Welcome back, Steven Gerrard: forget Europe, avoiding the drop is your priority | Jonathan Wilson

With Newcastle enriched and the middle tier confident, Aston Villa’s new manager enters an extremely tough-looking league

When Ray Wilkins left Paris Saint-Germain in 1987, it seemed entirely natural that he should join Rangers. He was, after all, joining two England internationals in Terry Butcher and Chris Woods at Ibrox. A year later they would be joined by another in Gary Stevens. There was the immediate context of the Heysel ban on English clubs competing in Uefa competitions but, still, that is another world.

It seems almost incomprehensible in today’s financial environment that top English talent would flock to play in Scotland. And that perhaps is the most significant aspect of Steven Gerrard’s appointment as manager of Aston Villa – less what it says about him or Rangers, or even Scottish football, than what it says about the Premier League.

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