Steven Gerrard is ready to take the next step in his Liverpool coaching career, according to former Reds assistant boss Phil Thompson.

According to reports, Gerrard is set to be named as the club’s new under-18 team coach, his first role in charge of a team since retiring as a player. Gerrard has been coaching at various levels of the Liverpool academy since January.

“He’s been through all the levels so I would think it was the right time for Steven to step up,” Thompson said.

“Stevie does understand you’ve got to learn your trade. Sometimes you can’t just go from being a player (to being a manager).”

Genoa’s Izzo gets 18-month ban

Armando Izzo, the 25-year-old Genoa defender, was yesterday handed an 18-month ban from football for his part in the match-fixing case relating back to season 2013-14 when he was playing at Avellino.

Despite the prosecutor’s calls for a six-year sentence, the judge yesterday ruled that Izzo would have to stay out of the game for 18 months for failing to report match-fixing in games against Modena and Reggina.

Serie B outfit Avellino will have three points docked.

Izzo’s lawyer Antonio De Rensis issued a statement which said: “I am sure that the judges have read the papers and there is nothing in them. Armando is a clean guy.”

Adams wants Granada ‘miracle’

Granada’s new coach Tony Adams promised supporters that he would fight for the relegation-threatened club’s “miracle” survival in Spain’s La Liga.

Granada languish 19th in the Spanish top flight with just 20 points from 31 games, seven points shy of safety.

Adams, a former Arsenal and England captain whose last managerial post was at an Azerbaijani club between 2010 and 2011, was appointed on Monday after Granada sacked Lucus Alcaraz.

Granada have not won a La Liga game since March 1.

“I will try some things in training to liven up the team, as we try to achieve a miracle. I don’t have experience in Spain but I do have 40 years experience in football,” he said.

Shakespeare denies Ranieri tiff

Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare has said that he never had any arguments with predecessor Claudio Ranieri and there was no ill feeling between the pair prior to the Italian’s sacking.

On Monday, Ranieri told Sky Sports the players were not involved in his sacking but suggested “someone behind” him was conspiring against him, though he stopped short of naming anybody.

“We have never had any arguments or hard feelings,” Shakespeare told reporters.

“Free speech is there for everybody. I don’t have any problem with that. I have a clear conscience.”

Hefty agent fees worth it – Howe

The £7.4 million Bournemouth spent on agent fees will be worth “every penny” if the south coast club avoid relegation from the Premier League, manager Eddie Howe has said.

A Football Association report revealed Bournemouth spent the seventh highest amount on agent fees from January 2016 to February 2017, ahead of the likes of Tottenham, Everton and Leicester City.

In all, England’s top-flight clubs spent close to £175 million on agent fees over the same period.

“It depends what you want to achieve. The bigger thing for us is to stay in the Premier League,” Howe, whose side are 15th in the table and seven points above the relegation zone with six games left, said.

“That figure would be worth every penny if we do (stay up).”

Butland set for Stoke return

Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland is close to ending a year-long injury nightmare when he declared himself fit for Saturday’s Premier League clash against Hull City after playing 90 minutes for the under-23 team earlier this week.

The 24-year-old, who suffered an ankle fracture playing for England against Germany in March last year, featured for the first time this season in the 2-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League 2 clash.

Butland was scheduled to return at the start of the season but further injury setbacks in August and December prolonged his absence.

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