Steven Gerrard has been greatly disrespected by Fabio Capello! At 30 and closing in on 31, our captain and talisman ought to be considering whether this is the right time to announce his retirement from international football and concentrate his efforts on the Club he loves and that loves him just as much.
In Don Fabio’s mind, Gerrard’s captaincy credentials came third in the pecking order. Once John Terry was caught shagging at the wrong place and with the wrong person, in came Rio Ferdinand who has featured more on the treatment table than on the pitch in recent times. Finally, Gerrard took over the captaincy albeit as Ferdinand’s deputy! With Ferdinand still very much away from a regular presence, news broke out on Sunday that Capello had ‘forgiven’ Terry and that he was now officially re-instated as England captain.
To be completely frank, I could not care less who captains England at this stage. What difference does it make anyways if it’s not one of ‘ours’ wearing the armband?
In 2004 Paul Scholes, 30 at the time announced his retirement from International Football. The battling midfielder has not yet quite been replaced at International level but he resisted calls to return for England. Whatever the motivation of his decision was, it most certainly contributed to prolong his career to this day, when at 36 he still features for Man Utd and is still perhaps the best midfielder in the squad! Last summer, Scholes this would be his last season but due to his mature effectiveness, or perhaps even for sheer grattitude; SAF is urging him to prolong his playing career by another year!
I want to spell this out as bluntly as I possibly can! I feel Steven Gerrard should quit England with immediate effect for obvious reasons the most prominent of which are: to preserve and prolong his career with LFC, to fully justify his massive salary with his presence on the pitch, thus concentrating on taking the Reds back to where they belong possibly winning the PL before he retires in the process. Finally he will reduce the risk of injury given that two time out of three he always came back with a knock from international duty.
What is your view on this? Do you think Steven Gerrard should quit International Football and concentrate exclusively on Liverpool Football Club?