Steven Gerrard may departed Rangers after a three-and-a-half-year spell in charge to take the vacant managerial role at Aston Villa, but what about the legacy he leaves behind him at Ibrox?

The former Liverpool midfielder’s exit leaves a huge void as the 41-year-old takes his backroom team including assistant Gary McAllister, Michael Beale, Jordan Milsom and Tom Culshaw with him to Villa Park.

The champions now face a scramble to have a new man in place before the League Cup semi final showdown with Hibs at Hampden.

But despite winning the Scottish Premiership with the club last season, ending Celtic’s hopes of claiming 10 consecutive titles in the process, there has been a mixed reaction at the way the Englishman left the club in the middle of the season.

“The departure of Steven Gerrard from Rangers has come as a bit of a shock,” Scott from This is Ibrox tells FansBet.

“We were all at Ibrox last week and saw him jumping around and congratulating his players as they came off and I don’t think anyone expected that we’d never see Gerrard in the Rangers dugout again.

“I think everyone feels he’s gone to a smaller club that are battling to stay in the Premier League every year.

“It’s disappointing, I was hoping he might want to have another crack at the Champions League; he has us sitting four-points clear, we’ve got a cup semi-final and we’re clinging on in the Europa League.

“Some of the goodwill he earned last season, while he’ll take a large amount of it with him to Birmingham, a lot of that disappears with the way this has all panned out.”

Gerrard took his first steps in senior management with Scottish Premiership side Rangers in 2018, and leaves with them four points clear of rivals Celtic at the top of the table.

Since leaving his academy job at Liverpool to replace Graeme Murty at Ibrox in the summer of 2018, Gerrard has delivered a first title in a decade.

It was made all the sweeter as the Gers stopped Celtic from winning a historic 10th championship in a row, and came on the back of an incredible unbeaten league run that saw them finish a record 25 points ahead of the Hoops.

He now joins a Villa side who have not collected a Premier League point since beating Manchester United on 25 September.

“This obviously comes at a difficult time for us,” says Scott.

🤔 “It’s a no-brainer. He knows the city, the fabric of Rangers and the way that we work.”

💙 “He understands the great highs that you can get at Ibrox if things go well.”@ScottyPaterson6 from @thisisibrox says Giovanni van Bronckhorst and #RangersFC is a perfect match… ✍️ pic.twitter.com/KDvJKQXswR

— FansBet (@FansBet) November 15, 2021

“Nobody wants to lose their manager three-months into the season after such a successful campaign last year and winning a 55th title.

“There are still big games to come and the chance of this fully derailing our season purely depends on the Rangers board and you would hope the club are on the front foot in arranging an appointment as soon as possible.

“Steven Gerrard is very much in the past now, he’s a hero as far as I’m concerned, but he won’t go down as a legend. However, we will be eternally grateful for everything he has done.”

The search for the new Rangers manager is set to gather pace this week with club favourite Gio van Bronckhorst widely tipped for the post.

The Dutchman has held talks with the club and has already started planning his backroom team according to newspaper reports.

Ex-Rangers star Arthur Numan and van Bronckhorst’s former right hand man at Feyenoord, Jean-Paul van Gastel, are two potential candidates.

Frank Lampard also held talks over the vacant post but van Bronckhorst has emerged as a clear favourite, especially among fans.

“It has to be Gio van Bronckhorst,” claims Scott.

“For a manager of his calibre to be available to have actively given the impression that he’s keen to talk to the club, it’s a no-brainer for me.

“He knows the fabric of Rangers, the way we work, he appreciates the lows you experience when things aren’t going well as well as appreciating the great highs at Ibrox when things go well.

“There are certainly front runners, Frank Lampard is not working just now and can’t be ruled out while Jon Dahl Thomassen (Malmo boss) wouldn’t be a bad option either.

“But right at the top of the pile for me is van Bronckhorst and you’d want him in as soon as possible.”

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