While fans will always idolise footballers, the Jordan Henderson to Saudi Arabia saga reminds us that we are not of the same world as them…
I WAS prepping for a Lost Tapes show recently.
Looking back at Liverpool’s trip to Leeds United in the aftermath of an announcement for a new European Super League spearheaded by over a dozen of football’s biggest clubs.
One of the research pieces I did was the opening discussion between Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher on Monday Night Football.
Between using words like “sabotage” and “mafia” to describe the project and those orchestrating it, Neville casually dropped in his belief in free market economics. This was shortly before demanding government intervention and regulation around the Super League in order to halt it.
It raised many questions to me: does this mean Neville voted for Brexit? Does he have an admiration for the Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan school of neo-liberal economic thought? Does it place him at odds with his general apathy to the things wrong with Britain in 2023?
It’s fascinating that Neville, who is now so very outspoken about topics from Manchester United to Tory governance, would believe a concept which underpins the current state of both things.
But then, is it? Neville, like all Premier League footballers, operate a very different mindset off the pitch to on it.
In a place like Liverpool, we would love to think of our players as philanthropic, socially conscious proponents of our club’s and city.
In many senses, that’s true. Many footballers engage in charitable trusts and foundations which do incredible work. This should be recognised and applauded.
It should also be noted that Jürgen Klopp has built a team which prides itself on displaying the hard-working and honest values Liverpool people love to great effect.
But the fact remains that wealth creation in the Premier League is so inflated, those performing generally act and think in a manner which is über conservative to their own sense of security and interests.
Therefore, of all the surprises around Jordan Henderson’s departure to Saudi Arabia, this aspect offers the most insight into why.
Henderson has decided that this opportunity is something he simply can’t say no to. He has decided that the tier of richness this creates for himself is the most important thing in his life.
Everything has a price according to this school of thought. That includes yourself, in the case of Henderson.
It’s not for me to judge how much money is enough for a person. Our entire social structure is centred around the dream of wealth creation and the dangling carrot of strike it rich, hustle and entrepreneurial culture.
You chase money until you die. You “get that bag”, as many of the faceless have responded in admiration to Henderson’s decision to move east.
It says something, then, about all of us. Not those who are genuinely LGBTQ+ allies. Or those who are happy to take what they need and not how much they can get. Or those who genuinely believe that every second you play for Liverpool is one which should be privileged enough to discourage any temptation of low-hanging fruit.
But then, we’re all hypocrites in some form. Supporters briskly talk in millions when it comes to footballers’ worth. We use footballers as commodities who are only as good as they’re use to us. We encourage and apply free market economic ideals around supply and demand – and, by God, we demand.
There is a profound sadness about the Henderson situation. None more so than the disappointment and upset felt by those who viewed him as a genuine ally to their already maligned community, but that these are also the terms in which he’s chosen to leave Liverpool.
There is a piece to be written about how underrated he was as a player. That you don’t get to captain teams as good as he’s played in without being a special footballer. That value is something we need to learn the value of when we talk about human beings.
But it’s perhaps mostly sad because it’s a reminder that these heroes have no real alignment to the people and place they represent once they’ve left the pitch. And that the rules around what goes are unequivocally different for them.
I’ve written about this before, but Dan Austin reminded me a few years ago about a piece attributed to some Xabi Alonso comments in 2009 where he warned then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown that high taxation for the rich would drive top players away from The Premier League.
Maybe it’s time to sit back, shrug and make peace with the fact that football makes fools of us all at some point. Maybe, just maybe, the phrase “never meet your heroes” is especially prevalent when it comes to watching football at the highest level.
Ultimately, I’m just sad that Liverpool’s captain is leaving, and doing so in the way he has chosen.
Download The Anfield Wrap’s free app for Liverpool FC podcasts, video and writing all in one place…
https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/1679524142062657536
Good piece, bad situation. Barney Ronay and Adam Crafton have penned some excellent stuff on it elsewhere too. I’m just sad it’s happening. Two more negatives: no one gave a toss when Bobby went to Saudi, probably in part because he hadn’t been such a vocal supporter of lgbt+ causes. Does this undo all Hendo’s work in that regard? Is it just best for all footballers to shut it in future for fear that some day they’ll be accused of hypocrisy? That’s a grim prospect. And secondly, there are all the people only delighted he’s off because – and Dan spells it out here – he’s ultimately a commodity and we’re probably getting more cash from him than would be likely from any other source. And the transfer merry-go-round keeps on spinning…
Excellent read,Dan!
Arsenal have signed Rice # 105 mill
Reds need to sell & replace Fab , Thiago , VVD , Joel .
