At the 10th hour on Remembrance Day the open secret was confirmed- Steven Gerrard had walked out on Sevco with no sign of a successor.
Since Sunday’s win over Ross County there has been an ominous silence over Ibrox as Aston Villa put the pieces in place to bring in a new manager to replace Dean Smith.
On Tuesday night the information was getting pieced together, a video of Gerrard arriving in London by train on Wednesday lunchtime progressed the story with only Charlie Adam still in denial.
At 9am this morning Sky Sports News were expecting an announcement in the next 24-48 hours but at 10am, an hour before a nation fell silent a grinning Steven Gerrard was paraded in a Villa trackie.
The reaction from Ibrox was dignified, chairman Douglas Park stated:
I would firstly like to put on record my thanks to Steven for his outstanding efforts over the last three-and-a-half years at Rangers.
He has provided us all with some unforgettable moments, not least his delivery of the Scottish Premiership title back to Ibrox last season having not lost a match in the entire league campaign.
In European competition, he has restored the good name and credibility of our club on the continent and leaves us in a very healthy position on the pitch.
With five coaches following Gerrard to Villa, Sevco are left with Jimmy Bell, Colin Stewart, Graeme Murty and Jermain Defoe to prepare for a punishing run of fixtures starting with a League Cup semi-final against Hibs on November 21.
Welcome to Aston Villa, Steven Gerrard. pic.twitter.com/MF8n9CPaYW
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 11, 2021
Fair play to the kid Gerrard, he did a proper number on the rangers….spent all their dodgy dough and then legged it..!!
Hopefully Charlie Adam in line for post at Sevco as his insight is WONDERFUL
the good name of our club on the continent ?. this from the clown who said the benches in george square should have been removed while a racist bigoted riot was taking place.