CARLOS CUELLAR admits Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has inspired him to pursue his own managerial aspirations after hanging up his boots this summer.
The Spaniard has turned out for Ironi Kiryat Shmona, Beitar Jerusalem and Bnei Yehuda in recent years and is now taking steps towards becoming a coach.
Cuellar was a huge hit with the Ibrox crowd during his single season at Rangers before he left to join Aston Villa in an £8million deal.
And the 38-year-old will take heart from the way that Gerrard, who is just a year older than him, has made the transition into the dugout as he has transformed Rangers’ fortunes.
Cuellar said: “I just retired this summer after playing in Israel for the last few years.
“I have started my coaching courses. I would like to stay in football and be a manager some day.
“It’s quite inspiring to see what Steven Gerrard has done, plus a lot of the players I played with in Spain have become managers or coaches.
“The problem for me is that I kept playing until I was quite old and now I have start from the beginning. I hope in few years I will get there.”
Cuellar returned to Ibrox on Saturday to take part in the Legends game against Liverpool as the squad managed by Treble-winning boss Alex McLeish went down 3-2 to their Reds counterparts.
The stopper was part of the Light Blues side that won the League Cup and Scottish Cup and reached the UEFA Cup final in Manchester.
And Cuellar was delighted to take the acclaim of the crowd once again.
He said: “It was quite emotional to be back on the Ibrox pitch, to be honest. But it was also a lot of fun.
“It was brilliant to play with a lot of my old team mates and it felt like coming home in that way.”
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