GERRARD BAGS SFWA MANAGER AWARD

Steven Gerrard has bagged the Scottish Football Writers’ Association (SFWA) Manager of the Year after his title success with Rangers this season.

The Rangers boss saw off the challenge of otherpresent and past Scottish Premiership managers like Callum Davidson, David Martindale and Steve Clarke to win the SFWA William Hill manager prize. Clarke made the top four after leading the Scotland national team to Euro 2020 in the qualifiers. Scotland will play in a major tournament at Euro 2020 for the first time since the 1998 FIFA World Cup tournament in France.

In his acceptance speech, Steven Gerrard revealed that he felt the pressure of emulating the successes of the previous managers at Ibrox before he settled completely into the job by winning the league title this season. In the process of winning the Scottish Premiership title this season, Steven Gerrard and Rangers stopped arch rivals Celtic from winning an unprecedented tenth straight league title.

Gerrard said he felt the pressure of living up to the achievements of recent Rangers managers like Graeme Souness and Walter Smith at the club.

Martindale made the list of the top four managers afterwinning each of his first eight games as Livington manager. He didn’t suffer defeat in any of his first 14 games. Martindale also guided Livingston to a place in the Betfred Cup final. In addition, he also masterminded a top-six spot for the club in the league.

Davidson has made the list of the final four in his debut season in management. He followed up his Betfred Cup title for St. Johnstone with a place in the Scottish Cup final. The votes had been cast by the time he led St. Johnstone into the Scottish Cup final.