For instance, he mentions how another big character at the club, Pepe Reina, spoke of his surprise that neither player spoke out in the press or used their huge sway over the club’s support to voice any damnation from inside the club; damnation that would’ve been a huge boon for the campaigning legions of Reds fans before and after practically every home game. Gerrard goes on to say:
“When I’m down with England I hear stories about what big players have said at their clubs, but when me and Jamie speak we’re worried people might say, ‘Does he think he’s bigger than Liverpool?’ So it was a horrible situation as I wanted to come out and use my status to help but I was terrified of it backfiring.”
Given Gerrard’s status and the near miracles he’d been a part of (and in many cases, single-handedly pulled off) up to this point – and not to mention the pretty clear way the entirety of the clubs’ supporters felt – this would appear to be a fairly lame duck of an excuse from the captain. He was ‘terrified of it backfiring’, if he opted to speak out against Hicks and Gillett, but in his heart of hearts, he must have known that he was in good company, had he done. After all, Reina himself and former team mate, Fernando Torres had spoken out a number of times regarding what they felt was a lack of funding for the squad and support of the manager’s plans. Both players gained a huge amount of respect for their willingness to stand up and speak out. Much like their former manager, they knew that their voices would add to the validity of their supporter’s fears so they piped up in the national press; something neither Gerrard or Carragher ever did.
So with this in mind, you have to wonder whether – given these interview excerpts from Brian Reade’s new book – Gerrard and Carragher had a different agenda in mind, when refusing to go public with their concerns over the former owners. If they didn’t, then the only other explanation is that they simply bottled it. They were too concerned with protecting themselves and retaining their own standing and position at the club to back the manager, the fans, and more importantly, the club they both claim to love so much.
I have yet to read Brian’s book – and I certainly will – but I can only hope that, as usual, he genuinely gets to the heart of the matter and exposes things which we’ve believed all along and the truth about what went on behind the scenes at the club during those few horrible years. Or at the very least, simply lays all the facts out for us to decide. If he doesn’t, then this book will sadly look like nothing more than a vehicle for justifying certain Liverpool ‘greats’ deafening silence.
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Carragher seemed to be a dissenter as far as the manager was concerned but not so much about the owners.
As soon as Rafa left he was in the press talking about how the club lost respect by approaching other clubs for players tho he said nothing whe we had actually ben charged for tapping up marcus babbel in the late 90s.
He was very supportive of the appointmentment of hodgson over kenny so much that he was praising every action taken under him like the signing of joe cole and deifying to be some god among fans including his own son.
He was then rewarded with a new deal by purslow and became the last player to gain one under hicks and gillette something that was said to have created discord between purslow and the new owners leading to him leaving his post early.
Contrast this with how he he put himself in a corner and has hardly spoken of his suport for keny
brian reade did liverpool no favours in writing this book, bringing up again all the the things that harmed the club – to show his disgust at er, how much they harmed the club !, brian is a great liverpudlian but he is also a jounalist, he has an anti royalist republican bias (i dont like most of them either)this is rooted in his irish background, which is fine, if he would only admit this is the reason for it. ps i like brian reade and like him i will be anywhere but watching the royal wedding.
as a liverpool fan brian reade, is ok his poltics dont intrest me. i have diffrent views to him and iam too from liverpool my mums irish too.i dont like royals either its a waste of money and belongs in the depths of time, but footballwise reade is spot on he tells it how it is the way it should be told. i have a lot of time for him the old owners were the worst thing that has happend to liverpoolfc,other than giving roy hodgson the job over kenny. i will be buying his book it will be a great read…
Football, although entertaining and creating passion among fans, is still a job. Torres and Reina hardly came out and said the owners were incompetent. They said the first team needed investment. Carra echoed those sentiments many times, or, the media just rehashed the same stories repeatedly. live4liverpool are great at rehashing someone elses story!
Put it this way, do you rant about your boss in the press? not your immediate line manager, but the man that pays your wages? No because its unproffessional. The extracts i’ve read so far of Reades book are fantastic and i cant wait to give it a read(e)!
Gerrard was a great player but for me he is not captain material and most of all not a consistent leader of men. His lack of confidence and constant uncertanty in general, wheather in body language or mentally is his major flaw. I wasn’t really surprised to hear about his actions in that situation.
Hello David.
First reply to one of your articles if you dont mind !
Imvho they cant win. Damned if they do, damned if they dont. And on top of that the noose of the ‘Liverpool Way’.
Its that ‘Liverpool Way thing’ that just cant be underestimated enough. Its easy to round on C+G, but there were other legends employed by LFC who never spoke out at the time. Im talking of the King himself and even Sami Hypia, just to pick two of my head. Two men who knew and understood the ‘Liverpool Way'(Maybe unlike the spanish lads)
Be honest, would you fancy being forced away from your home and even your country ?? Because that was the reality they faced had they launched into the yanks. They had more to lose than the spanish lads again.
Hindsight is the greatest thing in the world. ‘Probably’ they should have spoken out. But I wouldnt want that position. Its a tough call. Much tougher than your article suggests.
Take it easy mate.
Hey Chris,
I can see your point, that it was possibly more difficult for them to voice their opinions and I’m not saying they should’ve launched into the Americans full on. But piping up, even in support of the fan protests, wouldn’t have done any harm. The foreigners that did speak up weren’t forced out, and Benitez was only pushed out after a sustained campaign (and a very public and vicious one) with the Americans; the final nail in his coffin was simply that he’d had a poor season so they even felt the need to wait until he’d messed up a bit in the fans eyes. Even then, they had to make it seem slightly ‘mutual’.
I just don’t think they’d have done themselves any harm (and yes, admittedly, they have to do a lot in my eyes these days to do right) if they’d appeared to be on the side of the majority.
Think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this one!