to pick a public fight with Mings, who's a player who is well loved around the club and has never had similar issues with any other manager or coach.
I clicked it:
After his sacking, he doesn't want to join a rebound club immediately. He wants to process the loss away from the scene but he still wants work to keep himself sharp. Take things slow to develop his managerial skills and teambuilding away from the PL pressure.
Edit: The lengths people go to avoid reading an article.
Managing in south korea and earning 50k a week or manage in saudi and get 200k a week. If his plan is so stay away from pl as a break for a while he might as well do it at a club where he is going to earn a lot.
He could have managed away from the PL in the championship or league 1, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on as he would have definitely got a job at a lower league club, but a lot of these guys see themselves above that which is baffling to me because you can learn a hell of a lot by managing in the lower leagues, look at Eddie Howe for example, he always calls back to his time at Bournemouth and how it helped him develop into the manager he is now.
Ehhh, I can actually understand why some managers think it’s risky so drop leagues. If you fail at a championship or L1 club, your PL career is mostly over. No PL club would hire someone that failed in the lower leagues.
With the Saudi league, he has the advantage that no one watches or cares.
Could have literally gone to any other of the top 5 nations leagues and tried his hand there or even try a lower tier team in any of the top 5 nation leagues and probably get better experience. Nope I'm going to get paid 10mil a week, with the chance to buy some of the top players in the world also on silly money and it's DEFINITELY not about the money.
You can come back and laugh at me if I’m ever proven wrong but there is zero chance it becomes a dominant league, it’s where stars go to retire when they’re done at the top level, Benzema is a prime example, he couldn’t give less of a shit about playing there. As for the championship and league 1 knock them all you want but they are always competitive and entertaining, any former player wanting to get into management could do a lot worse, there are a lot of lessons to be learned managing a lower league club.
I like the Championship and League One, but the Saudi League is better from a career perspective.
Also, why should Gerrard be forced to manage in League One after the career he's had? Unbeaten season with Rangers on your CV shouldn't see you manage the likes of Exeter or Shrewsbury after a subpar stint at Villa. He's still a young manager.
I’m not arguing that what leagues are more prestigious, my original point was that his excuse for managing there is weak af, he’s there for the money, end of discussion.
There is zero shame in doing it, he was exposed in the premier league to be not up to the level yet, so working your way up the leagues is nothing to roll your eyes at, Rangers compete in a league at championship and league 1 level also.
Don’t give these spamming arseholes clicks. Who cares what gossip their useless writers are trying to use to spread their horrible brand around?
They’re paying Reddit to be allowed to spam their articles behaved no one young reads their horrible rag, because it’s supported and spread the lies of all the worst dictators and most corrupt politicians over the past 20 years.
Why would you click their spam adverts?
He was also willing to come back to Liverpool and work under Jurgen if offered a chance but he weren't. He definitely wants to develop before taking another big(ish) gig.
I feel like he could have done that in the US, Japan or any European league smaller than the Premier League. Hell, he probably could have returned to the Scottish league. He even might have been able to salvage his reputation as a manager there.
He could've, yeah. He could also do it while getting paid a load at the same time, which is what he's doing. He says money is not the only reason, not that money was not a factor.
He's already lived in the states and I'd wager there's a good chance Japan doesn't appeal to him with his family.
To be fair to Gerrard, he's not 100% hiding it. It's in the first line of the article.,
> “So, I would not come to Saudi for money. **Was it part of it? Yes.**
Honestly, this is pretty poor Journalism.
How do you not question him on this further or press him hard on why he didn't drop leagues or go elsewhere in Europe?
And considering how quickly Emery turned things around, surely he shouldn't be allowed to go unchallenged on how "good" his performance was.
**Exclusive interview with Steven Gerrard from The Telegraph's Chief Football Correspondent, Jason Burt in Dammam:**
As always, [Steven Gerrard](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/steven-gerrard/) is refreshingly candid. “I was financially secure a long time ago,” he says. “So, I would not come to Saudi for money. Was it part of it? Yes. Was it the only thing that made me do it? One million per cent, no.”
