Gerrard’s future proves unwelcome distraction to Reds

It is probably Liverpool’s poor form that has fast-tracked any discussion of Steven Gerrard’s future to Priority One all of a sudden.

If the team were playing the same thrilling football as last season, nobody would be mentioning it. Even in the midst of this calamitous drop in quality only his worst enemy can pretend that Gerrard is the team’s biggest concern.

And he is still only 34: he’s not exactly H Rider Haggard’s ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’ though it often feels that way. However, if the subject of a new or extended contract is going to be bandied about every few weeks as and when it suits him, it’s practically crying out for the matter to be brought to a swift, possibly even brutal, conclusion.

It’s a troublesome coincidence that Liverpool’s workload has almost doubled at the same time their talisman for longer than a decade is reaching the end of his career. The thorny issue of a new contract was brought into public view by the player himself weeks ago, a day before a tricky and ultimately fruitless trip to Newcastle.

Had any other player done that, they’d have hung drawn and quartered, but this was Gerrard and certain rules (even unspoken ones) are deemed not to apply to the captain. The basic tone of the local newspaper’s response was “give him what he wants, he’s earned it” but that certainly wasn’t the universal view from the terraces and is becoming ever clearer that it is not the club’s view either.

Dropped to the bench for Real Madrid, Gerrard had to watch as his replacements made a plucky attempt to keep Ronaldo and co within equalising distance. The irony was that as soon as Rodgers chased the game and made attacking substitutions, including bringing on Gerrard, any slim chance of a draw seemed to vanish altogether.

Rodgers brought all of the so-called “flops” back for the Chelsea game afterwards and though it was another close-run thing, the Londoners were nearly always in control.

After the international break, Liverpool lost dismally to Crystal Palace. Regrettably, Gerrard was one of the poorest players on view. Many remarked at the time that it was seniority which kept him on the pitch while Joe Allen was ignominiously hauled off.

So that now meant a change of tactics, Gerrard pushed further forward against Ludogorets. That didn’t really work either, and so he was benched again for the visit of Stoke: the media’s cue for another freakout.

Personally I would say that one game on the bench every month is not such a disgrace for a player of his age. Despite the international break, Liverpool’s November workload was six matches with a further eight to come in December. It stands to reason Gerrard can’t play every single game but when you’ve been the epicentre for so long, the sidelines seem a dark, chilling place and reason can vanish.

Rodgers has hit the diplomacy button and maintains Gerrard will continue to be a key player. When you’re looking for some creativity from the drones like Lucas, Allen and Henderson, small wonder you don’t want to close off all avenues just yet.

But what was £25 million splashed out on Adam Lallana for? He’s spent nearly all his time on the wing and it has seemed a gigantic waste, in every sense.

The role Gerrard was given last season always had a touch of the comical about it. Rodgers’ idea of protecting his defence was to put just in front of them a man who is the club’s sixth most prolific goalscorer ever. With Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho and Sterling all buzzing up front, the ‘small’ matter of conceding twos and threes was no problem when you could score five or six yourself.

Times have sure changed. Gerrard’s last chance of a title medal fell, literally, at the final hurdle and with such a poor start to this campaign, it seems almost certain that he will join Anfield greats like Hyypia, Fowler and Carragher in never achieving the one thing that’s always mattered most to the club.

That’s going to sting, and perhaps it’s selfless to want to keep going and right that wrong. The practical and rational judgments must be left to others.

This happened to my dad’s hero, Billy Liddell. He too was a one-club man and it must have hurt after years of trying to drag the club from off the floor — like Gerrard, often single-handedly, it seemed — only to be told by Bill Shankly that that task would now fall to other, younger men. Lesser men undoubtedly, but ones with the merciless advantage of youth.

If it should be of any consolation to Steven, my dad once walked past his idol before a night game in 1990. I was with him when it happened and I swear his knees buckled under him. This was 30 years after Liddell had last played don’t forget, and he was still clearly worshipped fully.

That will happen to Gerrard too, for decades to come. Perhaps other, inferior players will finally manage to lift THAT trophy at Anfield again. The job that he’s done over the years is never going to be forgotten.

This could all of course be extremely premature. A few wins and maybe even a winning goal or two might win him that contract and Rodgers may yet hit on the winning formula that turns this unholy mess around.

Starting tonight?

* Steven Kelly writes a weekly Terrace Talk column for the Irish Examiner