by Leonmc0708 » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:05 am
I have sat and watched in horror, amazement, anger, hurt and sometimes total helplessness over the last twelve months as this whole sad tale has unfolded.
Many times I have felt the urge to pen some words to put those feelings into some kind of understandable english. At times I have succeded, but more often than not the red mist has descended and I have had a go at Stevie, the club, other fans and members of this forum.
Only today, once the request we seemed to be dreading was finally made public I first posted a rant about the way it was done, and tried to follow the herd in looking for a reason, or more to the point a person or persons to blame for the sorry affair.
I could write about how it has felt like those last few awkward months of a relationship that is failing. You know like when you live with a woman, and share possesions, but the love has gone, the spark is missing. You kind of give it more time, out of a sense of duty, because it will be difficult to spilt up or because you hope the spark will return.
No matter how much your head tells you a clean break sooner rather than later is the answer, you heart forces you into one last hurrah, just like this last season was Gerrads final attempt to patch up an already burnt out relationship.
Many fans fell out of love with Gerrard last season, when the Chelsea story first reared its ugly head. We just felt it necessary to try and hide the rift, in the hope one day the love would return, sadly it never truly did.
I could write about how I was flaberghasted by his comments pre Olympiakos, and the baggage that goes with him following every loss. I will tell you one thing I will not miss though is the speculation after every defeat or dodgy result about will he stay and how much Chelsea will pay him.
On the other hand, I could write about how betrayed we feel. I spoke to one of the boys today, and recalled a time when at the tender age of 9 or 10, we would bunk onto the bowling green on the local park to play on a "proper" pitch. We would take turns of piece at being the captain of Liverpool, and would imagine lifting the European Cup, the league and more gloriously (at the time, but alas no more) the FA Cup.
If someone would have told us there and then that in fifteen years time, we would live the dream, and be captain of the club we adored, having just returned from a glorious European adventure when we placed LFC at the top table. A table where lumanaries such as AC Milan, Ajax and Real Madrid have the only other reserved places and be offered £100k per week for the pleasure, we would have died and gone to heaven.
I could bay for the blood of his agents, the dreaded SFX who have been villanised throug hthe whole affair. They have turned his head and engineered a move to make money. Alas this too is not true. At 25, Steven is capable of making his own mind up, and if he had wanted to follow my dreams and captain the reds, he would have signed an extension many moons ago.
I could ask how can a man cut from the same scouse cloth, who asked us "How can I leave after a night like that, and all the nights we have had this season?", and who promised to show us the "real" Steven Gerrard next season could turn his back on all tose dreams.
But I wont.
In years to come, the 5th of July will hold no more significance in the hearts and minds of Liverpool supporters across the globe than any other dates in the calander.
Mention the 25th of May and it is a different matter, but just like the date Kevin Keegan announced his decision to chase the golden goose in Germany pales into signifcance against the dates he scored many wonderful goals, and the same way that the day Michael Owen announced his decision to join Real Madrid is not remembered in the same fondness as the date he "stole" the FA Cup from Arsenal, the 5th of July is just another day.
Liverpool Football Club will be here long after Steven Gerrard and I have passed onto the big football stadium in the sky to catch a game with Shankly, Crazy Horse and Uncle Bob.
Steven Gerrard leaves, to whoever and whereever he decides with my best wishes. He has given me personally, and I am sure many reading this some magical times. In truth some of my greatest and more vivid memories of following my reds from recent years have involved him. The goal at Anfield against Manchester United, the Olympiakos goal, Xabis goal he set up aginst the Gooners, the Boro goal and many many more leave me with a warm glow and a heavy heart.
Good Luck Steven.
Thanks for the memories.
JUSTICE FOR THE 96