Steven Gerrard has spent the last few months telling anyone with a microphone that Arne Slot is failing at Liverpool. Coincidence? Fans don't think so.
The former Reds captain has been everywhere lately — calling Liverpool's performances "really dire", revealing a personal spat with Slot, and detailing an "emotional" text exchange with Mohamed Salah after the player's public fallout with the manager. It's a lot of noise from someone without a current job. And the timing is hard to miss.
An audition nobody asked for
The reading from most observers is pretty straightforward: Gerrard is positioning himself as the obvious emergency option should FSG pull the trigger on Slot. The problem is that his managerial record doesn't exactly scream ready for the biggest jobs in English football. Rangers aside — and that chapter ended in early exits and a move to Aston Villa that went nowhere — Gerrard's CV is thin. His Saudi stint with Al-Ettifaq collapsed under the weight of expectations he couldn't meet.
Slot, for all the criticism, led Feyenoord to a Dutch title and gave Liverpool a credible first season before things started fraying. Whatever his current struggles, his managerial achievements genuinely outweigh Gerrard's. Which makes the public sniping look less like honest punditry and more like a calculated campaign.
One fan put it bluntly: Gerrard "couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag." Another called the whole routine "one of the most brazen non-Trump acts of recent history." The consensus is that if Gerrard really wants back into management at a high level, tilting at Liverpool while the seat is still warm isn't the way to rebuild a reputation — it's the way to confirm why clubs have been slow to call.
What it means for the Slot situation
The fact that Gerrard's angling is being taken seriously enough to discuss tells you something about Liverpool's season. Slot's position clearly looks shakier from the outside than Anfield would like to admit. A club that was challenging for the title not long ago is now generating succession chatter in April.
Whether FSG would genuinely consider Gerrard is another question entirely. The smart money says no — the sentimental hire rarely works out, and Liverpool's ownership has shown little appetite for nostalgia over results. But Gerrard keeps talking. And the longer Slot struggles, the louder those podcasts will get.
