STEVE Gerrard Gerrard. So good we named him twice. Like all good things him and us is coming to an end but does it really have to be so soon? On the surface, at face value, perhaps, yes, the time is right. He is nearly 35 and his star is clearly no longer in the ascendency. We — LFC — are a young team that need to move on and evolve away from a reliance on a talisman who is finding being talismanic harder with each passing month. The proud man himself doesn’t want the twilight of one of Liverpool Football Club’s greatest careers to be characterised by secondary billing.
‘The club has done all it can to keep Steven,’ assures manager Brendan Rodgers. Stevie’s best mate, Jamie Carragher, isn’t so sure. He keeps hinting, posing the question: Did the club do it all it could to keep Gerrard? Jamie must have a point. There’s always more that can be done to persuade an employee to stay with an employer. In football, the conversation’s limits can be measured in zeros on remuneration packages.
Of course, Stevie G is above it all being a question of money. He’s a rich man anyway, but more importantly he’s a noble man. “It will never be about money with Stevie,” assured Brendan just a month ago. We know what Brendan means and we also trust Gerrard. But, it’s never ‘never about money’, especially for footballers primed to be signing the last big payday of their careers, and most likely, their entire working lives.
Also, it being about money isn’t about it being about money. Despite what Disney taught us about rich people like Donald Duck’s millionaire uncle Scrooge McDuck, they don’t tend to see the acquisition of wealth as an opportunity to bathe and frolic in mountains of gold coins, or wear unnecessary furs and carry a cane. Rich people, like poor people, make plans with money. To imagine that people see themselves as being satisfied with finite sums of money is a failure of imagination.
It doesn’t all have to equate to wanting to own yachts, mansions in the tropics, or having influence at court, either. It can be about making wider family and friends comfortable. Why the concept of family wealth sharing is only readily applied to lottery winners is a bit bizarre. Gerrard wasn’t born to wealth, and certainly comes across as a man who would take his family responsibilities extremely seriously. What’s an extra couple of million quid to Stevie G? It’s a chance to set a struggling family member up in business. It’s a chance to fund parents retiring to a dream home in Spain.
Amidst the motive spectrum that ranges from pure greed to pure philanthropy, is perhaps a simple requirement — he’d quite like to maintain a lifestyle he and his family have gotten very used to. Not just maintain it in the immediate future but for the further 50 years he may be planning on staying alive for. That’s 50 years during which he has to contemplate that his earning powers will be a mere fraction of what they once were.
It was never all about money for Steven Gerrard but it was never not all about it either. Proclamations about restricted playing time don’t really add up as a genuine reason to call time on a career that still clearly has mileage in it. Gerrard is proud, but he’s not a vain idiot. Far from it. He can look down the road at Ryan Giggs’s example, and Paul Scholes’s to an extent, and see that legends are not inherently diminished by reduced playing minutes.
As with Kenny Dalglish’s latter playing years, there is enough precedent to show that a great who takes steps back, is exalted again and again as he returns periodically to the fray to save the proverbial day.
Gerrard cited the lure of a new country and a new lifestyle for his family as a major factor in his decision to call time on LFC. Like all the other reasons it will be the truth. A truth though within a context. Does Steven want to play less for Liverpool, get increasingly criticised by fickle fans, and all for the modest price of a two-year contract with no promises as to the thereafter for a package fee of about £5-6million or does he want to experience an exciting new lifestyle, in an unpressurised work environment, for say £12m?
Or, would a contract worth about £10m over four years from his beloved LFC, that allowed him to smoothly segue from player to coach, be more attractive than effectively retiring a glittering career prematurely to play mainly with League One standard players in a country that lacked any real passion for his sport?
Let us be under no illusions. LFC could have persuaded Steven Gerrard to stay. They (the manager? the owners?) decided that the price on the ticket simply wasn’t worth paying. Gerrard isn’t leaving Liverpool, Liverpool is retiring Steven Gerrard. Behind the doublespeak of statements that ‘the club has done everything to keep the player’ are, again, contextual realities.
