Steven Gerrard has been urged to distance himself from Liverpool for a period if he's serious about making it as a manager.
The Reds icon was back at Anfield at the weekend taking part in a charity game as he mulls over his next move. Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa earlier this season after less 12 months in charge with results nosediving after an impressive start to life.
Gerrard was having a crack at the Premier League for the first time having left Rangers to take the role. Whilst in Scotland he enjoyed notable success with the Glasgow outfit, whom he led to the title in sensational fashion. Keys is now of the opinion that he needs to lose the Liverpool captain tag before he takes his next role.
He wrote in his blog : "Before I leave the subject of Liverpool ‘greats’ - a quick word about Steven Gerrard. If Gerrard still has ambitions to manage/coach in the PL I really think he should be swerving the legends games - the likes of which we saw at Anfield last weekend.
"Gerrard needs to distance himself from Liverpool for a few years more yet. One of his biggest problems at Villa was that their fans largely saw him as Liverpool’s captain. It was ok to start with - Gerrard said all the right things, but as time progressed and things weren’t going so well, it was an easy stick to beat him with - even though he’d had those two years at Rangers as well.
"Perhaps he’s given up believing that he’s got a coaching career, but if he hasn’t, I firmly believe he’s definitely got to give those games up. Either way - he shouldn’t be taunting Celtic fans as he did after scoring.
"I know it’s hard and I know they’d been on at him all through the game - but he’s a big boy and he knows it’s all part of the gig. Those fans had paid their money to charity (the players always get paid btw) and so they had a right to get involved in the occasion."
Keys' comments come after Gerrard opted to run and celebrate in front of the Celtic fans, having once plotted their downfall as a manager. He said: "You have to milk it. I've had so much stick off them so they can have a bit back. There you go."
Gerrard is one of a number of former England players who played as part of the Golden Generation to now being turning their hand at management or coaching. His midfield colleague Frank Lampard has now had jobs at Derby, Chelsea and Everton with varying success.
Wayne Rooney also took over at Derby but is now in the MLS. Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt have also taken on coaching roles in some capacity. Gerrard had long stated his appetite to get into management and is likely to be linked with jobs in the top flight when they next come up.
