Former Liverpool and QPR striker Djibril Cisse has told EFL Championship strugglers Burnley to make Steven Gerrard their next manager.
Nicky Hayen had been under pressure at Turf Moor following a poor start to the season. He was sacked by the Clarets following their 4-1 loss to Lincoln City on Saturday.
Cisse has called on Burnley to bring Gerrard in to replace Hayen, and the Frenchman believes appointing his former captain would not only be good for the club, but good for football as a whole too.
“Steven Gerrard back in a job? I’d love that, for two reasons,” Cisse told Mr Gamble. “He’s a friend, someone I like and respect a lot, and he loves football. He needs to be on the pitch, in contact with players.
“I hope he finds a project that suits him because he misses it. As a player he already had a coach’s mind. He had a successful spell in Scotland, then went to the Middle East.
“He has a lot of football knowledge and experience to pass on to young players.
“We need people like him on the bench, whether in the Premier League, in France or anywhere else, former players who know the game and can share their knowledge with the young ones.”
Anfield return in future
Cisse named Gerrard as one of two managers he had hoped to see take charge at Liverpool after the end of Arne Slot’s time as manager, the other being Xabi Alonso.
However, he also named Craig Bellamy, who had been close to leaving his role with Wales to takeover the Burnley job in the summer, not only as a managerial prospect to watch, but also a future Liverpool manager too.
“Honestly, I believed it should have been Steven Gerrard’s moment when Arne Slot left Liverpool,” said Cisse.
“I thought that’s how it would happen. I believed it could have been Xabi Alonso too. I thought there was a place for Steven and it would happen. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t. But one day it will, for sure.
“I’m doing my coaching badges in Wales, so I’ve seen Craig Bellamy work. He’s a top coach with his own ideas and a way of working I really like.
“Yes, in the future he’ll become a top coach. He’s already a very good one.
“He’ll learn from experience and he’ll definitely end up at a big club, and why not Liverpool, a club he knows, where he scored goals and was decisive. In the future, he’ll be one of the coaches people count on.”
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