The statement should have read: “Bearing in mind that Steven Gerrard is nearly 35, and he’s had quite a few dodgy games this season, and you know he puts a bit of pressure on us to play more, and he’s deluding himself a bit, and maybe too influential in the dressing room, and let’s face it he’s hardly going to get better next season, we did our sums and thought that he would only be worth keeping if he was prepared to accept the minor humiliation of being reduced to the sort of wage we’d pay a squad player like Joe Allen, so by offering him about that we think we were being generous, and that you could say that equated to doing ‘everything possible to keep the player’.”
That’s the rub. It wasn’t presented to Stevie G like that, but he and his advisers knew what the Joe Allen-shaped package represented. It meant ‘we want you Stevie, but not that much’. People in the key positions know what they are doing on this one. They are making a bold decision. They may be making the right decision. Funny though, with each passing Steven Gerrard goal it just feels less and less like it.
Let’s hope, if little else, the great man himself is angered to new heights and one last mighty hurrah. Let’s hope too that positions can be shifted, minds changed, and the greatest of careers extended beyond the wastelands of a minor football jurisdiction, an ocean away.
If we still has Suarez at the club (or an able replacement) and were challenging near the top of the table I think things may be a lot different.
i agree . if we are rocking top 4 no way does he go anywhere .
but given what has happened , there’s no point in sticking around given that he would be over 36 by the time we were back in cl , and that’s if we make it next season which is a big if .
same as well do something different and him and his wife i’ll probably seduced by the hollywood lifestyle and the path laid down by beckham .
Watch him go on loan elsewhere during off season in LA. I would quite like to see him play for Real for a season TBH.
its a sad state of affairs, but to me this is also possibly an acknowledgement from steven himself that he’s not the player he once was and the way Brendan wants us to play, I,e high pressing up the pitch, quick passing and movement and he’s realised the team is better without him.
Let’s be honest Stevies influence in league games is waning and he’s having less and less impact at premier league level anyway. I am gutted and angry that he’s leaving, of course I am, I’am 30 years old so since 1998 I’ve been following Liverpool everywhere and he’s been our main star and he’s also one of us, but we have accept the decision, is it right that a 34 soon to be 35 year old earns in excess of £160,000 p/w, liverpool asked him to half his wages to 70,000 and obviously stevie is reluctant to agree to those terms.
Maybe it’s time that we stopped waiting for the inevitable because it’s now here and now we need to plan for life after steven gerrard how ever hard that may be. We’ve lost great players before and we’ll lose them again, but we’ve always replaced them. I’ve always thought the players relied on stevie too much, now it’s time for everyone to step up, players, manager and supporters alike. No one ( steven Gerrard included ) is bigger than the club
Very good article. Maybe if we’d have used him in a vaguely “free” role this season, i.e. aaway from his own goal, 1) The club would have been more keen for him to stay as his performances would have been better, and 2) We would currently be in the top 4 and knockout stages of the Champions League. Both of which result in him signing a new contract and staying next year…….
Great piece of writing Mr Gutman. It has the ring of truth about it for me.
I was interested to read about Gerrard’s vision of the youth set up at Liverpool recently. He argued that the youth team management should be appointed independently of current first team management and should be guaranteed job security (within reason) so that they could get on with the long term production of players according to a preached ‘Liverpool way of playing’.
This guy has a vision for Liverpool, and it appears to implicitly criticise the current management (both BR and the FSG management team).
Wouldn’t be surprised to see SG back in some form, maybe post BR.
I resent modern fickle society. This is another example of polarising blame. For 6 months, the entire media and at least half of our fanbase has been very vocal in exclaiming that Stevie G’s legs had gone and how sad it is to see.
Do we think he didn’t hear this? Sorry to come across all Charlie Brooker, but being as Steven Gerrard is human and the natural human reaction to the whole fanbase turning on you, the fanbase of every other club turning you and the media writing ‘please just euthanize this guy’ articles, is to flee these people and go somewhere where you can walk down the street as a relative unknown (or at least where your family won’t be hassled ever).
Look, I’m sure there is a lot of truth in what Mr Gutmann is saying, but there’s a broader picture. Many more people are responsible than just FSG.
