I have to say, I find the reaction to Stevie saying he's leaving to be very weird. People are acting like someone died or something. He is leaving; so what would have been the... opposite? if he had signed a contract extension? Well, he is past it. He is slow. He drifts in and out of games (and that's being kind). Often times he is invisible. He is a liability in midfield as he doesn't have the pace (even when he's well rested) to keep up with our speed in attack, and yet when he is sat further back in a holding position he doesn't have the pace to protect the back four and he gets blown by again and again during the game as if he isn't even there.
So the other possibility would have been for him to stay another few years, and play less and less while still earning exorbitant amounts of quid. He's currently the highest earner at the club on £140,000 a week. He wanted a raise on that. He wanted to earn even MORE money, whilst showing that he is years past his best. For comparison, Coutinho is on about £60K a week, Sterling is on £40K a week, and Markovic is on £35K a week. So Stevie currently makes more than those three combined despite contributing less than any of them individually. And he wanted a RAISE. I'm really sorry but he doesn't deserve it. Unless suddenly we are going to be handing out contracts for sentimental purposes. "Sure, you won't contribute much, but you're a legend so here, have £150,000 quid a week, just for the hell of it." That is the exact kind of financial suicide that nearly saw our club go under only a few years back.
So, Stevie is leaving the club. It's his decision. He contributes very little on the pitch and anyone who talks about us missing his "leadership" qualities probably only started watching us yesterday. He is the quietest captain of anyone in the league. And if you will say "he's the 'lead by example' type," well, his "example" has been piss poor for quite some time now, so that doesn't work either (not to mention the fact that the whole squad wanted him to speak up under H&G but he was too afraid and didn't want to rock the boat according to Carra).
The constant pressure to fit him somewhere into the team despite his clearly being past it is going to be the death of us, look at Leicester, we had a nice setup against Swansea, but then Gerrard came back into the team, so that meant Manquillo got benched because Henderson had to play RB, it meant there was one less mobile player in midfield, and suddenly a dynamic team looks stuck in the mud---all because there is some rule written in stone that Stevie has to start. it's ridiculous.
He is a legend and arguably the club's greatest ever player although I think Kenny pips him to that, just. But the moaning and wailing about us not being able to replace him and this is a tragedy is way over the top. If we're talking about the Gerrard of 2005, yes, it would be hard to replace him. But the reality is we have been playing without that Gerrard for several years now. So him leaving isn't going to change anything in that department.
Anyway. Celebrate what he achieved at the club. But don't cry yourself to sleep over what we are losing because whatever you think we are losing, I can't guarantee you we already lost it years ago.
How do you know that he wanted more money ? That seems bullshit of the highest order right there, maybe the owners or Brendan decided to spread that rumour to appease the fans, i don't think he wanted a raise, they just wanted to get rid of him because of the wages. These poor bas**rds don't know anything about loyalty, what a player like Gerrard represents and how he could help with his experience the young lads at the club and the foreign players, to explain them what this club means.
He should've been offered a 4 year deal, with a reduced role in the team, he deserves to end his career at us. Even if he wanted a higher wage, which i think is a big lie, he deserved to get it for the years of service for this club. He was on 140k/week, this is an average salary when you compare it to all other teams in top 4, even Adebayor gets more money than him.
We are going backwards, who will be the leader ? Martin Circus Skrtel ? Jordan Woodlegs Henderson ? Dejan Useless Lovren ?
I tell you what, Agger was the only one who deserved and could lead this side and he was shown the door because he had something called character and stood up to Brendan, something the rest of this lot aren't capable of.
I think Rodgers wanted Gerrard out too, he was the only one who could question him, the same he did with Agger, Borrell, the man has an ego bigger than Mourinho, Van Gaal and Whiskey nose combined, and he won absolutely fuckall.
Hopefully we'll get rid of these morons, and those who replace them will convince him to stay.
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