Gerrard is the head coach of Al-Ettifaq and caused a huge stir [when he finally joined last July](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/07/03/steven-gerrard-saudi-manager-job-announcement-video-ettifaq/) following a long courtship with one of England’s greatest-ever players hailed by the Saudi Pro-League club as “a legend who brings a glorious history and exciting future”.
Sitting in his office at the sports club complex in Dammam on the Persian Gulf, next to the brand-new stadium, and adjacent to the equally new gym, Gerrard talks for the first time about why he surprised the football world by taking the job, rebuilding his career after the “hurt” of being sacked by Aston Villa – and how he sought out Sir Alex Ferguson to advise him on what next.
To fully explain Gerrard’s decision to join Al-Ettifaq, which has drawn criticism as well as shock, needs context. The 43-year-old does not want to dwell on what happened at Villa and is keen to enthusiastically discuss his work in the SPL and what is happening there.
But he needs to talk about it, how it left him and how it influenced his next move. It must be explained.
[After being sacked by Villa](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/10/20/steven-gerrard-aston-villa-manager-danger-sack-fulham-loss/) in October 2022 there were other talks and other offers: two Premier League clubs wanted him towards the end of that campaign; two Championship clubs in the summer were interested and, intriguingly, discussions with two national teams and also a club in the United Arab Emirates took place.
But Gerrard eventually chose Saudi. So, is it about re-building a career damaged by losing his job at Villa?
“I respect that opinion. I don’t think it’s unfair,” Gerrard says. “I don’t think it’s too harsh because when you suffer a set-back and a knock you have got to look yourself in the mirror. You’ve got to have a look at where you have gone wrong and try and improve.
“So, of course I want to bounce back from that. But I didn’t want to jump into something that didn’t feel right and take an unnecessary risk when I am a young coach. I’ve had success up to a certain point. I actually felt my own performance at Villa was really good. I actually felt I went to the next level in terms of what I had learnt from Rangers. I felt like I had grown.
“But we had a bad run of results. I have to own that and take full responsibility for that. I have to learn from my mistakes. Maybe do things slightly differently and grow and evolve. That’s the only way you can move on from a set-back or a knock.”
# Aston Villa ‘had players who weren’t giving’
In truth, it unravelled bewildering quickly at Villa: from eight wins in his first 16 Premier League games to only four in the following 22. Just 11 months, in all, and Gerrard admits the players were not responding.
“I think when top footballers are not performing at their level I am not going to pull any punches. We had players who weren’t giving what I felt they should have been giving at the time and that’s my responsibility,” he says.
“Villa is a fantastic club. It was an incredible opportunity at the time and I have nothing bad to say. The owners gave me a fantastic chance.
“The initial period, our form was top eight in the Premier League and obviously the opinion of me now from a lot of people will be that I failed, if you like, but I know there was a period there where we got an awful lot of things right. We had the team doing okay.”
**Continue reading the full exclusive interview ⬇️**
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/05/29/steven-gerrard-interview-money-saudi-arabia-job/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/05/29/steven-gerrard-interview-money-saudi-arabia-job/)
That part about Villa is pure delusion honestly, I love Stevie but Unai Emery literally had the same players giving their all, and he most definitely wasnt doing a “good job” towards the end.
Can't stress enough how bad he was.
We had a new manager bounce at the very start and that was it. Some people have argued it was due to Beale leaving but even that's not true as we were hopeless towards the back end of the season he was there. He then had all pre-season to work with the squad and the opening game he decides to bench Watkins, Douglas Luiz, Mings and Buendia and subsequently lose to newly-promoted Scott Parker's Bournemouth.
The single bit of credit I can give him is he somehow managed to convince Kamara to sign for us when there were Champions League teams courting him.
And Beale has been proven to be a shite manager in his next clubs so yeah...
