Bill

Against a backcloth of a team that has seemed stale and poorly motivated for some time, comes the resignation of Steven Gerrard and his entire backroom staff. We are expected to believe that these people were all approached, negotiated personal terms and concluded contracts in the short time between Dean Smith being sacked on Sunday and Aston Villa revealing their new management team 4 days later. Much more likely, this group had been approached well before Dean Smith was sacked and it was merely a matter of allowing a decent few days to pass before making the announcement. We all know this is almost certainly the case. However, it raises another question. Were Gerrard and his staff entertaining previous approaches from other clubs while still in place at Rangers and could that to some extent explain or have contributed to the decline we've all seen on the park these last 3 months? Was it known among the players that the management team wanted out? Conspiracy theory or plausible possibility? One thing seems sure, their move to Aston Villa was a little too smooth and seamless to naively believe it came out of the blue and, if that's the case, then Gerrard and his staff have indeed shown enormous and unforgivable disrespect to a club that only ever treated them well.

You're no tim and I think you'll find a lot more will come round to your opinion when they've had some time to digest what happened.

Superb

Gerrard was fully entitled to leave Rangers when and in the manner he did. That he chose to do so isn't a breach of moral code or unique in any way. The corollary should be the freedom of supporters to express their personal reaction to Gerrard's actions over recent days, without fear of criticism. Having thought about it for a bit now, I'm increasingly inclined to view this as an act of disrespect towards Rangers fans. I think the final straw for me was Gerrard's social media statement "once a Rangers, always a Ranger", issued hours after walking out the door without a word to the players or fans. Good luck at Aston Villa, just don't patronise us like shit on your shoe. I won't be fawning over Gerrard.

We can all relax then

The reason most people don't feel so bad about Souness leaving is that we immediately went on to win 7 titles in a row. If we win the league this year, no one will be overly troubled by Gerrard leaving either. On the other hand, if we now fall apart and hand the ascendency back to Celtic, you will find it hard to find anything but contempt for Gerrard.

Casual prediction. Watch Morelos and Barisic quickly get back to their best now.

It would be a sobering thought if it turned out his assessment was that he didn't think he could hold off Celtic's challenge.

I hope it's the former, which I'm also OK with, otherwise he would simply be a quitter and I'd hate to think that was true.

I can see Villa as the means but not the root reason for Gerrard leaving. It’s not because it’s Villa, they’re just the first convenient and palatable opportunity to meet the needs of a manager who no longer wanted to be at Ibrox

No, he’s just expressing what he feels. Apparently it’s still legal to do so

Refreshing honesty

I also didn’t like the way he left without a word, although how he would communicate with us while negotiating a new job is hard to imagine. I’m glad he was our manager but I was becoming more and more convinced he’d run his course - so I won’t be losing sleep over his leaving.

D'you think they know each other?

Now that he's gone I expect it won't be long before the dam breaks and the gossip starts flying about why Gerrard chose to leave and what had been the situation behind closed doors. Clearly, everything hasn't been sweetness and light for some time. Did he have an issue with Wilson, with the board in general, was it transfer funds, or an inability to get the response he wanted from the players. Personally I think he was becoming deeply frustrated by the attitude of his team on the park and couldn't change whatever was behind it. That and a lack of transfer funds.

I’ll put Klopp above Mourinho when he wins as much in as many settings.

It’s the same brainless mentality that keeps Sulky Sturgeon in a job.

Now the SG has actually gone it would be interesting to see that poll run again.

Given what we’ve seen this season, what we’ve got isn’t good enough to take us forward - either that or Gerrard couldn’t get the best out of them. It’s more that a new manager we need and a few squad changes are inevitable over the next couple of windows.

How does that square with the financial necessity of winning the league this year of all years?

That would be an excellent plan if players didn't have emotions, loyalties and be prone to fits of pique in the face of change. Which is what always faces a new manager and this will be no different. The DoF and the incoming manager can choose to accept any dip in morale as merely part of the "model" but I think we all know what will happen back in the real world.

I didn't know that

Lot's of speculation about which players will stay or go. I expect few will follow Gerrard, who is now pulling his tenners from a far fatter wallet, but I do think a guy like GvB is bound want to bring in a few key players he knows he can trust ... and that means some of the current crop will inevitably have to move on elsewhere.