Richard Keys launches blast at Steven Gerrard and tells him to stay away from Liverpool

Steven Gerrard has been urged to distance himself from Liverpool for a period if he's serious about making it as a manager.

The Reds icon was back at Anfield at the weekend taking part in a charity game as he mulls over his next move.

Keys is now of the opinion that he needs to lose the Liverpool captain tag before he takes his next role.

Keys: Before I leave the subject of Liverpool ‘greats’ - a quick word about Steven Gerrard. If Gerrard still has ambitions to manage/coach in the PL I really think he should be swerving the legends games - the likes of which we saw at Anfield last weekend.

"Gerrard needs to distance himself from Liverpool for a few years more yet. One of his biggest problems at Villa was that their fans largely saw him as Liverpool’s captain. It was ok to start with - Gerrard said all the right things, but as time progressed and things weren’t going so well, it was an easy stick to beat him with - even though he’d had those two years at Rangers as well.

"Perhaps he’s given up believing that he’s got a coaching career, but if he hasn’t, I firmly believe he’s definitely got to give those games up. Either way - he shouldn’t be taunting Celtic fans as he did after scoring.

"I know it’s hard and I know they’d been on at him all through the game - but he’s a big boy and he knows it’s all part of the gig. Those fans had paid their money to charity (the players always get paid btw) and so they had a right to get involved in the occasion."

Should Gerrard stay away

• Yes
• No