Aston Villa will make a formal approach to Rangers to speak to Steven Gerrard this week and are determined to make him their next manager.
Though Roberto Martinez is also on a shortlist to succeed Dean Smith, who was sacked on Sunday, Gerrard is Villa’s No 1 target and they want him in place for the home game against Brighton on November 20.
Owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens and chief executive Christian Purslow have been impressed by the job Gerrard has done at Ibrox, where he won the Scottish Premiership title last season, breaking Celtic’s sequence of nine in a row.