Everybody hates them and they don’t care. Millwall fans, detestable bunch of thugs by and large. Sam Bethell, the fella who swung for and missed Patrice Evra, was one of them.
But I’ve just read an article by Millwall-loving Ron Liddle in The Times which is really worth a read. As if slagging off that prick Frank Lampard wasn’t enough to warm us to him, he has today torn a strip off the theory that scouse bastard Gerrard is worthy of all the praise he has received in the press.
Is there a devilish, shadowy conspiracy to stop Liverpool winning the Premier League title this season? Or are Liverpool retreating into their unlovable role as perpetual victims once more? I have the horrible feeling that Steven Gerrard’s arrest (and subsequent charging) for some alleged fracas in a Southport nightclub will lead, some way down the line, to black armbands, wreaths strewn around the gates at Anfield and maybe a minute’s silence before the next home game.
Liverpool’s fans have been quite magnificent these past few years, rock solid in support of their manager, fervently behind their team even when getting the run around by Havant & Waterlooville and Barnsley – a model of patience, forbearance and loyalty. In other words, proper football supporters as we once understood the term. But they do not always react well to adversity apparently imposed from outside. And this time around, with Steven Gerrard’s arrest, they are being chaperoned back into their whining laager by the national press. It’s not fair, etc, someone wants us to lose the league, etc.
One commentator – who also, presumably not coincidentally, was the ghost-writer of Gerrard’s award-winning autobiography – laid it on with a particularly broad trowel. “No-one walks alone at Anfield” the article began, before detailing how poor Stevie would find everyone rallying around, with “Sammy Lee delivering a few words of encouragement” and the backroom staff bowing and scraping and Rafa putting his arm around the shoulder. And then stepping out proudly at Deepdale in the FA Cup tie against Preston North End because Stevie G “possesses the mental strength to sprint out of the tunnel and impose his phenomenal game on proceedings, perhaps by bashing the opposing centre-half on the cranium inside the first minute”.
Well, okay, he did not write that last bit, that was me. And it may be unfair on Gerrard because, of course, the whole affair has not yet come to court and “Stevie” might be an entirely innocent party, which is precisely the subtext of how he has been judged so far by his employers and by much of the national press.
Compare and contrast, if you will, with the way football supporters are prejudged in much less grave matters (see right) or indeed with the calumny heaped (rightfully, I reckon) on the shoulders of that lovable but mischievous little imp, Joey Barton.
This is Steven Gerrard MBE we are talking about, of course, Steven Gerrard of England – and to read some of the encomiums in the press you might think that he had just embarked on a course of chemotherapy or recently returned from a tour of duty in Basra or suffered a sudden triple bereavement, rather than been arrested for allegedly occasioning actual bodily harm in a nightclub at two o’clock in the morning. Innocent until proven guilty, for sure, but such a presumption does not necessarily have to imply a requirement for beatification.
And we haven’t even begun to deal with that exacerbating circumstance, Mr Gerrard’s deep love and veneration of the music of Phil Collins and the suspicion, unspoken so far, that he may have requested the unfortunate DJ to have played In The Air Tonight or some other noisome sliver of Mr Collins’s vapid 1980s bombast.
Hell, sure, it is a tough time for Steven Gerrard right now, but it is probably a rather tougher time for the alleged victim, what with those four stitches in his forehead and the fact that, according to several reports, he is a Manchester City supporter.
Should Gerrard play at all, with this charge hanging over him for the next three weeks (and perhaps longer)? I am not entirely won over by his manager’s insistence that playing for Liverpool will have a magical rehabilitative effect on Gerrard. “The best thing for him and for us is to just focus on the football,” the manager remarked. Benitez has also said that he knows Gerrard as a “nice lad”, to which we might respond well, fair enough, who could possibly gainsay such a judgment?; but the whole business smacks just a little of what we might call self-interest.
I wonder if Benitez would have been quite so indulgent had, say, Robbie Keane been banged up for 20 hours after having been accused of clobbering someone while on the razz at two o’clock in the morning at a nightclub. I have my doubts. Gerrard is crucial to Liverpool’s title hopes; they can do without Torres just about, but not Gerrard.
