STEVEN GERRARD IS WRITE CHOICE
He is the outstanding player in a great Liverpool team
WITH barely two weeks' notice, Kenny Dalglish was asked if he would come and pay tribute to Steven Gerrard when the Liverpool captain receives his Footballer of the Year Award.
Dalglish - a two-time recipient of the accolade - is, as you would imagine, still very much a man in demand. But nothing was going to stop him being there for Gerrard's big night.
And that is a measure of the esteem in which football holds Gerrard. It is why he is the worthiest of winners.
Gerrard himself said he was a 'little bit surprised' that football writers had chosen him. That almost acted as an invitation for his suitability to be questioned.
Debate is fine. But to undermine this honour is to to do a grievous disservice to a player who, for a decade, has symbolised the strength, power and vibrancy of the Premier League. The League in whose glory we all like to bask.
The laziest argument being advanced against Gerrard's selection is that Liverpool will end the season without a trophy.
Well, the award is for an individual not a team. By that criterion, an oustanding player in a good team could never be honoured but a good player in an outstanding team could be.
By that criterion, one of the game's acknowledged all-time greats, Tom Finney - no winners' medals but 16 years of loyalty to Preston North End - would never have been recognised.
Nor would Stanley Matthews, the first Footballer of the Year in 1948, five years before collecting his only winners' medal in the FA Cup.
The notion that playing a decisive part in Premier League success should be the main factor in deciding the destiny of an award is just another example of the obsession with glamour.
You could actually make compelling cases for players who have contributed disproportionately to their team's over-achievement beneath the Big Four.
Everton's Tim Cahill, for example. Stoke City's Abdoulaye Faye. Even the two scribes who proposed Fulham's Brede Hangeland had solid reasoning.
And, of course, many big-name players had persuasive claims. Frank Lampard has been as monotonously magnificent as ever, Wayne Rooney exhilarating for England and United, Cristiano Ronaldo suffering only by comparison to truly mind-boggling previous seasons.
But no-one can begrudge Gerrard this award at this time of his career. Because although Rafa Benitez has assembled a squad that is now capable of challenging United on a regular basis, Gerrard is still the man a club turns to, a man an entire community turns to.
And that is some burden of responsibility. Through his brief dalliance with Chelsea, Gerrard was once tempted to put individual before team. He resisted. And has never been tempted again.
The club is everything to him and no doubt he will share this award with his team-mates and staff. But this is his honour alone. And no right-minded football fan should begrudge him it.
Now get the News of World print edition for more from Andy Dunn
This article has 8 comments
typical manc tiprats as you know stevi g is the one true sporting great britain has produced in a long long time well since kenny dalglish actually
By mickle. Posted June 14 2009 at 10:52 PM.
Has Steven Gerrard got any medals from playing football ?? x x x x x
By jemma. Posted June 2 2009 at 9:42 AM.
i agree with wulfman1 liverpool dont have stregnth in depth. i think liverpool should spend money on developing youth rather than paying for a quick fix only then can we challenge on a regular basis
By stuart. Posted May 24 2009 at 11:26 AM.
jealous man u fans reading an article on a liverpool player!!! wow the world has changed
By john. Posted May 23 2009 at 11:00 PM.
Hmmm Man United just won the league and you can do is write an article on Gerrard who hasnt scored as much as Ronaldo lol who plays for a team who again has won nothing, now if the media dont have there favourites or blatant dislike/jealousy of a certain club, them im Sir Alex Ferguson....
By Ash. Posted May 17 2009 at 12:20 PM.
Liverpool a 'great team'????
The current United team aren't a great team and they are champions. The only reason liverpool have got as close is that United have been average this year. The United defence is solid but will get better with players getting more experience/players coming back such as Wes Brown and Gary Neville or with a solid signing or two. The United midfield would have been dominated by ANY United midfield of the last 17 years. If you were to put the best United team since 1968 i.e. the 1994 double team against the current 1st XI the 1994 team would bully them and 'beat them up' and win 70% of the time. Kanchelskis-Keane-Ince-Giggs would have dominated Ronaldo-Carrick-Fletcher/scholes/Anderson/Hargreaves-Nani/Giggs. And thats where the majority of football matches are won.
By Stephen Jordan, Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:32 AM.
Yes, Stevie G is streets ahead and deserves every accolade, but irrespective of results this season, this is sadly still not a great team. There are too many average and suspect players that SG/Torres and Jamie C have to carry.
Arbeloa, Aurelio, Dossena, Lucas, (my God), Babel, and until recently Ben Ayoun, don't match ManU's strength in depth. That is why they lost the title with the run of poor results around the Christmas period and just couldn't recover. Benitez' hare- brained concept of "Zone defence" is deranged to put it mildly, and has led to the loss of stupid goals at critical times.
I love LFC, but it remains an uphill effort while these inadequacies are not addressed and Stevie G and the other guys will continue to break their b**ls every game until it's sorted out.
By wulfman1. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:19 AM.
"Dalglish - a two-time recipient of the accolade - is, as you would imagine, still very much a man in demand. "
Yep, playing golf all day can wear you out.
By tracey. Posted May 17 2009 at 4:49 AM.