Mikel Arteta has extended his thanks to Steven Gerrard for turning Rangers around before joining him in the Premier League.
And the Arsenal manager insists he remains a massive fan after his two-year Ibrox spell between 2002 and 2004.
He still keeps a keen eye on developments in Govan and the past 10 days have been dramatic in the extreme as Gerrard walked out on the Premiership champions to become Aston Villa's new boss.
Exactly a week later Giovanni van Bronckhorst was named his replacement with Roy Makaay also set to join as part of his backroom and a host of other names lined up for a Dutch dugout dream team.
Arteta understands Gerrard's switch from Scotland — after all, he had to make the tricky decision to leave mentor Pep Guardiola behind at Manchester City to take the Gunners job.
And he remains grateful for the job Gerrard did as he told Sky Sports: "As a Rangers fan I must say thank you so much to Stevie and the coaching staff for what they did for the club.
"They turned the club around in such a difficult moment.
"To manage to win the league in the way they did it obviously was a big boost.
"Football is like that — people want to move, they have other expectations.
"And now I wish the best to Giovanni and the club. We'll see what happens."