^^^This.
Nothing sits right about any of this. I believe Rodgers would rather Gerrard moved on and of course says the opposite to the media. I don’t believe Gerrard truly wants to leave, again can’t say that to media – it’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself that moving to most culturally void city in the world to play in a league no one will ever care about is an “exciting experience”.
No player is bigger than the club – Gerrard is the club! All LFC ever was and aspires to be goes when Gerrard leaves. Liverpool as a city will always in his debt and the club owes him SO MUCH MORE than they have shown in recent months. Gerrard is not just a player – Gerrard is MORE ICONIC TO LIVERPOOL THAN THE BEATLES!
Steven Gerrard should be the highest paid player at this club EVEN IF HE PLAYS 3 MATCHES IN NEXT TWO YEARS!!! The club makes it back on Gerrard shirts alone – The young players need his presence – The club needs his presence! He’s more of an ambassador for LFC than Dalgliesh and Rush combined (with all due respect). He was practically born on the terraces, had family die on the terraces. He’s not a player – He’s a figurehead around the world. The only word you use to describe LFC over last 12 years is Steven Gerrard and they’re allowing him to throw it all away to play in Disneyland! Rodgers fears Gerrard and rightly so!
Next season will be full of regrets, from Rodgers, owners and Gerrard. Real Madrid was a huge mistake by Rodgers – Gerrard is too intelligent and too much of a deep thinker for his own good sometimes. But he’s the most intelligent man employed at Anfield, which is why it’s so strange he’s making such a massive mistake. He doesn’t deserve to fizzle out in the city of fake tits and Botox!
Stevie G as player manager next season is what every Liverpool fan should be taking to the streets and fighting for!!!!
Rodgers sold Gerrard down the river when Stevie deserves so much better AND GERRARD IS MAKING RODGERS LOOK A MUCH BETTER MANAGER THAN HE IS… AGAIN!!!!
Some of the talk about Steven Gerrard has been embarrassing. This is not about this article at all, but the point remains. Alan Shearer last night was pathetic. Its as if Steven’s died. Obituaries everywhere. Blame everywhere.
Did the club do enough to keep him? How about did Stevie do enough to stay at the club? He was offered half of his current wage, which is fair enough given he is nowhere near half the player he was.
Can we get this straight please? Steven Gerrard CHOSE to leave Liverpool. He chose to leave. His decision.
He wasnt sold, wasn’t sacked, wasn’t told there is no place for him at the club. He was offered terms and told he’d still be playing football, just not every game. Again, fair enough given his dwindling ability which has been there for all to see. Well, for those with even the merest hint of objectivity in their heads and not the dough-eyed fanboys who would swear blind he is still our best player regardless of tonnes of evidence. But no, Steven still opted to move.
Just like his transfer request, just like his leaks to the press to get what he wanted, just like his role in the sacking of Rafa, that he is choosing to leave has been ignored. Totally and utterly glossed over. Some of the abuse Linda Pizzuti Henry took last night was vile.
If there is some blame to be attributed anywhere it’s at the feet of the captain. He says he made the decision to turn down the contract offer “a couple of weeks ago” when Rodgers, months too late, told him his playing time was going to diminish, as with the vast majority of 35 year olds. But the contract offer was made months back. It was at a press conference on December 1st Rodgers told the media Gerrard had been offered a deal. Presumably this had happened days/weeks before Rodgers announcing it.
So Gerrard had from late November until mid December to sign the contract without being told his playing time was going to decrease and done nothing. So why didn’t he sign it?
Rumours were he was offered a contract well before late November and felt insulted it was only £70k a week. Check comments on this thread fro the 18th of November: http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2014/11/podcast-last-summer-wine/ This means that it has fuck all to do with playing time and that’s being used as an excuse.
Personally, I don’t attach blame anywhere. If he feels he’s worth more and the club felt otherwise I’m glad the club stuck to their guns. If he feels he should still be playing every week and Rodgers feels otherwise I’m glad Rodgers stuck to his guns. Either way, the time is right. I just wish all this drama would die a death and we can get back to concentrating on the performances on the pitch.
well seeing as his wage over there will be about $70,000, the equivalent to £40,000, i can’t see it being anything to do with money
Simon Hodge, I think you need to come back to earth and get a reality check. We support LFC, not Steve Gerrard FC.
