If you'd said just a couple of years ago that a manager would stay with Rangers because he wanted some stability and sanity, you'd have struggled to believe it. However, such is a farce of Newcastle United at the moment that Steven Gerrard has reportedly refused an approach to take over the managerless Magpies.
Gerrard, refusing to jump from the frying pan into the blazing inferno, was wisely unwilling to entertain an approach from Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, according to a report in The Mirror.
Gerrard's first season in management was a bit of a mixed bag. They went out in the group stages of the Europa League, were knocked out of both cups by Aberdeen. They did also finish second in the league for the first time since promotion, finishing nine points behind Celtic. He also managed to orchestrate two 1-0 wins over their Old Firm rivals at Ibrox.
He has more urgent matters at hand than Newcastle this week with Rangers' Europa League campaign getting under way against St. Joseph's of Gibraltar, with a possible second round tie against Cork City in the offing.
Meanwhile, Ashley has also flamed out on his wish to get Patrick Vieira to leave Nice, and is no closer to replacing Rafa Benitez, even as the first team have reported back for pre-season training.
He is also once again without a buyer for Newcastle it appears, the club he's long been trying to sell, with no money forthcoming from an apparently interested middle eastern group.
With time running out and interesting parties at a minimum, we see only one man for the job.
The approach to Gerrard will be achieved nothing other than further angering Rangers fans, a group the Newcastle owner already has a fraught relationship with. In 2014 he acquired a 9% stake in the club, much to the chagrin of the protesting supporters, and attempted to use Ibrox as security against a loan. Ashley would sell his Rangers shares in 2017.
