Gerrard’s hasty u-turn as fan clip comes back to haunt him

One of Steven Gerrard’s many failed attempts at humour will come under the spotlight over the next 48 hours.

Ahead of his first visit to Celtic Park in 2018 the rookie boss had the fawning Scottish broadcast media in the palm of his hand.

The notion that close to 60,000 home fans could influence a football match was put to the man who had been a serial runner-up during his long career in the EPL.

Showing the charm and charisma that has been his trademark throughout his career Gerrard had a witty reply to the question.

Today in his pre-Malmo media conference Gerrard will be talking up the influence of 50,000 foam mouthed bears trying to avoid another partial stadium closure from UEFA.

Whether James Tavernier shares the same level of enthusiasm for the return of fans remains to be seen, on the evidence at Malmo and Dundee United not many of the Ibrox stars are looking forward to Tuesday night.

Good news for Gerrard is that Ryan Jack should be back in full training in 7/10 days following successful knee surgery in March.