To
be honest, I don't know where to start, what to write. A sense of emptiness
erodes my mind now. There’s sheer sadness mixed with all kinds of weird
emotions; a sense of impending emptiness. It’s hard to imagine Gerrard divorced
from Liverpool just as hard as it was to envisage that second half in Istanbul.
After
hearing the news that he'll be leaving LFC at the end of the season, I had been
thinking about it all day. I was finding it difficult to sip my morning coffee,
have my lunch. I’ll be thinking about it all week. And all month. All the way until the end of the season, and
into the new campaign. Stevie G will dominate thoughts, emotions and opinions
just as he did matches in his prime - deservedly so.
He’s
played the game like a Kop imagines they would - with drive & relentless
motivation that could rescue the most challenging situation and the passion
that made those around him believe the implausible was possible. Get the stuck
in? Tick. Pull off a worldly effort and sin the most important of matches
single handedly ? Tick. Take one for the team? Tick. He gave every inch of himself and then dug
deeper to somehow serve up more. Oh God,
there is only one Steven Gerrard.
I’m
banging around my own head because we’re not just losing a phenomenal player, we’re
losing a phenomenal player who represented everything you wanted him to. By
living his dream, Gerrard has allowed millions like me - regardless of geographical
location or caste or creed, to experience theirs too - through him and with
him. HOPE in our hearts? Yeah, he ensured it was always there. He did things
full tilt as though everything counted on him, and very often it actually did.
Despite
his age and diminishing powers, he’s still the club’s top scorer this season,
he’s still the one everyone turns to when the going gets tough (see the
final group game against Basel in the Champions League). He’s expected to work
his socks off and come up with another in a long line of rescue acts. He’s
earned the right to step away from the centre of everything to the ordinary. We
know he’s not even close to what he once was. He might have read it, heard it,
been consumed by it. The all-action hero has to slow it down. Hit the brakes,
play at his pace. He owes himself that, we have to respect that.
At
34, Gerrard has decided to depart after giving every ounce of himself plus some
to his boyhood club. At 24, and throughout his career, he could have guaranteed
himself an extended honours and trophies list by joining any of football’s
powerhouses. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Chelsea - they all
knocked, and except for a short dalliance with the idea of calling Stamford
Bridge home, he threw away the welcome mat. Don’t forget that. Never forget
that.
Moreover, I’m sure BR and the rest of the transfer committee need to be precise and surgical in their shopping. You just can’t replace him. You just can’t. Regardless of how you interpret his fading impact on the pitch, Gerrard's still the one. I’m sure. Liverpool are losing world class player, an influential personality, on and off the pitch. We are losing leadership. We are losing motivation. We are losing the man who’s aura alone commands the corridors of Melwood and Anfield.
Luis
Suarez was made up playing with him. He put Fernando Torres on another level.
Xabi Alonso? He loves Stevie, him. Thierry Henry wanted to call the man who
“will go to places other players won’t” his teammate. Zinedine Zidane? Oh, he
only referred to the Reds skipper as the best in the world. Xavi, Wayne Rooney,
[insert any name here] - he is one of your favourite player’s favourite
players.
You
can’t and won’t replace Gerrard. But Liverpool have to arm themselves with the
kind of character and quality that can help plug the multiple holes that will
appear when he drives out of Melwood for the final time. And the rest of us?
What do we do? We wonder. We reminisice. We feel the sting. We think about it
all the time. We get emotional. We wish him well. We rinse and repeat.
We
expect the emptiness, but fill up with the archive of awesome he’s offered. We
pick ourselves up and drive forward like he’s so often done. L
