Steven Gerrard seems quite likely to be the next manager of Rangers. I’ll let that sink in for a moment, because for a top English ex-player to take the second biggest job in Scotland is a really big deal. If you’re puzzled as to why he might want to do this, as an Edinburgh-based fan of Scottish football, who watches both Premiership and Lowland League football, I shall try and explain why this is a great opportunity for him.

The first thing to understand is just what a tremendous and completely unique job it is to be offered as your first management gig, because Rangers is a genuinely unusual club. Some English football fans don’t quite realise how resolutely massive they are in terms of support. They play to a packed Ibrox of almost 50,000 fans every home game. It doesn’t matter who they’re playing, top or bottom of the league. For example, 48,139 turned up to see them play Dingwall’s Ross County who are currently holding up the league, only a couple of thousand less than for the Old Firm game. That in itself is absolutely remarkable.

Going to see them play is not contingent on the team playing good football, rather it is a powerful cultural reflex. You just go. Period. Quite like Liverpool in that regard, except the quality of the football at Rangers is a million miles away from that at Anfield and yet it makes little difference to the size of the crowds.

Much is made south of the border of the games against Celtic, as though they are the whole season for the club, and without underestimating the huge importance of those clashes, they are not the be all and end all. The idea that a manager of Rangers just has to beat Celtic to keep his job is something of an English perspective cliche. It’s important, yes, but playing decent, competitive and winning football throughout the season is too. That being said, as anyone who watched Sunday’s game can testify, those games are played out in an atmosphere like no other in British football.

Yes, Rangers are well, well short of Celtic and seem to have developed The Fear whenever they play them, but wouldn’t you want to cut your managerial teeth in the white heat of such games, rather than lower down the English league in front of far smaller crowds, in games that mean far less?

Rangers need inspiring, the club needs lifting psychologically, as much as in footballing quality, in order to compete with Celtic. A really high-profile man coming in like Steven Gerrard would very much provide that boost.

Clearly, Gerrard’s stated ambition is to one day manage Liverpool. But that won’t happen for at least four years, and for it to even be a possibility, Gerrard needs to have experience of managing a substantial club in the meantime. He needs to know how to cope with the pressure of 50,000 fans screaming at you on the touchline. Rangers is the perfect place.

Almost uniquely, Rangers is a huge club but one where the ambition is, for now at least, pretty limited. Most fans know that without significant investment, the best they can hope to do is finish in the top three and perhaps make a cup final. They know they’ll make little or no headway in Europe. It definitely won’t be a cakewalk and Gerrard will need to make Rangers competitive in the league and get closer to Celtic but the crucial thing is this; that is all possible. Gerrard can make a difference, a big difference, if – and this is the crucial thing – if he’s any good.

Rangers do usually win a lot of games. This season hasn’t be that great but they’ve still won 20, so Gerrard can get a good few wins beside his name and begin to build up a reputation for a style of play, both of which will stand him in good stead for future jobs. Current manager Graeme Murty has what most would feel is an enviable 64% win ratio this season and he’s regarded as not having done a very good job. Improve on that and win one Old Firm game and draw another per season and Gerrard will be lauded as a hero. That will be another significant addition to his CV when the time comes to go for the Liverpool job. It is the perfect scenario for him, because if Rangers turn out to be a financial basket case (not impossible) no mud will stick to him.

I also suspect he will really enjoy Scottish football. It is competitive, sometimes quite direct and physically robust, much as he was as a player. Outside of Celtic you get to play the likes of Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Hearts and Hibernian, all of whom will be a big test and far from a pushover. Moreover, these will all be big, significant games, played out in atmospheres all the more noisy for his presence.

The team he will potentially inherit isn’t brilliant at all, especially defensively, but it can score goals. Indeed, this season only Celtic have scored (one) more. Gerrard could, I’m sure, pull some players out of Liverpool’s academy and blood them in the Scottish game at little cost to the club. And that will be really important because there will likely be little or no money to spend as it appears the club is permanently in a financially brittle position. He’ll be able to grow a reputation for spotting and bringing on good reserve and youth players and his presence will surely also draw some players from lower-league English clubs.

What is rarely acknowledged in England is how much fun Scottish football is. Snobs moan that it’s not elite football and thus soils their precious eyes, but while that’s true, football is primarily about enjoying yourself and Scottish football is often entertaining, despite the lack of skill or depth of talent. If we must rate the top flight against English football, the very best games are mid-Championship standard, the worst are mid League One. In other words, the sort of standard of football that Gerrard would face with if he took a non-Premier League job in England. But if he’d took over at say, Ipswich Town, it’s a job without anywhere near the same status, with crowds less than half as big.

And then there’s the Brendan factor. Surely the prospect of going up against his old manager will be a challenge he’d relish, albeit the gulf between Celtic and Rangers is huge, as was well shown on Sunday.

To me, it looks like there are few, if any, downsides to taking the job for the Liverpool man. Of course, he might absolutely crash and burn and discover that he isn’t cut out to be a manager at all, but being in charge of Rangers will test his mettle to that effect. It is an opportunity like almost no other that could come his way in Europe at this moment. If you’re offered the Rangers job as your first job, you have to take it. Not to do so would make everyone wonder exactly what bigger and better job you think likely to be offered to you as a rookie manager. A Big Job at a Big Club but not one in a big league is the perfect place to start.

John Nicholson