Big disappointment he is going, of course. Huge. But LFC now, like all football PLc’s, is a business and makes business decisions, a lot of people are laying blame at BR’s door but I don’t think its him entirely, if at all. Remember there is a transfer committee in place and I have no doubt between them and the owners they have set out their position. And now its come to this but the sign of a really good manager, or in this case transfer committee, is replacing class with class. Gerrard has carried the club on the pitch throughout his career but he just can’t do it to the same effect any more. Simple as. I don’t think there are many like him but the club, manger, committee, whoever, needs to be lining up a world class midfielder who can carry a team. Get the chequebook out and do the deal. No B*****it prospects. Proven class. Its the only way to fill his void. We don’t want a repeat of last summers shenannigans.
Remember of his last four goals everybody is talking about three were dead balls. Only his first against Wimbledon had a touch of the old barnstorming Gerrard about it, but he doesn’t score them like that any more. LFC fans need to realise if its not this season or the season after next, eventually he will retire and the sooner LFC prepare for that the better.
As much as I have loved watching him since his debut and whether or not he stays, his replacement should be lined up and lined up very very soon.
I’m also sick to death of the constant comparison between Gerrard and Giggs/Scholes/Lampard.
Gerrard has played way more minutes than any of those players in two (for the best part) very average squads. Giggs was not in first choice 11 for two seasons and play in an international tournament (holiday every summer) – Scholes never had an international career – stick Gerrard in the Man City side and allow to prance around the box and he’d totally outshine Lampard. Also, SG could play in all positions of aforementioned and do as good at them at his/their best.
The comparisons don’t work as non of them have single handily had to drag a team across the line in the way Gerrard has for 10 years! Nothing is the same.
I agree with Rob, there is definitely more to this than we’re being told. In my opinion Gerrard – whilst not having a good season – is being allowed to be a scapegoat by Rodgers. I have no idea how Gerrard is supposed to excel in the role Rodgers is playing him this season. He has nothing but statues ahead of him, clowns behind him and average dross surrounding him in all directions. The lad looks like he genuinely hasn’t a fuckin clue what his role is in this team.
Unfortunately Carra lost the moral high ground to comment on aging stars being kept on or not after stabbing Rafa in the back to get a new contract from Purslow in 2010.
I dont want any player kept on sentiment but Gerrard – used correctly by a good manager – can still be one of our best players. It’s sad to see a great player effectively retire before his time is up. If City can make Lampard intrical to their title-challenging team, why cant we make a far better player intrical to our (currently anyway) midtable team?! Something is seriously amiss here and IMO it’s with Rodgers’ management skills.
Love ya on the podcast Rob, but he’s reportedly taking 76k a week in LA. Sorry, but I really do believe he just wants to play every week…call it vain, pride, professionalism, whatever you want.
The larger problem is there was no good way out of this for Rodgers, especially if Stevie isn’t interested in being a bit part player. Cut him loose and you have reactions like the one to this article. Give him a ton of money to stay, and people would be screaming that we’re spending too much on a bit part player when we won’t pay top wages for real difference makers. There’s really no good way to end the Gerrard era at Liverpool, and I think Rodgers knows that better than anyone.
If you wrote of players who should be “cut loose” how far down on it would SG be?
Great article first of all. From the time the announcement was made I find myself increasingly probing and asking questions about underlying issues. I think there is a great deal to be said of FSG’s role in this. It is fairly evident that FSG see themselves through the lens of businessmen and that LFC is an element of their overall enterprise. Let’s not be deluded that this how they view things from above. Add to that the notion that they are foreign owners with a still limited understanding of football and football clubs, and it isn’t that much of a surprise that they are so easily willing to allow Gerrard to leave. Other clubs would, perhaps, consider a different arrangement. But things are what they are. My hope for Stevie is that he enjoys whatever time he has left in his career and that, if he in fact does end up in Los Angeles, that he isn’t met with constant comparisons to Beckham.