Let’s not be be duped by a few trips round Alder Hey by the team. Yes they do plenty of good work and if you can’t do that earning 200k plus a week what hope is there. English Football has become the most free market economics crucible in the world. We’re just entering the next stage of that as a new even bigger predator emerges in the Saudis.
Look at how many Southampton players Liverpool have exercised their free market economic muscle over in recent years as just one example.
Clinging on to the idea that any premier league football club has anything to do with something other than capitalism on steroids is massively naive.
You’ve probably got to support Prescot Cables, Marine, Vauxhall Motors maybe Tranmere if you want to see something different.
I blame Thatcher
“But the fact remains that wealth creation in the Premier League is so inflated, those performing generally act and think in a manner which is über conservative to their own sense of security and interests.”
Virtually everyone is conservative when it comes to looking after one’s own security and interests. This is natural and normal. If you don’t believe me, look in the mirror. Let’s face it, no matter what lip service may be paid, when the rubber meets the road, altruism is for other people.
I wish Henderson wasn’t doing what he is doing. But it’s his call. Footballers can’t play forever, and the man has a family. I work for a non-profit and it is the same in my work – people cash out when they get the opportunity. Don’t blame capitalism, it’s human nature and always will be.
I loved Henderson, Fab, Bobby and Stevie as players. They brought me great joy and I thank them for it. But all this is sports washing. I thought that LFC was meant to mean more. Ha ha.
I’m not one of the Proper Football Men that have been discussing this over the past while – I can’t tell you whether he was in decline, whether this is just how football works because it’s a business, or tell you whether he was overrated and this is ultimately good for the club. I also can’t relate to the money being discussed. Quadrupling my salary would change my life exponentially, but the question of whether that would be worth forgoing something that I had been using my platform and position to speak out on when I was already a wealthy person isn’t really one I can answer.
This might be the autism talking, but it’s very difficult for me to just see football as a business, not when it comes to supporting a team. I came to being a fan later in life, in the same way you can be baptised into a religion but not really find it speaks to you until your life pulls you that way. For me, it was realising that football could be for me, could be something I felt comfortable getting behind and believing in, and honestly, a lot of that was because of Jordan Henderson. I’m old enough and cynical enough to know how PR works and how you can never really know anyone in the public eye, but when I was getting into it properly last year, what I was seeing was the kind of person I thought I’d want to be if I were wealthy and famous. Someone who spoke out about things when they could easily just enjoy their wealth or promote themselves, someone who seemed like a proper captain, the kind of player my dad would have admired back in the day. The Proper Football Men will laugh at that, I’m sure, but it meant something, just as You’ll Never Walk Alone felt like more than a slogan on a piece of merch. Laugh if you like – you probably all got this out of your system before junior school – but, as much as he was a stranger, he represented something I could believe in at a time when not much else made sense, and that meant a lot to me, and it feels a little bit like we’ve all been ghosted.
I’ll be avidly interested to see what the players who went to Saudi will say about it in years to come, and there are so many angles we can look at this from and debate it and justify it and condemn it and ultimately none of this matters because it’s happened and it was an individual’s decision to leave his job and go and get another one, but I think about the send off for Firmino, Henderson giving the speech at his leaving party and singing his song once more, and then I think about the video of him alone in Anfield, and the whole thing makes me feel extremely sad. It’s all business at the end of the day but it’s hard to pretend that it’s only business.
Thank you for this and Neil’s piece. A lot of the internet over the past couple of weeks has left me feeling like it’s crazy to feel this way. Maybe it is, eh?
Appalling decision by Henderson. Totally destroyed his reputation.
In my view less to do with his supposed LGBT past support but he was club captain, Jurgen’s go to man in the dressing room and mentor of the youngsters coming through and new signed players. He decides to go chasing the Arab dosh within a month of the start of the new season when the club is going through a major transition.
Don’t buy this bullshit about ‘safeguarding his family’s security’. How much money does he want/need to earn? He’s been on 10m.++ p.a. for 12 years and his LFC contract guaranteed 2 more years of the same. Sheer greed.
I thought he had integrity – but how foolish to believe he was better than the usual crop of carpetbaggers. If he’d gone ‘home’ to Sunderland for his latest couple of seasons – maybe ended up as their manager – we’d all wish him well and admire him ‘giving something back’ to the game that has made him a multi-millionaire.
This move he has chosen is grubby and sordid. He has disgraced himself.
Not seen or read any comment from him directly about his leaving in this way. He’s obviously embarrassed – but not embarrassed enough to pass on this ‘opportunity’. He has beatrayed the club and support.