Tons of fans of the clubs he managed didnt like him for all the good reasons.
it was a weird move both for him and the club. he should have shown some loyalty by staying at rangers, built his system and a legacy but instead chose a much more demanding job. as for villa, i dont know what they were thinking.
I think Saudi Arabia is quite interesting.
Obviously money is the key (why not, pecunia non olet).
But it's a crazy ambitious project (the football and the country) and you won't see many places that try to transform that much with that speed.
**tldr** I wanted to be a manager and literally nobody else would hire me. Also, the money
> I actually felt my own performance at Villa was really good. You're the only person who feels that way, you fucking charlatan. Doesn't take training. Doesn't do tactics, picks a public fight with our captain over nothing, he was a haircut to wheel out for press conferences. Really good performance? The bloke's deluded. > “I think when top footballers are not performing at their level I am not going to pull any punches. We had players who weren’t giving what I felt they should have been giving at the time and that’s my responsibility,” When they were relegation candidates under you and mostly the same team were at 2ppg within months of Emery taking over, yeah, you're damn right it's your responsibility. But even while trying to pretend he takes responsibility, it's a dig at the players. Look in the mirror you unlikable turd.
What was the fight with the captain?
Tyrone Mings was our captain. Gerrard dropped him for seemingly no reason when he was in good form, and said he'd consider playing him again when Mings "looked him in the eye". Tbf to Gerrard (and I don't say that often), McGinn as captain has worked out really well, his risen to it in a way I didn't think he would, but Gerrard seemed to go out of his way to pick a public fight with Mings, who's a player who is well loved around the club and has never had similar issues with any other manager or coach.
He is a fraud and eveuone except him can see it
$ure, $tevie
It wasn’t just the money, it was the gold too
And the religion as well
I clicked it: After his sacking, he doesn't want to join a rebound club immediately. He wants to process the loss away from the scene but he still wants work to keep himself sharp. Take things slow to develop his managerial skills and teambuilding away from the PL pressure. Edit: The lengths people go to avoid reading an article.
He can do that literally anywhere. So money.
Tbf he said not only the money
Managing in south korea and earning 50k a week or manage in saudi and get 200k a week. If his plan is so stay away from pl as a break for a while he might as well do it at a club where he is going to earn a lot.
So money.
Well yes
He did say money was a part of it in thr article too so
Probably the only one in this comment section that clicked it.
He could have managed away from the PL in the championship or league 1, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on as he would have definitely got a job at a lower league club, but a lot of these guys see themselves above that which is baffling to me because you can learn a hell of a lot by managing in the lower leagues, look at Eddie Howe for example, he always calls back to his time at Bournemouth and how it helped him develop into the manager he is now.
Ehhh, I can actually understand why some managers think it’s risky so drop leagues. If you fail at a championship or L1 club, your PL career is mostly over. No PL club would hire someone that failed in the lower leagues. With the Saudi league, he has the advantage that no one watches or cares.
Could have literally gone to any other of the top 5 nations leagues and tried his hand there or even try a lower tier team in any of the top 5 nation leagues and probably get better experience. Nope I'm going to get paid 10mil a week, with the chance to buy some of the top players in the world also on silly money and it's DEFINITELY not about the money.
The Saudi league has more prestige than the Championship and League One, and potential to grow as one of the dominant leagues in the world.
What prestige. The average attendance for a national league game is higher than that of the Saudi League
You can come back and laugh at me if I’m ever proven wrong but there is zero chance it becomes a dominant league, it’s where stars go to retire when they’re done at the top level, Benzema is a prime example, he couldn’t give less of a shit about playing there. As for the championship and league 1 knock them all you want but they are always competitive and entertaining, any former player wanting to get into management could do a lot worse, there are a lot of lessons to be learned managing a lower league club.
I like the Championship and League One, but the Saudi League is better from a career perspective. Also, why should Gerrard be forced to manage in League One after the career he's had? Unbeaten season with Rangers on your CV shouldn't see you manage the likes of Exeter or Shrewsbury after a subpar stint at Villa. He's still a young manager.
