Steven Gerrard has been named as an outsider with the bookies as a possible replacement for Michael Beale at QPR.

The London club are on the hunt for a new boss after Beale made the decision to move to Ibrox following the departure of Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

The 42-year-old Londoner worked as an assistant coach under Gerrard for three and a half years at Rangers and then for another six months at Aston Villa before he branched out on his own to take the reins at QPR in June.

Gerrard has since been sacked by Villa and he is on the hunt for a swift return into management.

The Liverpool legend is priced at 20/1 with SkyBet to replace Beale at QPR, with Neil Critchley (4/6) currently the favourite.

Chris Wilder (6/1), Mark Robins (10/1) and Anthony Barry (12/1) are also among the bookies' top candidates for the position.

After signing on the dotted line at Ibrox, Beale hailed Gerrard as “a huge influence” on his career as he thanked his mentor for giving him a platform to go on and become Rangers manager.

“Steven’s been a huge influence on me as a person because he has very high standards as a person, very high morals,” he said as he was unveiled to the media for the first time at Ibrox on Thursday.

“The three and a half years I worked with him here has enabled me to be sat in a position like this. He brought me on a lot in terms of management and leadership.

“I think I added a different part to his management team in terms of the coaching on the pitch.”

Beale said he had Gerrard’s “support” as he embarks on his own journey as Rangers manager, but said there are likely to be “subtle differences” in how he goes about his business.

“I don’t want to compare myself to anybody, Steven’s himself and I think he’s going to go on and be a fantastic manager with his staff,” said Beale. “This is the start of a new journey here now and there will be subtle differences.

“Neither of us were overly close to the players in terms of being friends (with the players) but they certainly knew we cared for them every single day and we certainly built strong feelings with our players.

“I’m going to be very hands-on as a coach on the pitch for certain because I feel that’s what my skillset is.”

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