Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Because I am the sort of person who thinks mobile phone backgrounds are very important, I very quickly made up little phone-sized images of that night in Istanbul to proudly display. As I looked at the picture of Stevie G hoisting the European Cup, I remember thinking "This is probably the best background ever. I wonder what would have to happen for me to change it."
Well, yeah, we have an answer to that now.
I think the best question to ask is what the hell happened? Something isn't right here.
Midway through the season Liverpool tried to talk to Gerrard, but he said to wait until the end of the season. At the end of the season Gerrard said he wanted to stay. Now, suddenly, he's off.
On the one hand, I can see why this was all Gerrard playing Liverpool. He almost moved to Chelsea last year. He stalled during the year. And despite being famously quoted as saying "How could I ever leave after a night like this?", in other interviews and quotes Gerrard was noncommital -- "We'll sit down in the summer etc etc". He's always had his eye on a move.
On the other, this could be Liverpool's doing. Gerrard did seem keen to stay, and honestly what Liverpool fan WOULDN'T be after winning the European Cup, but it's also true that Rafa Benitez needs money to rebuild the team and the only asset worth anything is Gerrard. Rafa also balked at paying Michael Owen £100,000 a week last year and argued Liverpool would be better off without him; while it's hard to argue that from a goalscoring perspective, Rafa did deliver the European Cup. Despite the goodwill that's earnt him, publicly forcing out the man who embodies Liverpool more than anyone won't do Rafa any favours. Frustrating him and making him storm off petulantly works fine.
But what if this was neither side's plan? What if this was a genuinely bungled attempt by both sides? If so, Liverpool have screwed up bigtime. How they could go this long without tying up Gerrard is shocking. That's why I believe something else to be behind this. I just refuse to believe that they screwed up negotiations so badly that Gerrard walked away, apparently for good. Knowing that they pissed him off because they wanted to -- or Gerrard ran off because he wanted to -- makes more sense.
How do I feel? Very very torn. On the one hand, if Rafa says this is for the best, it's for the best. I have the utmost faith in Rafa Benitez, especially after winning the European Cup without Michael Owen last year. But on the other, this is Steven Gerrard. He's Liverpool's lone world class player, arguably Europe's best midfielder, period. He's been the heart of the team, and the creator of more memorable moments this season than any player in Liverpool's recent history. And it hurts the most coming after he spearheaded such a great success.
And what does it say to Liverpool's summer signings when Liverpool's world class player, the inspirational European Cup winner, is gone? Though admittedly the same argument could have been made last summer when Owen left, it leaves the European Champions looking a bit... well... like a lame duck. It's kinda like Porto last season. Yes, they were the defending European Champions and should have been treated with due respect, but let's get real -- without Mourinho, Carvalho and Deco (to name three) they were an empty shell of a team, European Champions in name only. You'd have been stupid to go to Porto last summer and it looks like you might be stupid to go to Liverpool dreaming of European glory this summer.
It also begs the question: Why? Why would he leave the European Champions for a lower payday at Chelsea? Yes, Chelsea are more likely to win -- but Liverpool have also proved themselves able to win, and as a Liverpool fan you'd figure winning anything at Liverpool would mean more than winning a few more at Chelsea (or maybe I'm just crazy like that). Alternately he could go to Real Madrid, where the situation goes from bad to worse every year. At least there you can respect his decision to play in a foreign country for one of the few teams more famous and more successful than Liverpool.
I'm not sure I like what's going on, to be honest. All I can hope for is that it's sorted out soon.
Posted at 1:43 AM