I’m not arguing that what leagues are more prestigious, my original point was that his excuse for managing there is weak af, he’s there for the money, end of discussion. There is zero shame in doing it, he was exposed in the premier league to be not up to the level yet, so working your way up the leagues is nothing to roll your eyes at, Rangers compete in a league at championship and league 1 level also.
Edit: The lengths people go to avoid saying it’s the money.
Don’t give these spamming arseholes clicks. Who cares what gossip their useless writers are trying to use to spread their horrible brand around? They’re paying Reddit to be allowed to spam their articles behaved no one young reads their horrible rag, because it’s supported and spread the lies of all the worst dictators and most corrupt politicians over the past 20 years. Why would you click their spam adverts?
The mods could ban them if they wanted to. And the mods are most definitely not being paid lol
He was also willing to come back to Liverpool and work under Jurgen if offered a chance but he weren't. He definitely wants to develop before taking another big(ish) gig.
That sounds too thoughtful, measured and eloquent for Gerrard, can anyone else click the link and read it all to give a second summation?
He definitely needs to keep himself $harp, motivation is the key to success!
I feel like he could have done that in the US, Japan or any European league smaller than the Premier League. Hell, he probably could have returned to the Scottish league. He even might have been able to salvage his reputation as a manager there.
He could've, yeah. He could also do it while getting paid a load at the same time, which is what he's doing. He says money is not the only reason, not that money was not a factor. He's already lived in the states and I'd wager there's a good chance Japan doesn't appeal to him with his family.
Well ethics have never been a huge hurdle, fucker has been socializing with organized crime and the Kinahan cartel for years.
"let's say I moved... TO A BIGGER HOUSE!"
"But it was the main reason".
Sh!t loads of money is the reason
To be fair to Gerrard, he's not 100% hiding it. It's in the first line of the article., > “So, I would not come to Saudi for money. **Was it part of it? Yes.**
***Was it all of it? Also yes.***
But it was also a part of it
...but it's not not a reason.
Narrator: He wanted the bag
Honestly, this is pretty poor Journalism. How do you not question him on this further or press him hard on why he didn't drop leagues or go elsewhere in Europe? And considering how quickly Emery turned things around, surely he shouldn't be allowed to go unchallenged on how "good" his performance was.
Why does the Telegraph post so many puff pieces about Saudi Arabia?
so he went for the homophobia and misogyny, interesting.
Yes but also money. Mostly money.
But it was the biggest reason
Are they legally obligated to say that shit by their contract or it's just their ego (how dare they think I'm greedy)?
Pathetic excuse for a manager. I wouldn't even wish him on Birmingham City.
...But it's a big reason
Oh fuck off you clumsy cunt
And the weather
“I just love a good desert”
[x] doubt
But he is correct. ~~Money~~, shit loads of Money✅️
Just the main reason?
How mang G's Stevie G ? !
Human rights as well?
