Remember Being: Liverpool?
The toe-curling documentary released at the beginning of the Brendan Rodgers’ era that was so reminiscent of The Office it doesn’t bear thinking about anymore!
In fairness to the Northern Irishman, it was pushed on him as he agreed to take over and we think he was stitched up a little in regards to the portrayal of him.
James Pearce has written a lengthy piece in The Athletic today which discusses the infamous TV show and its most famous scene, the Raheem Sterling and Rodgers fallout.
In it, Rodgers accuses Sterling of sarcastically saying ‘Steady’ during a drill, but we never got to hear what the the teenager claimed he’d actually said because Rodgers shot him down.
Ryan Mclaughlin, a former Academy left-back who was present, has explained to Pearce what went down:
“Raheem was already a big name and everyone knew he was destined for great things. Brendan thought Raheem answered him back and didn’t want to be seen as a pushover. I don’t think he needed to do that to get our respect as he had it already.
“It maybe gave some people the wrong impression about Raheem because he’s such a nice fella, so down to earth. Raheem was adamant he had said ‘he stepped on my toe’ after feeling like he should have had a free-kick, but Brendan heard it as him saying ‘steady’.
“If you got the better of a senior player in those sessions they would look to put you in your place. Raheem used to get kicked a lot because he was so quick. It was only when training stopped that day that we realised there was an issue.”
We always thought Sterling was probably telling the truth and that Rodgers was trying to stamp his authority on the group – although we’re not sure how five words can be interpreted as ‘steady’!
It’s a possibility, in fairness.