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Gerrard leaving Liverpool with dignity

By on January 2, 2015

Steven Gerrard undoubtedly loves Liverpool. He has been with the club since the age of nine, and now, his next birthday his thirty-fifth, has finally announced he is leaving. He claims it to be the “toughest decision of my life” in his statement announcing his departure. In all fairness, he is years beyond his peak and staying at Liverpool far past the end of the season, when his current contract expires, would mean he would leave the club after multiple seasons of slow decline. Leaving, in sake of his career, is almost certainly the correct thing to do. In Jamie Carragher’s column for The Daily Mail, he voiced that in his opinion it was that issue that drove Gerrard out – he wasn’t feeling wanted.

The real reason, if that is not it, may not be that extreme but somewhere close. Gerrard has the right to be happy while playing football, or at least as happy has he can be. He has decided that is elsewhere with all due respect to Liverpool.

Liverpool fans have every right to be upset. As much as Gerrard is still a Premier League level footballer, though not what he once was, he is a Liverpool legend, a Liverpool figure even more so. He is the club’s captain. Even by sitting on the bench or moving directly into a managerial position his leadership would benefit Liverpool; for the club him leaving can hardly be a positive, him moving on so soon, bar for the fact of changing the guard. But to be upset at Gerrard, or anybody at that matter is less justified. Gerrard has given so much for Liverpool over so many years and with that taken so many burdens. That infamous slip last year very well may be still haunting him, so before his career ends, why not loosen those and have more fun? Gerrard has clearly stated he will not be playing against Liverpool ever, and will not join another Liverpool rival. Most likely, he will end up in the United States. Hardly at all is that even hinting a loss of loyalty to the club, rather, taking the best option to keep him happy. For everything he has put in for Liverpool he deserves that at very least.

And furthermore, Gerrard has said he wishes to return to Liverpool one day, even as a manager. In that case, releasing him of his burdens beforehand would be an even better idea, letting his spirit rejuvenate. So whatever the reason, and moreover whatever the consequences, it is clearly a decision Gerrard has spent a lot of time on, and would not make without carefully weighing the two. He chose the time to announce it without making a fiasco, for the best of the club. There has to come a time when his happiness must come first. That time has come. It is not just a decision, but probably the right one. There isn’t even really an argument of what more Liverpool could have done to keep Gerrard from coming to that decision. Liverpool fans have a right to be unhappy, but need to consider all due respects to Gerrard in the process.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.