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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

Steven Gerrard communications with Poland revealed as 'no serious offer'

FORMER Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has yet to receive an offer to take charge of Poland, his former teammate Jerzy Dudek has revealed.

The ex-Aston Villa boss has been out of work since he was axed by Villa last year and has been strongly linked with a shock move to take charge of Poland.

He is reportedly on a three-man shortlist with along with South Korea manager Paulo Bento and ex-Switzerland boss Vladimir Petkovic.

However, his former Anfield colleague and Poland No.1 Dudek - who played with him in Liverpool's famous 2005 Champions League comeback win against AC Milan in Istanbul - insists Gerrard is still waiting for serious talks to begin.

He said: "In Poland, we have been talking about the possibility of Steven Gerrard being our manager for a good few days now.

"But as far as contact goes, so far Steven has only received one message from the PZPN.

"Steven thanked them for their message because he appreciates the interest.

"But it's difficult to treat one text message as a serious offer.

"The president Cezary Kulesza should ask himself what kind of manager we want and what the new manager's attributes should be.

"Then we need to find the person who meets those criteria."

Meanwhile, Malik Tillman revealed the emphasis Michael Beale put on the right mentality when Rangers trailed Aberdeen at the interval of their Viaplay Cup semi-final before coming back to win 2-1 after extra-time.

Confusion in the Gers defence about a possible offside at Hampden Park on Sunday allowed Dons striker Bojan Miovski to convert a Matty Kennedy cross and the Ibrox men had to use the interval to plot a comeback.

Former Dons midfielder Ryan Jack drove in a deflected leveller in the 61st minute before Pittodrie skipper Anthony Stewart was shown a straight red card by referee Nick Walsh for a shocking tackle on Gers attacker Fashion Sakala when no danger was imminent.

Substitute Kemar Roofe put Rangers ahead from close range four minutes into extra-time and despite a nervy ending against the 10-man Pittodrie outfit, Rangers held out to set up an Old Firm clash in the final on February 26.

Midfielder Tillman, on loan from Bayern Munich, said: “The manager said at half-time that it is a mentality thing. Even in extra-time it is always a mentality thing.

“He also said that we played very well and we just had to come back and score one goal and then the second.

“You always have to work hard and keep in your head to stay calm and do what you can do.

“I think we dominated the whole game but conceded an unlucky goal, or we didn’t defend well, but we came back again.”

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