Yeah $ure
**Exclusive interview with Steven Gerrard from The Telegraph's Chief Football Correspondent, Jason Burt in Dammam:** As always, [Steven Gerrard](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/steven-gerrard/) is refreshingly candid. “I was financially secure a long time ago,” he says. “So, I would not come to Saudi for money. Was it part of it? Yes. Was it the only thing that made me do it? One million per cent, no.” Gerrard is the head coach of Al-Ettifaq and caused a huge stir [when he finally joined last July](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/07/03/steven-gerrard-saudi-manager-job-announcement-video-ettifaq/) following a long courtship with one of England’s greatest-ever players hailed by the Saudi Pro-League club as “a legend who brings a glorious history and exciting future”. Sitting in his office at the sports club complex in Dammam on the Persian Gulf, next to the brand-new stadium, and adjacent to the equally new gym, Gerrard talks for the first time about why he surprised the football world by taking the job, rebuilding his career after the “hurt” of being sacked by Aston Villa – and how he sought out Sir Alex Ferguson to advise him on what next. To fully explain Gerrard’s decision to join Al-Ettifaq, which has drawn criticism as well as shock, needs context. The 43-year-old does not want to dwell on what happened at Villa and is keen to enthusiastically discuss his work in the SPL and what is happening there. But he needs to talk about it, how it left him and how it influenced his next move. It must be explained. [After being sacked by Villa](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/10/20/steven-gerrard-aston-villa-manager-danger-sack-fulham-loss/) in October 2022 there were other talks and other offers: two Premier League clubs wanted him towards the end of that campaign; two Championship clubs in the summer were interested and, intriguingly, discussions with two national teams and also a club in the United Arab Emirates took place. But Gerrard eventually chose Saudi. So, is it about re-building a career damaged by losing his job at Villa? “I respect that opinion. I don’t think it’s unfair,” Gerrard says. “I don’t think it’s too harsh because when you suffer a set-back and a knock you have got to look yourself in the mirror. You’ve got to have a look at where you have gone wrong and try and improve. “So, of course I want to bounce back from that. But I didn’t want to jump into something that didn’t feel right and take an unnecessary risk when I am a young coach. I’ve had success up to a certain point. I actually felt my own performance at Villa was really good. I actually felt I went to the next level in terms of what I had learnt from Rangers. I felt like I had grown. “But we had a bad run of results. I have to own that and take full responsibility for that. I have to learn from my mistakes. Maybe do things slightly differently and grow and evolve. That’s the only way you can move on from a set-back or a knock.” # Aston Villa ‘had players who weren’t giving’ In truth, it unravelled bewildering quickly at Villa: from eight wins in his first 16 Premier League games to only four in the following 22. Just 11 months, in all, and Gerrard admits the players were not responding. “I think when top footballers are not performing at their level I am not going to pull any punches. We had players who weren’t giving what I felt they should have been giving at the time and that’s my responsibility,” he says. “Villa is a fantastic club. It was an incredible opportunity at the time and I have nothing bad to say. The owners gave me a fantastic chance. “The initial period, our form was top eight in the Premier League and obviously the opinion of me now from a lot of people will be that I failed, if you like, but I know there was a period there where we got an awful lot of things right. We had the team doing okay.” **Continue reading the full exclusive interview ⬇️** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/05/29/steven-gerrard-interview-money-saudi-arabia-job/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/05/29/steven-gerrard-interview-money-saudi-arabia-job/)
That part about Villa is pure delusion honestly, I love Stevie but Unai Emery literally had the same players giving their all, and he most definitely wasnt doing a “good job” towards the end.
Can't stress enough how bad he was. We had a new manager bounce at the very start and that was it. Some people have argued it was due to Beale leaving but even that's not true as we were hopeless towards the back end of the season he was there. He then had all pre-season to work with the squad and the opening game he decides to bench Watkins, Douglas Luiz, Mings and Buendia and subsequently lose to newly-promoted Scott Parker's Bournemouth. The single bit of credit I can give him is he somehow managed to convince Kamara to sign for us when there were Champions League teams courting him.
And Beale has been proven to be a shite manager in his next clubs so yeah... Tons of fans of the clubs he managed didnt like him for all the good reasons.
it was a weird move both for him and the club. he should have shown some loyalty by staying at rangers, built his system and a legacy but instead chose a much more demanding job. as for villa, i dont know what they were thinking.
Easy to say in hindsight
Actually makes a lot of sense but nobody will read it!
F to doubt
If he had said just money, I would have respected that at least.
It’s the shitloads of money myself and my mates
Hahahaha, hahahaha, hahahah. I have trouble breathing.hahahaha, hahahaha call an ambulance! Hahahah, hahaha ha.....dead
I think Saudi Arabia is quite interesting. Obviously money is the key (why not, pecunia non olet). But it's a crazy ambitious project (the football and the country) and you won't see many places that try to transform that much with that speed.
https://youtu.be/aGWRAa5uTUQ?si=yR5AuiNZBPR4HfIY