[lfc-news] Skipper leads way in battle against transfer vultures - Echo

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Liverpool Echo, 8 Dec 2004
Skipper leads way in battle against transfer vultures
By Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

A CASH-STRAPPED club will fight to avoid a multi-million pound injection
into the accounts this evening.

A west London consortium is desperate to plough £30m into Liverpool
Football Club in exchange for a certain number eight.

Worried fans should be comforted by the knowledge this is one particular
cash investment Steven Gerrard himself is trying to render unnecessary.

Ever since the skipper rejected Chelsea last summer, Liverpool's opponents
have tried to recreate the circumstances which forced him to consider leaving.

Tonight they sense an ideal opportunity.

Liverpool failing to overcome Olympiakos will make Gerrard's departure for
Stamford Bridge or Highbury inevitable, according to common wisdom.

The skipper's craving for Champions League is cited as a reason why,
somewhat overlooking the fact he's cup-tied and couldn't play in Europe for
any other club this season.

While not lacking validity, the scare-mongering regarding Gerrard's future
relies on the presumption Liverpool won't make significant improvements
before the summer.

Six months before the end of the season, on the day of a game which could
transform the mood of the club, supporters are being asked to consider the
dire consequences of a poor campaign.

Since Liverpool could be celebrating reaching the later stages of the
Champions League in a few hours, this seems a tad premature.

The case supporting an imminent Gerrard transfer infers Liverpool will lose
to Olympiakos, presenting a worst case scenario where the end of the
skipper's tether is nigh.

Even his charitable words of sympathy for David Moores to the ECHO last
Friday - made as a friend to a friend in need rather than a demand for the
chairman to stay in charge for the next ten years - have been mischievously
misinterpreted as some kind of ultimatum.

Clearly a Liverpool failure tonight won't just be damaging for financial
reasons, it will expose the club to more intense stalking from Chelsea,
those close to Chelsea, and those who have nothing to do with Chelsea but
are desperate for Liverpool to lose their best player.

Rather than slice their brains with concerns about the future, Liverpool
supporters know well enough to judge Gerrard on the present.

For as long as he's here, he should be cherished. And the contribution he's
making to ensure success and a stay well beyond this season must not be
taken for granted.

These are not the performances of a player with his mind elsewhere. His
form hits new peaks with every game, and Chelsea-lovers ignore at their
peril the fact that he, as much as anyone else in red tonight, will be
doing his best to inspire Liverpool to the last 16.

It must be matter of grave disappointment for the Londoners to see Gerrard
fighting so hard to ensure he stays.

"This game isn't about Steven Gerrard, or January, or the summer, it's
about Liverpool Football Club," said Gerrard yesterday, when the 'Chelsea'
question was first posed.

"It's not about my future at Anfield. I want to play Champions League
football. I stated that at the beginning of the season and I have done for
several years. I won the UEFA Cup and I respect it, but it's second best to
the Champions League. As a player and as a club, we don't want second best."

Gerrard later went further. "If I am successful at this club I won't have
to be looking anywhere else, but if things aren't looking good then I will
have to think again in the summer," he said..

Did anyone think the situation was any different? "It's not win or bust
tonight, but it's a massive game for me, personally, and everyone
associated with Liverpool," added Gerrard..

"Everyone needs to be on their game. You can expect a good performance.
I've never seen the boys so excited about a match before. This club needs
to be in the Champions League. This is the competition to be in.

"Financially it's important, but it's where the boys want to be.

"We won't be underestimating Olympiakos. We'll show them respect, but we've
got to concentrate on ourselves.

"A lot of people were down when we had the injuries. We could either sink
or swim, and I think we've been swimming along very nicely. Now we have
some new faces back. Things are looking good.

"Unfortunately, Didi Hamann is out so maybe I'll have play a more
disciplined role, but I can guarantee I'll be up for this one.

"The fans understand we don't need to win it in the first 15 minutes. The
fans have their part to play, but I know they'll make as much as noise as
they can."


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