Steve Nicol had little sympathy for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain following the midfielder’s recent comments about the manner of his departure from Liverpool in the summer.
In an interview with The Athletic, the 30-year-old outlined how he only learned of the Reds’ plans to let him leave at the end of his contract when someone told him that the club would be publishing a statement to that effect.
The now-Besiktas player admitted to being ‘surprised’ at the manner in which he found out that his time at Anfield was coming to an end after six years, but that cut little ice with Nicol.
Speaking on ESPN FC, the 61-year-old said: “You’ve got to know where you stand yourself. Is he really telling us that it came as such a shock that he’s leaving? As a player, if you don’t understand where you are in the pecking order at the club, then you’re in the wrong place.
“By the way, if you don’t know, go and ask. Don’t sit all meek and mild and not say a word and then six months, 12 months later all of a sudden you start talking about it.
“Would it be ideal for somebody to come to you every now and again and let you know how things are, ‘where do you stand, OK, things are going great, well done, we think you’re doing a great job’? That’s not how the game works.”
When asked about his own experiences of leaving clubs, Nicol replied: “I knew. I knew my time was up. You know. You should know. If you’ve got anything about you, you should know when your time up.
“You don’t need somebody to come around and put their arm around you and go ‘oh, thanks very much for all you’ve done’. It’s a professional business. It’s a top business, and you’ve got to know where you stand. You shouldn’t be expecting [the manager] to come and give you a cuddle.”
Nicol has a point in saying that football at the highest level is a cut-throat business, with no room for sentiment when it comes to deciding on players’ contracts.
However, it’s still poor form that Ox wasn’t given the courtesy of being informed of such a major decision until he was told so curtly just prior to the statement going out. Let’s not forget that he more than played his part in a hugely successful and memorable era for the club under Jurgen Klopp.
You can view Nicol’s comments below (from 2:51), via ESPN FC on YouTube: