Slippie Me: “Up until the age of eight I could have supported anyone. When I was younger I had all kinds of different kits: Tottenham, Norwich, Real Madrid, Barcelona... I even had a United kit.”
Steven Gerrard: Liverpool captain would have signed summer deal
Steven Gerrard says he would not be leaving Liverpool if the club had offered him a contract last summer.
The Reds captain, 34, was offered a new deal in November but has opted to end his 25-year Anfield stay and is nearing a move to Los Angeles Galaxy.
"If a contract had been put in front of me in pre-season I would have signed it," Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo.
The midfielder says a November chat with manager Brendan Rodgers about reducing his playing time was crucial.
Gerrard, who joined Liverpool's academy at the age of nine, was offered a 12-month extension to his deal that month.
But he had found himself on the bench for a high-profile Champions League fixture at Real Madrid and for the Premier League visit of Stoke City.
Though he says he is "not angry" about the offer, he admits his stance would have been different had a deal been on the table after the 2014 World Cup.
"I'd just retired from England to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool," added Gerrard, who has scored 182 goals in 696 appearances for the club. "I didn't want my club games to be tailored.
"My injury record had been fantastic for the past two and a half years and I had a great season from a personal point of view last season.
"It's all ifs, buts and hindsight now. That period between the summer and the end of November gave me thinking time."
Since being left on the bench in Madrid on 4 November, Gerrard has completed seven of the Reds' 10 Premier League games.
In all, he has contributed nine goals in 27 appearances in a testing season for Liverpool so far but insists his decision to leave has "nothing to do" with recent results.
His former team-mate Jamie Carragher has been one of a number of pundits to question the club's decision to allow a player regarded as one of the best in the club's history to leave.
"It simply came down to the fact that the idea of becoming a squad player didn't excite me or motivate me," added Gerrard, who will earn around £6m over 18 months at LA Galaxy.
"I've never wanted to be a squad player. If I was missing games now, I'd be sitting out even more next season. I knew it would get worse and worse as time went on."
If Gerrard REALLY loved the club he would have left the announcement till the season was over, not to mention all the crap since.
If Gerrard REALLY loved the club he would have left the announcement till the season was over, not to mention all the crap since.
i'm torn, he's a complete cnut but this is bad for liverpool
I think that the rumours of a rift with Rodgers that surfaced a couple of months back are probably true and that he has done this to undermine him.That is Genius....
It is true, I wonder what good it serves other than his own to tell everyone this early? I think it serves him the most so he can have fans crying over his departure for 5 months and feeding his ego, like the above alludes to an ego he shouldn't have being such a one club hero...
[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14jYFCznJf8[/video]
Erm, surely that's a win-win then?:-"
I did hear that the FA Cup final is on Me's birthday, so it is practically written that Liverpool will win.
They will also sing Happy Birthday instead of GHod Save the Queen, and instead of lifting the Cup, Me will blow out the candles on his cake.
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