I wrote this comment last night (apart from the P.S). I say that because I don’t just want to regurgitate a similar vein to the article, in parts. It’s a brilliant and probably fairly accurate article.
Now the dust has settled a bit I kind of feel I’ve got a better understanding of the Gerrard situation based only on intuition. I’d guess the club knew they were going to offer Gerrard a contract on around half his current wage and thought the longer we can get away without mentioning it the better. Gerrard went public when nothing was mentioned and the club quickly offered their terms. Gerrard, who’s not only dedicated his whole career to Liverpool but also, in some ways, sacrificed his career for us, thought ‘yeah, thanks a lot. Appreciate that’. He’s discussed it with his family and asked himself would I like to experience something different or would I like to stay at Liverpool. I think both would appeal greatly but whereas in the past he’s felt a loyalty where he can’t leave, this time he’s thought ‘you know what, if that’s how they value me I’m gonna do what I want.
Again, I’m guessing there’s another side to this that’s influenced the decision a fair bit. He probably thought, after all I’ve given those fans and they’re on social media every day saying the team is better off without me and my legs have gone. Cheers. The truth was probably confirmed tonight that it’s not whether he plays but where he plays. I’m of the belief that he can’t play every game in an attacking role but used sensibly he’s shown tonight what we’re losing. So is he worth £150k a week? Maybe, maybe not. I’d have to see the club’s accounts to answer that from the shoes of the club. For fans who are only interested in the football side of things I can guess their answer to that, from my point of view it depends what the alternative is. How will that £150k be spent instead? Tonight was only Wimbledon but it was a real sledgehammer in the face, hitting home the reality come May.
Just to cross from intuition to wild speculation. I wonder if Rodgers begged Gerrard to accept the offer saying how much he needs him. Although I think the press interviews suggest they have a good relationship and mutual respect for each other I think one side of Rodgers (from what I can make out of his character) would be happy to see Gerrard go. He’d have full control then. I think I feel pretty similar to how Gerrard will be feeling (obviously not to the same degree). Absolutely gutted that he’s leaving but excited about the future. I definitely have a hope that this week’s cliché – ‘others will have to step up to the mark’ – has merit and will transpire. Let’s not forget all those two epic matches from our past when we beat 10 man Spurs and Swansea, haha. I suppose my intrigue is tempering my disappointment. Although I’m aware it rarely is, I often like to see whether the grass is greener.
It was a strange facial expression from Rodgers when Gerrard scored his first. I think it told me something. Anyway, 4th place is so crucial for our future progression but aside from all that wouldn’t it be great if we could win the FA Cup. Christ, I was reduced to tears after the City win. Gerrard lifting the trophy in tears would be unbearable.
P.s A lot of people have made comparisons with what Utd have done for Ryan Giggs. That’s a fair point but I also think it needs pointing out that Giggs is now on £75k a year. I’m guessing he accepted terms fairly similar to the ones Gerrard didn’t.
So Gerrard says it isn’t about the money and Rodgers says he is sure it won’t be about the money, but a load of fans, including Rob, seem to know better.
I have no idea what the contract offer to Gerrard was, beyond the widely reported suggestion that it involves a reduced salary, but lots of people seem to think they know. (If anyone can point to a reputable source for any information on the contract I would be interested.) I very much doubt the offer reduced his salary to the level of a squad player, and from reports of the contract he is expected to sign at LA Galaxy, I would be surprised if that was larger than the one available from Liverpool. Does this suggest the move was about money?
I think there are a lot of fans displacing the guilt they now feel about doubts they have had themselves about Gerrard, by trying to lay the blame on Rodgers and/or FSG. Perhaps if Rodgers had played him in a different role that didn’t expose his limitations (which role?) or if FSG had stumped up a bumper multi-year contract that kept him as the best paid player on the books?
Fans who a few weeks ago were raising doubts about Gerrard and criticising Rodgers for playing him all the time, have changed there tune, faced with the new reality of a Liverpool team without Gerrard.
