STEVEN GERRARD once cleaned the staff toilets at Liverpool – now he is gunning for the top job.
After signing with his boyhood club as a coach, the icon’s mission is to follow in the footsteps of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish and Jurgen Klopp.
And Gerrard revealed he hopes to emulate his rise from bogs to riches as a player by learning management from the bottom up.
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The BT Sport pundit said: “To become a good player, you have got to do an apprenticeship and learn certain values.
“You have to learn how the profession works, you have to watch first-team players who are better than you.
“You learn the good and the bad off senior players, you get close to them – and, when you are ready, you dislodge them – that’s when you move in.
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“I don’t see management as being much different. I’ve put the cones out before and I’ve pumped up the footballs.
“I even used to clean the staff toilets – when Joe Corrigan was in there! I’ve now got dreams and aspirations about one day being a manager or a coach.”
Gerrard revealed why he snubbed more prominent roles to work with Liverpool’s kids.
The former skipper is adamant that he needs to learn his trade before he is handed a team of his own.
Gerrard, 28, added: “I had them, chances to be a No1 or a No2, but I understood that, if you take the wrong opportunity at the wrong time and act on reputation, sentiment or emotion, then you could find it hard.
“Just because you’ve been a good player doesn’t mean you are going to be a great manager.
“I don’t want to name names because that would be disrespectful, but I have seen it so many times.
“Management is so brutal. I think it would have been very stupid and immature to go into a position when I wasn’t ready.
“I decided there’s no rush. If it takes me five or 10 years, I don’t care because, at the moment, I’m not ready for the jobs I would ultimately want.”
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