Still, as I say, Gerrard is innocent until proven guilty and, beyond that, in theory I have nothing against players celebrating in a nightclub until the early hours after a football match. The notion that they should not be allowed to do so is yet another imposition that separates the players from the fans and establishes them as a sort of weird super-breed, devoid of morality, fragile of constitution and too stupid to be allowed out on their own.
It is certainly true, too, that the way we view our footballers – and celebrities in general – has changed considerably in the past 15 or so years. They are no longer revered by the public quite as they were but are more often the repositories of (more often than not, drunken) disdain, hostility and even violence.
This is partly because they have traded in their honest pro credentials for celebritydom, effected through the outrageous wages they are paid each week, which, you have to say, exceed the value they bring to their clubs. The money they earn and the lifestyles they enjoy seem to offer carte blanche to any normal person to subject them to derision and vituperation, which may be unfair, but it is comprehensible. It sort of goes with the territory these days, and nightclubs are, for the likes of Steven Gerrard, accidents waiting to happen.
Man Utd News 24/7
Fucking Gerrard, can’t stand the bell end, imagine if it was Rooney or Rio. It’s a friggin’ joke, when I first heard about the incident and the way everyone talked about Gerrard, I thought he’d been beat up or something but he’s the cause of all this. I seriously hope Chelsea or us or Arsenal or Villa win the league, not the friggin’ scum.
It was funny though reading the Gerard and Liverpool love-in spread like a virus through the daily papers. The guff that that has been written makes you want to burn down the local newspaper stand and never buy a paper again!
Stevie G this & Stevie MBE that. Sick bucket please!!! If poor old ‘Johnny Foreigner’ had pulled the same trick at a nightclub they’d never be able to step back on a pitch. The Daily Mail would call for deportation!!
There could be a silver lining for Stevie G MBE though! Any of us with even half a brain know Liverpool won’t last the pace in the premiership.We also know that those happy slappy ‘pool supporters may well just turn on him and that would provide Captain fantastic MBE with the one opportunity he always wanted.A move to Chelsea!!! And with that move we would be a step closer to what we always dreamed of; most of the pricks in English football playing for the one club!!
gerrard>cunt
nuff said
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When SG retires in 4/5 years time, he’ll be seen to be Liverpool’s best post-war home grown player NEVER to have won a championship medal.
Superb article, good post as well Simmo.
Thank god somebody else has mentioned the fact the commentators tonight were acting like the cunt “had done a tour of Basra” . they even finished the highlights programme on ITV with a montage of Stevie Me, and Curbishley (cunt) and Matt Smith saying “how brave and the right decision to play etc”.
Unbelievable! It makes my bloods boil!
Fuck stevie ‘dumbass’ g. You’ll never walk but your ass will surely be rotting in jail alone you cockeyed prick
Oh come on.
If he was playing for us, we’d be supporting him too.
Come on we are better than bashing people when they are down.
hahahaha…
i knew that whole city of manchester is worried that LFC is on top of them..LOL
dream on guys…glory days are back in mersyside
Yeah, it’s a joke. Like someone else said, imagine if it had been Rooney? The fuckign world would be coming to an end. But no, it’s England’s golden boy, so let’s all cry and give him a pat on the shoulder and tell him, “It’s okay mate, we all make mistakes.”
Yes perhaps we all do make mistakes, but the majority of us won’t make a mistake that involves the other party being physically attacked, resulting in an overnight stay in hospital, stitches and missing teeth.
England needs to get over Gerrard. If he is proven innocent then good for him, but if he is found guilty then he should be punished properly, and not with a slap on the wrist like fucking community service.
Amazing what short memories you all have. Remind me again of the punishment Cantona got!!!! That was actual bodily harm in front of live cameras, yet you all leapt to his defence….LFC are only doing what any club would do, besides he’s not even been found guilty yet…. If you want to vent your anger at the publicity this story is getting, direct it at the media.
Another case of the pot calling the kettle..
The media as a whole are total cunts – with the exception of this writer of course. I knew they would be sympathetic of Stevie Me, making out he’s brave to play yesterday. He’s the cause of all this shit. If anyone deserves sympathy, it should be that Yeovil player who has had 8 operations after being involved in a car crash, or even Ian Hume of Barnsley who was nearly killed after getting an elbow from Chris Morgan of Sheffield Utd. Gerrard is a cunt and deserves the punishment that fits the crime. If it was Rooney who was involved, he would be hung out to dry.
