Steven Gerrard returning to Rangers lacks Brendan Rodgers Celtic ingredient as ex Ibrox star doubts fans appetite

Danny Wilson isn't sure Gerrard's record since leaving Gers would have fans enthused about a second spell

Steven Gerrard returning to Rangers would put him in the same boat as Brendan Rodgers.

That's according to Danny Wilson, who reckons the manner of Gerrard's departure to Aston Villa still rankles with the Ibrox faithful, and his record since departing won't exactly have them falling over themselves to forgive and forget. After leaving Al Ettifaq last month, Gerrard is available and with the pressure piling up on Philippe Clement, the suggestion of a second spell in Govan is only natural.

But former Ibrox and Liverpool starlet Wilson isn't convinced fans would be up for it. He pointed to Rodgers' return to Celtic, when the Irishman needed to win over a section of the support who were still fuming at his mid-season exit for Leicester City back in 2019, with the Hoops still firmly on the road to ten-in-a-row when the Foxes came calling and Rodgers answered. Things have since been smoothed over, but it took a winning return.

Gerrard's achievements since upping sticks for Birmingham don't lend him the same gravitas Rodgers commands. And Wilson believes the fans will want to see a complete break from the approach of the last few years.

"I think maybe a group [of fans] that would want him back but I think there is a group as well that, [because of] the circumstances in which he left, they wouldn’t want him back,” he told Open Goal.

"[Brendan Rodgers] has obviously gone back and won a lot of them over. But there's always that minority who will hold it against him, and I think Gerrard would be in the same boat if he was to go back.

“If he’s coming in from being on a good run, there is maybe that more acceptance. But he’s not gone away and done great so people will probably be thinking; ‘Let’s go and do something completely different’."