By JOHN MCGARRY

Published: 19:55, 2 April 2026 | Updated: 19:56, 2 April 2026

Steven Gerrard has admitted for the first time that he harbours regrets about leaving Rangers when he did.

The Liverpool icon led the Ibrox club to the Scottish title in his third full season in Glasgow only to quit for Aston Villa in November 2021.

Citing a lack of backing which culminated in Rangers losing a Champions League play-off to Malmo that summer, Gerrard was unrepentant at the time about abruptly leaving Ibrox for a return to English football.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast, however, he expressed regret that he did not stay longer in his first managerial job.

‘I regret doing it now, sitting here. I didn’t at the time,’ he said.

‘Also, the conversations with Rangers after we won it, the recruitment and the finance chats that we were having, didn’t feel like Rangers were ready to go again.

‘It was a bit more of a like, “oh, let’s settle this and fix that and do that”. The promises weren’t as strong as what I thought...