I think it’s laughable to suppose SG will get bird for this, even if he’s found guilty of anything more than an incidental role in the assault (guilty of an assist). 20 Hours community service maybe, not on the dogshit collection gang but something more heart-warming and convenient.
Another good article here…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/04/steven-gerrard-comment-barbara-ellen
Steeee Gerrard Gerrard, went to Southport n he got barred, he will send Benitez a visitors card, Steee Gerrard Gerrard.
Steeee Gerrard Gerrard, will be pacing the prison yard, he’s nowt but a fuckin mard Ste Gerrard Gerrard.
Steee Gerrard Gerrard is gonna get ripped by the prison guard, and bummed off some noncy retard, Steeee Gerrard Gerrard.
Rod Liddle is fantastic, I am a regular reader. As Scott has mentioned, he really hates Frank Lampard. However I should probably mention before he is declared the Messiah of the press that he really really hates Ronaldo as well as most of our players, and indeed Man United as a whole (though, admittedly, he does hate most teams and highly paid players).
I wish they would bring back the birch for DJ abuse…..fucking hell there would be a million mile queue with people wanting to batter that scouse cunt…
And if he does a little bird, he’ll come out with an arse like s fucking blood orange…lol
I’m no Liverpool fan but would be surprised if Gerrard really got involved here. I’m not even a big fan of Gerrard since he always seem to be burying goals against us, but he seems pretty squeeky clean to me. I thik the press do have a love in with him and that has made for some very biased articles but I can’t even recall Gerrard getting in a bust up on the pitch let alone in a bar. Apparently ‘Lawro’ knows the bar owner where this took place who reckons that Gerrard will be cleared of any kind of direct involvement.
@Carl
Call me then when Gerrard is finished his 9 month ban and 120 hours community service. Can you imagine the scandal if he even got the 6 match ban that Barton got? Fucking scumbag
goalmachine: nice one mate. Just shows that not every journalist is on the side of Stevie Me!
Carl, you mention Cantona, but what xenophobic abuse was directed at Stevie Me?
“Hell, sure, it is a tough time for Steven Gerrard right now, but it is probably a rather tougher time for the alleged victim, what with those four stitches in his forehead and the fact that, according to several reports, he is a Manchester City supporter”
Best bit of the article, laughed out loud to that!
Once a scouser always a scouser! Gerrard as a little kid was a shoplifter, which he admits to. Last year he was running over a little kid, this year knocking a dj’s teeth out.
This bloke is quite clearly a danger to society, he should be locked up, one less thug on the streets. I have no sympathy with this scouse twat!
If you just don’t like him cos he plays for LFC, then thats your opinion and your entitled to it. BUT until all the facts have been heard at court and theyve made a decision then I just don’t see how you can presume he’s guilty. lets face it, the only reason you want him locked up is cos of his importance to LFC and you may have a better chance at the prem than if he was playing….
Cantona is a legend for what he did to that Palace fan that was abusing him. Don’t get me wrong players get that abuse all day long and shouldn’t set a precedent of reacting like that, but once, just once for a player to turn on some moron fan and give him a slap for basically standing there abusing him at least showed that players are human.
Good article. I assume you all read the rest of Rod Liddle’s thoughts in the same column? Here they are in case you missed them.
“Fergie plays a blinder in paranoia gone mad
IS THERE a shadowy and devilish conspiracy at the Premier League designed to prevent Manchester United winning the title? Or is Sir Alex Ferguson, below, once again talking out of his perpetually paranoid, sclerotic and most probably bright scarlet backside? Ferguson has been moaning about the fixture lists and how they seemed to be weighted against his little moppets. At first I assumed he was angry that the Premier League required Manchester United to play any games at all before being awarded the title; it should just be a given, allowing the club to take part in a multitude of extremely worthwhile and meaningful tournaments during the season in Japan, Nigeria, Alpha Centauri and so on. But Ferguson’s complaint is more involved and complex. He points out that his side have had to play away games in the Premier League after successive away games in the Champions League. And that the club’s opening half of the campaign has seen them playing away from home at each of last season’s top 10 clubs. This is paranoia on the scale of those troubled few who believe Jews were responsible for blowing up the Twin Towers on 9/11 and that the US never landed a man on the moon, it was all mocked up on a studio lot in the South Dakota badlands.