Gerrard- “If a contract had of been offered pre season, I would have signed it”
There’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye.
Is there? Reading the article in The Echo containing this interview, everything seems straightforward and as already presented by Gerrard in his LFC TV interview.
He would have signed the contract in the summer if it had been presented then, but it was as a result of the discussions with Rodgers about his game time and not being an automatic first choice, that his thinking changed.
Gerrard – “There hasn’t been a cross word between us. Brendan has been fantastic for me. My only regret is that I didn’t get to work with him at a younger age.
“There is no finger pointing from me towards the manager or anyone else at the club.”“There hasn’t been a cross word between us. Brendan has been fantastic for me. My only regret is that I didn’t get to work with him at a younger age. There is no finger pointing from me towards the manager or anyone else at the club.”
Rodgers also said he has full control on transfers whilst telling the world there’s no truth in Liverpool being interested in Balotelli. There’s no hatred or bitter rivalry in Gerrards leaving story. Difference of opinion maybe but everyone wants to keep it civil hence the PR releases by all parties through the club. Outside of the club clues are released by the involved parties and associates. You start to build a picture. Come on mate, you must know this. It’s basic human instinct. Google ‘corporate companies use PR to hoodwink the stupid’.
Sorry mate, can I just clarify something. Just read that back and anticipated you may feel that last line referred to you. It absolutely didn’t. As I insinuated earlier I’m sure you’re well aware of what PR is.
Robin. I agree there is a PR wrap that gets put around any major story that any club would received in the best possible way, and Gerrard leaving LFC is certainly one of those stories.
My problem is once we get away from the realm of sourced stories in the more reputable media, I don’t think it is possible to sort the wheat, of information that might be from those genuinely in the know, from the chaff of general Internet tittle-tattle. One things for sure there is a lot more chaff than wheat!
To be honest mate, I agree to an extent. I get sick of all the links and Twitter rumours about every aspect of the club. I think this is a bit different though. Most of the ‘snippets’ have come from Gerrard himself, or his best mates. We know he wasn’t offered a contract (Gerrard). We know he went public that about it (Gerrard). We know the club then offered one in November (Gerrard). We know something about the contract / talks on his future made him decide to leave the club he’s sacrificed his whole career for. We know something in the contract / talks made him feel unwanted (Carragher and Murphy). We know LA Galaxy are offering 115k a week (various media). We know the philosophy of FSG. It’s all there. It’s not hard to join the dots. You’re right, we don’t know the wage offered but some local newspapers have suggested around half and I’d certainly be prepared to risk money on that being true if the bookies were taking bets on it. Add to that a bit of the psychology of human behaviour, haha, and I think it’s clear what’s gone on.
Why was no contract waiting for Gerrard when he returned from the World Cup??
He had just had a fantastic season, retired from International football and had one season left of his contract…..the perfect time to sign him up. If the club really wanted to keep him on they would have had a contract waiting for him when he returned from Brazil.
My personal belief is that Rodgers wanted/wants him to stay on, Gerrard wanted to stay on but the guys in charge of the money do not want him to stay on as he would not be worth the money, in their eyes.
Yeah, I agree Rodgers would like him to stay on. My point was purely speculation (as stated) that I’d bet one side of Rodgers wouldn’t try too hard to keep him but it’s clear from the interviews that the problems not between Gerrard and Rodgers.
Last season keeps hurting more and more as this one goes on. Felt dreadful after the United game but knowing his last shot at the title ended like it did is shit. What’s sad is last season’s Gerrard will be remembered as one fairy tale too far (and title challenge that came too late) for the scouse kid who scored and won in all the cup finals.
The thing is he’s still bailing out poor Liverpool teams even now after a decade plus. We get deservedly embarrassed by morbidly obese no marks last night if not for him. Liverpool’s management off the pitch and most of the players on it throughout his career haven’t deserved him. With all that said if Henderson is continuously shifted out to wing back to accommodate a midfield two of Lucas and Gerrard for the remainder of the season I’m falling out with Brendan.
Did the club play a part in this decision absolutely! Should they have had a role in making this decision for Gerrard absolutely!
