We wer epromised an article from Tony Montana yesterday on the SG situation but as with Paul T, circumstances changed. I thought it'd be interesting to merge it with Paul's thread as there's clear parallel themes in both.
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Was writing this piece this morning to put on the board tonight as i cant get on t'internet at work and it was finshed about 10 minutes after news was filtering through about the u-turn, anyway.......
Sunshine doesnt last all morning
A Cloudburst doesnt last all day
So your love has gone and left you with no warning
Its not always going to be this grey.......
So this is it, after all this time, the tears, the joy, the glorious highs
and the heart breaking lows, and the promises of never leaving each others
side, its finally over. I find it hard to accept your gone, and I'll
always look back fondly and remember our time together.
Even though the time was right, I'll miss you always.
I've hung your old lead on a hook nailed to the back of my door, just to
remind me.
Sam Heaton
1991-2005
The most loyal servant a boy could wish for.
Oh you thought I was mourning the passing of "Stevie G"?
As far as Steven "It's looking good" Gerrard is concerned, I can honestly
say im quite surprised by the Lady Di'esque outpouring of grief from some
supporters, although the "I'll do anything to get on TV" bunch outside
Anfield were quite funny if not slightly disturbing, with some lowering
themselves to the level of our recently "Liberated" Yankified Mancunian
cousins (There are no, i repeat, no W.U.M's in Old Trafford), by burning a
shirt bearing Gerrard "17" on the back (Why is it always old shirts they
burn, bloody cheapskates?).
Strangely, possibly due to the events of the day before, I watched the
events of the past 48 hours unfold like a voyeur, detached from any real
feeling or emotion, with an almost morbid curiosity, and it is indeed very
much like watching a car crash in a crap film in slow motion or one of
those safety video with those funny looking Crash Test Dummies (Speaking of
Dummies, oh never mind).
Personally, I think a move away suits us better than it does Steven "I'm
the man, I'm the man" Gerrard, and to be honest, i wouldn’t be at all
surprised if Rafa is even slightly relieved that Steven done his dirty work
for him, as he doesnt strike me as a "Rafa" type player, or even a
"Liverpool" type player, not for the past 12 months or so anyway.
The money being talked about for Liverpool FC to sell Steven Gerrard varies
between 35-40 million depending on what paper you read, and as good as the
he is, he isnt worth that kind of money, nowhere near in fact, but like a
few others before him, the fact he is English somehow makes him godlike,
that is until he gets caught by the tabliods being a naughty boy, and then
he's public enemy number one, and if you consider he never cost us anything
else apart from his wages, it doesnt seem like such a bad deal to sell.
Also if he was to go as opposed to signing a new contract, over 4 years you
would be saving £20.8 million (£100,000 pw x 52 weeks x 4 years)
With that kind of money, including the transfer fee, you could expect to
get 3-4 players of similar ability, you just need to look for them, which,
as Don Rafa has proved with Xabi and Luis, he is quite capable in that
department.
Its also well documented that Rafa is strong on the "collective" aspect,
not so hot on the "individual", and it wouldn’t surprise me if this may
have been a massive concern for Rafa with Steven, whose behavior sometimes
has been astonishing, openly casting doubts about his team mates ability,
and swaggering around the pitch like he owns its, even going so far
to openly challenging the ex-manager on his team selection.
Had any of our other players gave us the run around like he has over the
last twelve months, they'd have been kicked into touch, but because its
Steven and he IS an excellent player and more importantly is a "Scouser" ,
it was accepted/ignored, and he was treated as almost "untouchable".
Robbie Fowler had a similar cloak of protection until Gerard got a grip of
him, funny really that he came down so hard on Robbie, and yet probably
created the monster that is Steven's ego.
I suspect one of the reasons Steven may have "changed" his mind on staying,
is because you feel that Benitez wouldnt be happy with some of the above
shenanigans and may tried to address some of them, reining him in, and
Steven in turn has spat his dummy like a spoilt kid, its also plain as day
to me that Rafa doesnt trust him like he does Carra and Xabi, and Steven
doesnt like getting his nose pushed out of joint, his ego demands that has
to be the "Big Dog", and possibly even the fact in some peoples mind's he's
no longer the best midfielder at the club, never mind in England, has upset
him somewhat, especially on what he see's as his own stomping ground.
This may sound all strangely familiar, talented player with big ego, likes
to think he's the main man, better than anyone else, the "Guv'nor", who
after having won the league got sold for big money to suit his big
reputation, and has never won a thing since, and found that his
"understudy" at the time has far surpassed anything he himself had achieved
and had become a bona fide "Legend" of his football club.
For Steven Gerrard see Paul Ince, for Roy Keane see Xabi Alonso.
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And as I type this I am hearing that "The Great One" has had ANOTHER change
of heart/mind/wallet/agent and he's now staying, personally, if we are
going to get this circus every 6 months, I think its best that he does go,
and if he is to stay, he needs to sign that contract, and things need to
change, or more specifically, HE needs to change
1.No more crying off to mates in the echo/sky sports, and no more
undermining the confidence of others.
2.He toe's the club line 100%, at all times, no exceptions.
The Club is not a vehicle for the Steven Gerrard show.
*As an exercise in futility im going to finish the piece anyway, as I feel
many of the points are still valid, as I don't feel for a second that he's
changed his mind out of "Loyalty to the club and the fans", more likely
that whatever move he was angling for (and I would imagine it being Real
Madrid, as i cant honestly imagine him wanting to come back to Anfield in a
Chelsea shirt) hasn’t materialised, I don’t trust the lad one bit, not any more,
not until the contract is signed anyway
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Another myth is that Liverpool cannot play without Steven, this idea is
patently ridiculous, without going into the now infamous win ratio
argument, (The one that says we win more without him than with him) we have
proved in Europe especially that we can cope without him, more than cope in
fact.
It is also not beyond "Steven Gerrard M.B.E." to have the odd stinker, last season it
could be argued with a fair amount of authority that he had just as many
poor games as good games , although I feel this is more a mental than
physical issue, as he could even manage to go from the ridiculous to
sublime from one half to the next (Olympiacos and Milan anyone?).
This again goes back to Steven wanting to be "untouchable", and maybe not
being happy with Rafa challenging this approach, his arrogance was again
there for all to see when was allegedly citing the "quality" of signings as one of
his reasons for wanting out, how this approach would go down at "The
Bridge" or the The Bernebau remains to be seen.
And despite what some may think at the moment, there is only one real loser
in this, and it isn’t us, we'll recover, of that i no doubt, because we
have Rafa, and because we are too big not bounce back, we are bigger than
Steven Gerrard and also for that matter, bigger than Chelsea.
No matter what the lad does in his career, even he wins a European Cup with
a different team, it'll never top what happened on the 25th May 2005, when
the boyhood fan who became captain inspired a 3 goal comeback against the
best side in Europe to win the European Cup for a record Fifth time.
The only thing that could possibly equal Istanbul would to be to win the
League, with Liverpool.
Despite what ive written above, I do wish the lad well in the future, but i
fear that he will realise when it's too late what is giving up, because on
the 6th July 2005, barely 6 weeks after the best night in the modern
history of Liverpool Football Club and also if his life (His words, not
mine) we are losing Steven Gerrard, but more importantly, Steven Gerrard is
losing us.
