Steven Gerrard hints at interest in England role under Sam Allardyce
LA Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard has hinted that he could be keen to take on a coaching role with England if he calls time on his playing career in November.
Former England captain Gerrard, 36, has been working toward securing his A Licence, which would allow him to coach internationally, and he spoke to the FA's director of elite development, Dan Ashworth, prior to Sam Allardyce's appointment this summer.
"He did contact me and ask me for certain opinions," Gerrard said in The Times. "I've been in touch with Dan Ashworth for many, many years about my coaching qualifications."
Gerrard, who has previously spoken to Jurgen Klopp about the prospect of a coaching role at Liverpool, said he has not made a "concrete decision" on his future but acknowledged in the Daily Telegraph that there is "not long left" before he hangs up his boots.
"It all depends on what opportunities come along in the next four to six months," he said. "It could go one way or the other. I've got a few things in the pipeline but no solid concrete offers as of yet."
Roy Hodgson had included former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville on his coaching team and Gerrard could be interested in taking a similar role in Allardyce's team.
"It's a waste on the FA's behalf if they don't involve players that have played for England over 100 times or 50, 60, 70 times," he said. "It's a waste for England if people don't tap into that knowledge and experience.
"I put myself in the kids' shoes. If you're 16, 18, 21 or if you're Ross Barkley, Dele Alli and you turn up and play for England, do you not want to see Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand? I'd have loved that. I'd have loved to come into the England setup and seen Paul Ince or Tony Adams pulling me aside and saying, 'What do you think of this, are they doing the right thing?'"
The FA spoke to other former players, including Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Frank Lampard, before appointing Allardyce.
Gerrard added: "The FA are doing the right thing by tapping into the knowledge of the players but not just the recent players, players that have been there and done it a while ago -- Alan Shearer, Paul Ince and others. These players have played the game at the highest level for 15 years. Let's use these players to make the national team better."
The former Liverpool star, who won 114 caps for England, used his Daily Telegraph columns in the summer to address the nation's continued failure at major tournaments.
Ahead of Euro 2016, he had highlighted poor "tournament management" during his England career, which he said had led him to feel "physically and mentally exhausted" at World Cups and European Championships. After Hodgson's side had lost 2-1 to Iceland in Euro 2016's round of 16, he spoke of a "culture of fear" that he feels stems from England's history of failure over the last half century.
He said former Bolton, West Ham and Sunderland boss Allardyce is "the best out there" in terms of addressing the psychological problems.
He added: "He's upfront. He's ahead of the times doing stuff away from the game to try and improve players psychologically. Physically, he was one of the first to bring more physios, more doctors, more masseurs and everyone thought he was crazy.
"He's more clever than people give him credit for. Let's hope he is the man that can take that pressure and fear away from the players and let them go and play. If that happens, we've seen it in the qualifying and in the friendly games that when they play with that autopilot they're as good as anyone."
