England Retirement May Save Gerrard’s Liverpool Career

Gerrard’s disappointment with England could be cancelled out by success with Liverpool

The latest member of England’s ‘Golden Generation’ has fallen, but this one may have the biggest impact yet.

Steven Gerrard, Liverpool and England captain, has retired.

But only from international football.

Therefore it is fantastic news for Liverpool and everyone connected with the club, even if many are saddened at the way Gerrard’s England career ended. A poor World Cup by his high standards coincided with a bitterly disappointing tournament for England as a whole, knocked out after only two group matches played.

After 114 caps and representing England at six major tournaments, including three World Cups, the 34 year old has decided to commit to his boyhood club instead of trying to balance a Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and Liverpool’s return to the Champions League.

Unfortunately, he remains only one cap behind David Beckham to equal the outfield record for England, but participating in qualifiers for a tournament he was unlikely to play in at the tender age of 36 made little sense.

England and Roy Hodgson have already begun to look towards the future, shown through some of the names in the 2014 World Cup squad. The inclusion of Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw demonstrated the intentions of Hodgson to draft in the next generation and provide them with valuable World Cup experience. After all, it was a tournament where no one expected England to win for once, so the pressure was off for Roy.

That will now have to continue and be accelerated for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Whilst an experienced leader to look up to would be preferable, the young guns of England’s squad need to grow up themselves and take responsibility in the same manner that they perform at club level.

Furthermore, if they do require a helping hand, the likes of Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart will be available. The Manchester duo are the two frontrunners in the race for the England captaincy.

Hodgson will also have to look for a defensive midfielder to replace Gerrard from the next generation, with a small pool to chose from. He will hope that Jack Rodwell can revitalise his career, whether at Manchester City or elsewhere, and demonstrate the skill, character and personality that he showed in his early years at Everton.

However, Gerrard’s retirement means that Liverpool will be seeing more of this over the next few years

For Gerrard, he will now just have one focus for the rest of his career. His club. There have already been hints that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is set to use Gerrard more sparingly this season, especially if another central midfielder arrives, such as Juventus’ Arturo Vidal.

Nevertheless, Gerrard is still a fundamental cornerstone for Liverpool this season and is arguably the best player at the club, in the wake of Luis Suarez’s departure to Barcelona.

There is no doubt that he will play in the important Premier League and Champions League, given his experience in Europe’s elite competition that is severely lacking in the squad.

He may go through periods of two games a week, or even more if he is needed for other cup competitions. Consequently, not having to worry about international football is a major plus when it comes to managing a 34 year old body. There will be no travel or excess of energy that does not go towards Liverpool’s progress this seaaon.

One of the great achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson during his time at bitter rivals Manchester United was that he managed to get many key players to retire early so that they would last longer at Old Trafford. Subsequently, Ferguson could wait longer before having to replace his trusted lieutenants.

For example, Paul Scholes retired before the age of 30 in 2004, while Ryan Giggs retired from Wales in 2007, allowing him to continue at club level for seven more years.

Gerrard may be 34 now, but stepping aside from England duty, whilst sad, was ultimately the right decision and will help prolong his career until at least 2016. Who knows, it might even buy him that extra season needed for Liverpool’s legendary skipper to finally lead his boyhood club to Premier League title glory!