Quite apart from an obvious lack of motive on the part of the Premier League, does anyone really think they have the nous or ability to so finely tune the fixtures? Further, the corollary to Sir Alex’s complaint is that United will be playing the top teams at home in the second half of the season. Some might argue that gives them a distinct advantage over their closest rivals. Sir Alex has declined to address this salient point. The more central point, that clubs need to play each team twice, and that these pesky fixtures have to be scheduled at some stage over a season, does not seem to have registered either.
Sir Alex will now be sending someone to oversee the drawing up of the fixture lists for next season. Such fabulous arrogance and paranoia. Will the whining ever cease, do you suppose? “
Well said Gooner, absolutely spot on.
Carl “you may have a better chance at the prem than if he was playing”. Give over mate. Champions of England, Champions of Europe, Champions of World! Stevie Me or no Stevie Me the dippers will not win the premiership this season it is United s again.
Yeh David, that part was alright too. Fergie does sound pretty paranoid. We have had more difficult fixtures, that does put us at a disadvantage, but I don’t think the Premier League have organised it purposefully.
I’d rather focus on Steven Gerrard’s assault charge though, personally, as I find that a lot funnier than Fergie’s paranoia.
Fergie’s paranoid and so is Wenger who I saw quoted as backing up Ferguson in the papers today (who’d have thought it eh
). Standard fare from both managers, both have it been at it for years, we all know it’s nonsense.
If it isnt fixed, how come last year there were not one but TWO “Grand Slam Sundays” involving the “Big 4″.
Gerrard is a scumbag, he assaulted a player in the Amsterdam tournament a couple of years back and got no punishment.
There’s no doubt the super sundays were fixed last season, but surely none of the big four were advantaged or disadvantaged as they were all playing eachother, and it was obviously done for the benefit of the ‘worldwide television audience’ the premier league attracts. We took Sky’s money and can’t really complain when they have a say in the way football is nowadays.
I’m sure every manager or fan from every premier league team could pull out stats that suggest the fixture list being a disadvantage to them in some way. The Fergie/Wenger conspiracy theories are always trotted out as motivational tools for their teams, although I think Fergie is better at it than Wenger as it always seems to have the opposite effect on us
I made the exact same point as the articlist regarding Fergie and the fixtures and how it probably gives us an advantage too…but rather than paranoia, I’d go more with what Gooner says about a siege-mentality at a club to galvanize everyone yet I can’t imagine some of the more intelligent United players getting worked up about it, maybe it’s aimed at the fans in an attempt to foster a bit more vociferous support at OT or something. However, Fergie doesn’t need to tell United fans to not like London or anything to do with England because it’s a given, can’t remember when I started to not care about England but I was young and nobody told me to, it was like being pre-programmed, probably because everyone hates United so it’s an easy way of showing we don’t care. Leads me on to Gerrard, don’t care about him either, Scouse muppet but still probably the best central midfielder in Europe, shame he’ll probably be the best never to win his home country’s championship thanks to us. We’ve seen off northern alliance Newcastle/Liverpool/Blackburn in nineties, then it was the Londoners turn Arsenal followed by Chelsea and now it’s Liverpool’s turn again to see their record matched, how fitting that it looks like it’s the closest they will ever get because no doubt the London clubs will be back next year to prove that you can’t win titles or even finish second consistently with a two-man team.
Well at last, Jake at least you recognise his footballing ability and in football forums that is what he should be judged by.
As for the likes of gooner77, what a hypocrite, its ok for Cantona to hurl himself feet first at a fan and you have the audacity to try to justify it…..Moron. SG up to this point is innocent until proven otherwise. How come the fan has had so little to say about it. he probably doesn’t even know who did what. Anyway it was only a scum-bag city fan, so what’s the fuss…
^^^Wow the last part of your comment sums up your pea- brained mentality. Yeah it was only a City fan, so that makes him any less human?
Liam, I didn’t know the FA were in charge of night clubs or bars…why should he get a ban for something that may or may not of happened any where near a football pitch…
OTRed – Since when have you cared about any fans but your own let alone a city fan?, sorry you don’t understand your own double standards, it’s ok for utd fans to dehumanise fans of other clubs, but can’t take it. Oh yeah I forgot it’s a manc thing isn’t it,,,must get on that bandwagon….
Maybe he was playing table top footy at the time eh…