Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who will leave the club at the end of the season, gestures as he leaves training on Friday. Andrew Yates / Reuters
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who will leave the club at the end of the season, gestures as he leaves training on Friday. Andrew Yates / Reuters
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who will leave the club at the end of the season, gestures as he leaves training on Friday. Andrew Yates / Reuters
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who will leave the club at the end of the season, gestures as he leaves training on Friday. Andrew Yates / Reuters

Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard makes right call on leaving club


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On Thursday night, as Liverpool struggled to a 2-2 draw with Leicester City at home, irate fans took to Twitter.

They were keen to point out just why the return to the team of Steven Gerrard, who had scored two penalties, was the main reason behind the team’s sluggish display.

It was time for Brendan Rodgers to be brave and drop his captain; Gerrard was finished at Liverpool.

They were right, but not in any way they intended.

A few hours later, the tone had changed. The rumours that the 35-year-old captain was quitting Anfield turned out to be more than just that. The tributes began to pour in, some resembling eulogies at a wake.

They need not have been.

Gerrard’s decision is undoubtedly the correct one. And, as ever, he did right by his team as well.

The Gerrard question, as it had become, needed to be addressed at some point, and the man himself has saved his manager a major headache. The hardest decision of his life, Gerrard called it. In truth, it was probably easier than that.

Gerrard has looked haunted since last season’s title near-miss, one for which he wrongly blames himself. This season, he has looked a shadow of the re-energised, driven player of last term.

Liverpool’s 2014/15 title bid is long dead, and they have been knocked out of the Uefa Champions League. In pragmatic terms, giving it one more go in 2015/16, at Gerrard’s age, is unrealistic.

He has nothing left to chase. His list of achievements is long, spectacular and well-documented. His critics have but one stick to beat him with; the failure to win a Premier League medal.

But even when missing out on the championship he craved the most, there remained a sense of nobility, of defiance even, that – despite the ill-advised flirtation with Chelsea 10 years ago – Gerrard never left to seek the title elsewhere.

His almost quixotic pursuit of the Premier League has its own glory, in the same way that Don Bradman’s career batting average of 99.94 has its own sense of perfection to it.

Gerrard is great because he fell short trying, not in spite of it.

Whatever they may claim publicly, the likes of Michael Owen and Fernando Torres must surely concede in private that the medals won at Manchester United and Chelsea mean far less than what Gerrard achieved at Liverpool.

Some of the younger fans, or those with selective memories, will remember only the older Gerrard. Still influential, yet necessarily playing a more measured, less-heroic role brought about by years of pushing his body through season after season in the most physically punishing league in the world.

But some of us will remember the young, combative No 17 who could play anywhere on the pitch and often ­– unlike previous Liverpool greats such as Kenny Dalglish or John Barnes – carried poor teams through some dismal times.

The man who matured to be the all-action No 8, the leader the world came to know. The only man to score in the Champions League, Uefa, FA and League Cups. The hero of Istanbul in 2005 and Cardiff in 2006.

He could equally do it in the bread-and-butter games. For Gerrard, mundane league matches were treated like European nights, and fans loved him for it. Just type “Gerrard Middlesbrough” in YouTube and marvel at his genius.

Will he now follow Frank Lampard to Major League Soccer? Or play in India? Perhaps there is one last hurrah in Europe?

In the end, Gerrard for once did what was best for himself. Few Liverpool fans will begrudge him that decision. And they should remember the skipper’s own words – we go again.

akhaled@thenational.ae

Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE

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Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

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Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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EXPATS
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Why your domicile status is important

Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.

Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born. 

UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.

A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.

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Who is Allegra Stratton?

 

  • Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
  • Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
  • In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
  • The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
  • Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
  • She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
  • Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth