Mark Lawrenson believes that Steven Gerrard could become Liverpool manager, but only after a couple more years of success in Scotland.

As Gerrard celebrates his first league title, Lawrenson gave us the lowdown on his near-move to Chelsea and a story involving Curtis Jones that might prove he has what it takes to manage egos.

Lawrenson believes that Celtic will prove more of a challenge for Gerrard next term,

"Celtic will come back next year as they quite often do. Maybe he needs a couple of years in the Premier League, not at Liverpool before he eventually goes."

Gerrard to LFC

"[He needs to do] another two or three years and win the league because you have got to imagine that Celtic are going to come back and I think they are going to burst the bank for players and really push Rangers. If he still on top, doing extremely well in the Europa League or had a spell in the Champions League, then I think he could cut out the thing of going to manage in the Premier League.

"He probably needs to have a spell when things aren't going for him. I always think that it is a bit like life - experience is when all the bad things happens to you, and how you deal with them. Not the good things, because it is simple.

"It is when the bad things happen that you have got to seriously think about a direction that you want to take and you have got to take the players with you. You might be fighting the owners.

"I think if he had another two or three years doing well up in Scotland, that would make his transition much easier."

Character

Lawrenson has had countless dealings with Gerrard over the years, so what is he like behind the scenes?

"He is just a good lad. Although he doesn't have to be, he is very respectful to the old players. He understands what they went through. He absolutely loves Kenny [Dalglish], like all of us do," said Lawrenson.

"He gets it on every level. He is very, very modest but very, very driven. If you remember, he nearly went to Chelsea in that spell with Liverpool. He had spoken to them and agreed absolutely everything, and in the end, he changed his mind and I think he said to the chief exec at the time 'Do not ever put me in that position again.'

"He was going to go, and for some reason he had his head turned but didn't go. Obviously, that was a bonus for Liverpool. He is strong."

Curtis Jones

Lawrenson believes that his treatment of Jones is indicative of a style and approach from Gerrard.

"When he was doing the under-18s, he was really, really strict with Curtis Jones. Curtis Jones came in and he had a bit of arrogance about him - nothing wrong with that because he had the ability.

"But Steven would take him off as soon as he did something wrong on the pitch.

"He would sit down and talk to him, and basically gave him tough love."

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