EX-RANGERS boss Steven Gerrard has given his first interview since making his move to Saudi Arabia.
The Premiership-winning gaffer penned a two-year deal with Al-Ettifaq in a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid managers in world football.
ReutersGerrard was unveiled Al-Ettifaq boss at the beginning of this week[/caption]
The 43-year old makes his return with the Saudi Pro League club after an eight-month spell out of management.
Gerrard was appointed Rangers manager in 2018, going on to lead the Ibrox club to their first league title in a decade in 2021 – a triumph that also ended Celtic’s quest for ten-in-a-row.
But just six months on from lifting the Premiership trophy, Gerrard left for Aston Villa.
That move didn’t work out quite as well for the Liverpool and England legend who was sacked less than a year later in October.
But now he’s back as one of the latest huge names to move to Saudi Arabia.
Superstar players Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante are all there, while ex-Celtic favourite Jota joined Al-Ittihad for a mega £25million a week ago.
Gerrard initially ruled himself out of the running to take over at Al-Ettifaq while speaking on TV in mid-June.
But just a couple of weeks later, there was a breakthrough, and he was appointed boss.
Speaking at length for the first time since his appointment, Gerrard revealed the club had to meet his three key metrics before he decided to accept the position.
He told club media: “I think there were a lot of reasons for me wanting to join the club. I think the club has a lot of good people that represent the club, from the board down.
“When I went over to Saudi I got a real family feel. They made me feel extremely welcome.
“There’s three things that I always consider and in no particular order, it needs to be right for my family first and foremost. We have to be excited and motivated by the challenge.
“I think the football project needs to be ambitious. It needs to be for the right reasons in terms of the challenge and the remit.
“Of course, you need to feel secure, that the contract’s right. That always comes at the end.
“It was a combination of reasons and I’m extremely excited. I’m happy, I can’t wait to start and I can’t wait to meet all the supporters, I can’t wait to meet all the players.
“But the people that I have met so far that represent Al-Ettifaq have been absolutely outstanding and I think we share a lot of things in common.”
Gerrard also delivered a message to the club’s fans, outlining his ambition to “work tirelessly”.
“I think my message to the supporters is that I’m really happy, I’m really excited.
“I’m a manager that is very ambitious, that likes to work tirelessly to make sure that the team is very competitive.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the supporters, so are my staff and if we’re all united, we’re all together and we all stay aligned, I’m sure we can achieve our goals together.”
He added: “I think the club already has an outstanding culture. It already has fantastic support. It has a really important president.
“We’re about to obviously change to a new president but the board are all aligned, they’re all ambitious, very good people who give a lot of time and effort into the clubs.
“I want to be part of that culture, I want to bring my own standards to try and help and improve.
“From the playing side I’m really looking forward to building relationships with the people above me and hopefully together we can be the support that the team needs to grow and get better and move up the table.”
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