Did they make the right call absolutely! This is Liverpool fc not Steven Gerrard fc and honestly it comes across to me that Steven Gerrard knows it more than many fans.
“Funny though, with each passing Steven Gerrard goal it just feels less and less like it.”
What all two of them! When our best goalscorers where either being rested or out injured? Against a league two side that pressed him into making only 64% of his passes. It’s over for Gerrard end of story. He can still do it on occasion and hopefully with these being the last few months he has the motivation to increase those occasions. But there are other players who could do it on occasion even more so on cheaper wages, those players will be back and we’ll be fine.
And maybe Gerrard has no ambition to be a coach, maybe he just wants to be a scout? Trainer? And if he wants to coach maybe a new environment will provide him with a fresh set of coaching ideas?
This article isn’t paranoid, it’s just bitter. It’s over for Gerrard and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Everyone should move on with there lives.
Wow! Only made 64% of his passes?I bet you immediately changed him on your Fantasy football team didn’t you?You little rascal!
64% is not good not when our style of football demands completed passes to get open shots for players. It’s not all his fault but it’s not getting any better.
The delusion in some of our supporters is mind boggling. He has the technique but he doesn’t have the legs and in the fast paced EPL you need to run a lot. It’s the simplest of equations, a five year old can understand.
Rob,One of the best pieces ever written on here.At last somebody who sees the whole picture and not just one trying to convince me that the Mona Lisa had a moustache.
But just a thought:supposing Gerrard had said that he was out of contract and would have to listen to offers;rather than saying he would not join a Club to play against LFC.
How long would that queue have been?Man City,Arsenal,Spurs,Chelsea,Napoli,Real Madrid and the rest?
And what about the aftermath in all this.Rodgers waxing lyrical about Gerrard.Steven damming Rodgers with talk about wishing he could have met him when he was 24!
No,there’s something wrong here! And I think we all know it!
“Steven damming Rodgers with talk about wishing he could have met him when he was 24!” Ok, help me out here Brian. You’re being ironic? No?
You must view the workings of the club through a very warped anti-Rodgers lens, if you could see the remarks Gerrard made about Rodgers in his LFC TV interview as anything other than the highest praise.
If you were being ironic, sorry, I missed it.
Now that Gerrard is out of the way, Joe Allen can finally make his move for the captaincy. It’s clear that he’s been quietly planning Gerrard’s demise this whole time, whispering in Rodgers’ ear.
Nah, just kidding. But stop picking on the little fella.
good stuff Rob. I wrote a piece yesterday of my suspicions and then the news breaks this morning. He’d have stayed if he felt loved.
Is he wrong to think he should be in the team over the next 18 months?
Does anybody on here believe SG could play week in week out (in his favoured role- help, what is his favoured role…. no.10?), as the player thinks he can.
He says he isn’t motivated at being a squad player. Rodgers must have been very specific about the amount of or lack of game time.
If he was serious about extending his career and winning something meaningful the Italian league would have been perfect for him.. So why choose La la land? Perhaps his wife’s idea ? Fair enough , perhaps he feels he owes it to her?
Or maybe he knows his powers are waning ? I recently swapped trying to play 5-a-side with lads half my age and being unable to get near the ball for playing with lads my own age and feeling good about my footy again. Gerrard will feel like a king out in America , like he has done at liverpool all these years. The best of luck to him.
lads this is getting ridiculous. Its time yo realise you support LFC, not Stevie G FC. No player bigger than the club, end of story. The only gripe I have about all of this is that his replacement should have been sourced last summer or even during last season. Given the age he was they should’ve seen his eventual retirement around the corner. All the great managers we had from Paisley through to Dalglish all spotted that when they’re tallismen were starting to approach the end they acted quick and got in the replacement sooner rather than later. They were ruthless and put the club first.
Accept it lads and move on, LFC has to move on and it will. Gerrard or even Lampard for that matter at 35 years old are not worth over 100k a week. You should all also remember Its the Business owners and transfer committee, not Rogers letting him go.
At least Rogers had the balls to come out and say his game time would be reduced.