By Roy Collins
Last Updated: 2:27am BST 20/04/2008
In the dizzy, drunken afterglow of Liverpool's Istanbul miracle in 2005, Steven Gerrard allowed his Scouse heart to tear up all the ambitious plans he had formulated and all but signed off in his head by rejecting a £32 million move to Chelsea who, under manager Jose Mourinho, had just won their first league title in 50 years, the silverware Gerrard craves most of all.
He vowed that, as captain, he would ensure that Champions League success fuelled a realistic challenge for the Premier League title, one that he repeated after leading the team to last season's final. As passionately as he believed those words on both occasions, it is becoming as hollow a pledge as Next Year in Jerusalem and there are signs that Gerrard is beginning to realise it.
A few weeks ago, he expressed his frustration at never even coming close to becoming a Premier League bridesmaid, let alone wearing the bride's veil, saying that he could not continue to tick off another year of league failure every dark and dismal May, promising himself that Liverpool would challenge for the title the following season.
Today, he appears to have arrived at the same crossroads he reached in April, 2005, on the threshold of European glory but still a million miles from a serious title bid. Add in the ownership and boardroom battle that is tearing his home-town club apart and who could blame him for reading renewed courtship from Chelsea in the extraordinary paean of praise offered by Avram Grant on Friday night?
Going far beyond the normal, polite nod of approval in the direction of a talented opponent, Grant said: "For me, Gerrard is a great player and a great person. For me he is the player of the year in England and maybe in Europe because of the influence he has on the team. He's very good, I like him very much as a player and I know him, he is a nice guy, a positive guy and he is an example for many people. Unfortunately he plays against me, not with me but he is still my favourite player.
"I am not surprised that Gerrard has been moved up front behind Fernando Torres because I think he can play in many positions. In that position he probably feels more free He has the quality to play in any position but he is not my player." Reminded that Gerrard had almost become a Chelsea player three years ago, he added: "If you can bring him to me, I will be happy."
Given that Grant, or a summer successor at Stamford Bridge, will have an £80 million transfer budget, while Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is not sure from one week to the next even who controls the Anfield purse strings, a renewed Chelsea bid might bypass Gerrard's heart. And if not Chelsea, why not Real Madrid, who expressed interest in him before, or any of Europe's other leading clubs?
Gerrard has become as disillusioned with American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett as Benitez and Liverpool fans. He might also feel slightly embarrassed, having emerged from a meeting with the pair shortly after they took over in February last year, enthusing that it had taken "only two seconds" to realise that they were serious men who understood Liverpool's history and the need to preserve it. Now he never talks about them, complaining only that "off-field stuff" is affecting the players. If Benitez goes, either by his own volition or finding himself standing alone when the ludicrous game of musical chairs in the boardroom finally ends, a new manager will have to start another rebuilding process in the dressing-room. Would Gerrard, 28 next month, have the stomach and the patience for another return to scratch?
Benitez is looking happier than he has for months, claiming that "we have progressed" in the past seven days, presumably meaning that he has won at least one battle, against chief executive Rick Parry, who was in on talks to try to sign Jurgen Klinsmann as manager. As the man who persuaded the board to sell to the Americans instead of Dubai International Capital, who might have eased him out, Parry's position is unsustainable, while Benitez, whatever the outcome, is sure to be at the helm of a big club next season.
In the meantime, Liverpool have the small matter of a Champions League semi-final against Chelsea to negotiate, starting at Anfield on Tuesday, not so much a resumption of hostilities but something approaching the Hundred Years War, seeing that the clubs have met 20 times in just four seasons. Although the line-ups have changed a lot in that time, the fixture seems locked into a familiar, dour pattern between two stubborn teams, as determined to negate the other one's strengths as to parade their own talents. Ironically, Gerrard may miss the game because of a neck injury.
Last Updated: 2:27am BST 20/04/2008
In the dizzy, drunken afterglow of Liverpool's Istanbul miracle in 2005, Steven Gerrard allowed his Scouse heart to tear up all the ambitious plans he had formulated and all but signed off in his head by rejecting a £32 million move to Chelsea who, under manager Jose Mourinho, had just won their first league title in 50 years, the silverware Gerrard craves most of all.
He vowed that, as captain, he would ensure that Champions League success fuelled a realistic challenge for the Premier League title, one that he repeated after leading the team to last season's final. As passionately as he believed those words on both occasions, it is becoming as hollow a pledge as Next Year in Jerusalem and there are signs that Gerrard is beginning to realise it.
A few weeks ago, he expressed his frustration at never even coming close to becoming a Premier League bridesmaid, let alone wearing the bride's veil, saying that he could not continue to tick off another year of league failure every dark and dismal May, promising himself that Liverpool would challenge for the title the following season.
Today, he appears to have arrived at the same crossroads he reached in April, 2005, on the threshold of European glory but still a million miles from a serious title bid. Add in the ownership and boardroom battle that is tearing his home-town club apart and who could blame him for reading renewed courtship from Chelsea in the extraordinary paean of praise offered by Avram Grant on Friday night?
