Steven Gerrard to announce that he's leaving Liverpool

[Southern Scouse]

I consider myself fortunate to have seen him develop and followed his career throughout the years. A great player, often overshadowed by carrying some very poor teams. A true sign I feel is that I have never heard a bad word against him from either manager, player or opponent.
People forget the early years when he suffered from severe muscular problems but battled through even at a young age. Istanbul, west ham cup final and the CL game against olympiakos all stand out or me, as well as the real tears he shed when he refused to go to chelski even when Gillette and Hicks were trying to sell him off to fill their pockets.
Not the greatest ever red, but well up near the top. Love him or hate him always gave everything and the PL would have been much poorer without him.
Still hoping one day for a SG and JC LFC management team who knows?

 

[Mowgli37]

A great player. I truly felt for him with that slip. You kind of knew that was his last chance to win the premiership with that mistake.

A loyal club servant - no angel I know - but a better role model than many.

His highlight will still be that second half in Istanbul. He fired that team up.

I hope he does what players of old did and joins tranmere. Go have fun.

This.

He's been an excellent player for a long time, I'd rather he had won a title than players like Anderson, Bosingwa etc

Just goes to show what a cruel mistress football can be. I'll never forget games like Istanbul and the Cardiff final though, truly great footballing moments.

Good luck Gerrard.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Read this the other day. Sums it up better than I can

http://thepremierleagueowl.com/why-football-continues-to-revel-in-liverpools-2014-stumble/

It all started many years ago with Bill Shankly and the phenomenal rise of pop music in the City. Shankly pulled a slumbering second division side up by its bootstraps with a mixture of shrewd signings and superb psychological warfare. He gave pride back to the football club, started winning trophies and created the platform for the dominance they enjoyed in the 70's and 80's. They became the club to follow for all 'floating ' fans ( those that wanted the guarantee of supporting a winning team ) They were the no.1 team in England and at times, in Europe. They thought it would last forever and it gave them a superiority and an arrogance. As the article states, the fans were described as the best in the world and the most generous ( Well you can afford to be when you are winning most of the time ) In return, in times of trouble ( e.g Hillsborough ) they have turned to the footballing world for unconditional support and as stated, when the good times seem about to re-emerge ( i.e last season ) there was a near hysterical attitude, that eventually backfired. All the hundreds of thousands of fans aged in their 30's and 40's who followed Liverpool because they expected to lift many league titles have now realised, after 25 years, that nothing is guaranteed.
The pop explosion ( the Beatles and others ) gave the city a feeling that it was the centre of the Universe, particularly in the 60's and that feeling still exists today. They expect to be in the limelight and they want to be in the limelight and as for the rest of us...well we just don't want it rammed down our throats all the time.

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

From the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sport...-liverpool-steven-gerrard-20150101-story.html

Galaxy coach and general manager Bruce Arena, who had earlier knocked down rumors of a Gerrard move to Los Angeles, responded with a simple "no comment" Thursday when asked about possible negotiations.

Team President Chris Klein was only a little more enlightening.

"We don't have anything yet," he said. "We don't comment on players that are not with our club. We've been pretty consistent with that all along."


That is a pretty good about face for the Galaxy top brass. I'm sure they have the tiger in the cage they are hoping he doesn't decide to run out before the door closes.

 

[Seagull1989]

I admire Gerrard for being loyal to a club which you don't get much nowadays. He has said, that he couldn't contemplate lining up against Liverpool, so that rules out big European teams in case they draw them in the champions league. So can only leave a team stateside for him to go to

 

[crookie]

Think it's a bit of a cop out when older English players decide to play out their days in the States. Shows a lazy lack of ambition to continue to play competitively and sample a different culture/language. Ashley Cole seems to be thriving in Italy, would be good to see some more English players playing abroad, but guess they just get too comfortable with the ridiculous wages/hero worship/celebrity status they enjoy in the "Best league in the world"

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

maybe he'll go to New York City in place of Lampard or to New York Red Bulls