Apologies if already posted, nice read....
LIVERPOOL’S SANCTIMONIOUS HYPOCRISY OVER STERLING TO CITY IS LAUGHABLE
by Rob Pollard
12 JUL 2015 27
With Raheem Sterling’s move to Manchester City edging closer to completion, Liverpool, their supporters and the gang of ex-players who have queued up to castigate him should take a long, hard look at themselves and refresh the collective short-term memory…
It’s been this summer’s most protracted Premier League transfer. Raheem Sterling is wanted by Manchester City. He’s made it perfectly clear he wants to leave Liverpool. City have failed with two sizeable bids but are expected to return with an increased offer soon. The sense of inevitability that he will end up at the Etihad has made it one of the one most boring transfer sagas in recent history, played out to a chorus of sanctimony from some of Liverpool’s most decorated stars.
In an interview with the BBC back in April, Sterling announced he had rejected Liverpool’s offer of a new contract believed to be worth £100,000 per week, a deal Brendan Rodgers had described as “incredible”. Sterling claimed the decision was not based on money but rather a desire to win trophies. The interview was not authorised by Liverpool and, quite rightly, the club were upset. It was a poor decision guided by his agent, Aidy Ward, and his stock with the Liverpool fans, who heckled him at the club’s kit launch a few weeks later, tumbled in an instant.
But what has followed has been a systematic dismantling of a young man’s reputation, with hypocrisy in full flow on Merseyside. The supporters who once agreed with Rodgers’ assertion that he was the best young player in Europe, suddenly believed he was second-rate with an inflated view of his own ability. Jordon Ibe is a more talented player – the future of the football club – and Sterling can rot in the reserves. What’s more, the idea he would want to move to a club with a better chance of success is seen as scandalous, an opinion they certainly weren’t as quick to voice when the 15-year-old Sterling left Queens Park Rangers to join them back in 2010, or, indeed, last summer when Rodgers raided Southampton for three of their biggest names. “It’s just the way it works,” said Rodgers when stripping Ronald Koeman of his assets 12 months ago. Indeed it is, Brendan.
Their army of high-profile ex-players have also been on co-ordinated attack. Jamie Carragher weighed in early doors. “For a 20-year-old and his agent to be taking on Liverpool FC in the public domain is a disgrace,” said Carragher, before claiming Liverpool’s run to the FA Cup semi-final, where they were beaten by a distinctly average Aston Villa side, was definitive evidence they were capable of quenching Sterling’s thirst for silverware.
John Barnes rather ham-fistedly suggested Sterling had not yet achieved anything and therefore should remain at Liverpool (talk about missing the point), and Phil Thompson said he has “far too high opinion of himself.” You couldn’t make it up.
Steven Gerrard also wanted to leave the club in 2005. “Steven has told us he will not accept our offer of an improved and extended contract because he wants to leave,” read a Liverpool club statement at the time. This, though, has been largely airbrushed out of history. Gerrard eventually stayed and is seen as emblematic of everything good about Liverpool: a loyal, one-club man who just “gets” what the club are all about. Sterling, a Londoner with Jamaican roots, is inexplicably expected to follow the same path.
His decision this week to not turn up for training in order to force the move has seen the vitriol increase, with Gerrard himself saying “I’m not happy with all that carry-on. You don’t have to throw in illness or refuse to go on tour.” Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to criticize him further, with some suggesting they want to see him confined to the reserves for two years whilst his contract runs down. Contrast that with the treatment given to Marcos Rojo and Gareth Bale, who both engaged in the same kind of tactics when they wanted to switch to Manchester United and Real Madrid, respectively, and it becomes clear Sterling has been given a raw deal.
Liverpool are a club obsessed with the past. Their huge success in the 70s and 80s means their supporters and ex-pros have struggled to come to terms with their new status as underachievers. They see themselves as a huge club in the mix for silverware when the reality is somewhat different. Sterling sees things differently and is therefore castigated and publicly tried.
If he does sign – which now looks certain – City will be getting a hugely talented 20-year-old who has shown already in his short career he is capable of playing for a team challenging regularly for honours. He’s young, has pace to burn, is home-grown and displays bravery every time he steps on to the pitch, always wanting the ball in a bid to try and create. He firmly ticks a number of much-needed boxes for Manuel Pellegrini. His decision-making is lacking and his finishing needs work, but City know there are few players his age in world football who have the same level of potential.
Deep down, Liverpool know they are losing a valuable asset. It’s just the way it works, though.