Going far beyond the normal, polite nod of approval in the direction of a talented opponent, Grant said: "For me, Gerrard is a great player and a great person. For me he is the player of the year in England and maybe in Europe because of the influence he has on the team. He's very good, I like him very much as a player and I know him, he is a nice guy, a positive guy and he is an example for many people. Unfortunately he plays against me, not with me but he is still my favourite player.
"I am not surprised that Gerrard has been moved up front behind Fernando Torres because I think he can play in many positions. In that position he probably feels more free He has the quality to play in any position but he is not my player." Reminded that Gerrard had almost become a Chelsea player three years ago, he added: "If you can bring him to me, I will be happy."
Given that Grant, or a summer successor at Stamford Bridge, will have an £80 million transfer budget, while Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is not sure from one week to the next even who controls the Anfield purse strings, a renewed Chelsea bid might bypass Gerrard's heart. And if not Chelsea, why not Real Madrid, who expressed interest in him before, or any of Europe's other leading clubs?
Gerrard has become as disillusioned with American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett as Benitez and Liverpool fans. He might also feel slightly embarrassed, having emerged from a meeting with the pair shortly after they took over in February last year, enthusing that it had taken "only two seconds" to realise that they were serious men who understood Liverpool's history and the need to preserve it. Now he never talks about them, complaining only that "off-field stuff" is affecting the players. If Benitez goes, either by his own volition or finding himself standing alone when the ludicrous game of musical chairs in the boardroom finally ends, a new manager will have to start another rebuilding process in the dressing-room. Would Gerrard, 28 next month, have the stomach and the patience for another return to scratch?
Benitez is looking happier than he has for months, claiming that "we have progressed" in the past seven days, presumably meaning that he has won at least one battle, against chief executive Rick Parry, who was in on talks to try to sign Jurgen Klinsmann as manager. As the man who persuaded the board to sell to the Americans instead of Dubai International Capital, who might have eased him out, Parry's position is unsustainable, while Benitez, whatever the outcome, is sure to be at the helm of a big club next season.
In the meantime, Liverpool have the small matter of a Champions League semi-final against Chelsea to negotiate, starting at Anfield on Tuesday, not so much a resumption of hostilities but something approaching the Hundred Years War, seeing that the clubs have met 20 times in just four seasons. Although the line-ups have changed a lot in that time, the fixture seems locked into a familiar, dour pattern between two stubborn teams, as determined to negate the other one's strengths as to parade their own talents. Ironically, Gerrard may miss the game because of a neck injury.
Benitez does not anticipate too many variations on the tried and trusted gambits of the two clubs, despite the thrilling quarter-final victory over Arsenal. He says: "We knew Arsenal normally score away so we needed to score. Also I knew [Peter] Crouch was a big problem for them, a massive problem in every game. Chelsea are not as offensive as Arsenal but they are stronger in defence. It is different from the last two Champions League semi-finals against them because, this time, we play at home first. So we will try to do something important in the first game and make the second one easier. Against Chelsea, you need to score some goals and don't concede. Which is most important? It depends how many goals you score."
Playing at home first could dilute the Anfield factor which so intimidated Chelsea in 2005 and last season, because supporters tend to get anxious when their team do not score early in a two-legged tie. And if, like last year, the second leg goes to extra-time, the additional 30 minutes will be played at the Bridge.
Grant may be seen by some supporters as not fit to clean Mourinho's tactics board, so how ironic it would be if he succeeded in beating Liverpool when the 'Special One' failed twice. With a barely disguised swipe at Mourinho, Grant says: "The last games were too tactical. Football went a step forward when people started to talk about details but now we need the next step, to give players the freedom to think because they have the responsibility they didn't have 10 years ago."
The next steps for Benitez, Gerrard and Liverpool FC are much more difficult to predict or control.
Playing at home first could dilute the Anfield factor which so intimidated Chelsea in 2005 and last season, because supporters tend to get anxious when their team do not score early in a two-legged tie. And if, like last year, the second leg goes to extra-time, the additional 30 minutes will be played at the Bridge.
Grant may be seen by some supporters as not fit to clean Mourinho's tactics board, so how ironic it would be if he succeeded in beating Liverpool when the 'Special One' failed twice. With a barely disguised swipe at Mourinho, Grant says: "The last games were too tactical. Football went a step forward when people started to talk about details but now we need the next step, to give players the freedom to think because they have the responsibility they didn't have 10 years ago."
The next steps for Benitez, Gerrard and Liverpool FC are much more difficult to predict or control.
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utusanLFC :
This article is as shit as Chelshit. The `swing' is too obvious, scandalous and easily predicted of where shit originated from... that is The Daily Telegraph. What a bollock. We here in Malaysia call this as simply KELENTONG. Chelshit is trying hard to get Gerrard. And when Captain Marvel show his loyalty, Chelshit got some assist from the UK media, based in London. Stooooofit...
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