STEVEN GERRARD has called for harsher punishments for criminals who target footballers and managers after Brendan Rodgers’ house was burgled.

Intruders ransacked the Bearsden property owned by former Celtic boss Rodgers on Wednesday morning while his partner, Charlotte Searle, and her daughter hid.

Gerrard was the victim of a similar incident in 2007 when thieves targeted his home while he was on Champions League duty in Marseille, confronting wife Alex and threatening to kidnap his children.

But the Liverpool legend fears star names in the game will continue to be targeted unless severe jail sentences are handed down to perpetrators.

Gerrard said: “It’s disgusting, it’s disgusting. I think to go into someone else’s house – that they’ve built up as their private place... But I’d like to answer this question with a broader answer. This is not going to change.

“Players, coaches and high-profile people are always going to get burgled unless there is a change higher up at government level and MP level. Until they make the punishment more than ten years, this is going to continue. It’s happened to me, it’s happened to hundreds of players and now it’s happened to Brendan. And it’s disgusting. I think you someone to make the decision that they’re going into someone else’s house or apartment or property when there are children about, it’s just wrong.

“If you’re tooled up, if you’re weaponed up, then having made that decision it should be punished by more than ten years, in my opinion.

“The authorities are far too lenient with burglaries, in my opinion.

“I’ve been in touch with Brendan since he’s gone to Leicester but that was before this happened. But I just think it’s disgusting, and not just this isolated incident.

“I think in general these people don’t deserve to be on the planet never mind anything else.”

The incident involving Gerrard saw four masked men break into his home in Merseyside and Martin Wilson was later jailed for seven years and four months.

A host of players and managers have been targeted in recent years and Rodgers has become the latest high-profile victim after moving south to Leicester.

He said: “I’ve got a system in place when I am (not at home). But I shouldn’t have to. You should be able to go to work morning, noon or night and be confident that your family are safe especially if you have invested in a property. Everyone on the planet should be able to go to work mowing their family is safe when the door is locked. To have to put security in place in this day and age isn’t right.

“The authorities have to do more and punish this more severely. Then it will stop. It’s the same with all kinds of different crimes.

“They won’t stop until the punishments are severe enough. For example, the acid attacks, the punishments were too lenient. If it goes up and all of a sudden they say ‘the next person that does that get’s 20 years in jail’… how many of them have their been recently? Can anyone remember one recently? Why do you think they have stopped?

“If the authorities start saying that if you go to someone’s house, get caught trying to burgle it and are found guilty, you get 10 to 15 years in jail instead of three to five, I think it will stop. Shouldn’t it be the case where you wake up in the morning, go to work or anywhere in your life and you know your kids and family are safe?

“That’s my opinion on it. I know it’s strong but I know we’ll be talking about another incident like this probably before the end of the season.”