Gerrard: No hard feelings

Departing Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard insists he is not pointing the finger but the revelation he would have signed a new contract last summer leaves the Reds’ hierarchy with questions to answer.

The midfielder, who turns 35 in May, will leave the club he has been associated with since he was eight at the end of the season after turning down a new deal.

That offer was made in November but had it come three months earlier the Reds would still be looking forward to another season with their inspirational captain.

However, the delay in any offer – combined with boss Brendan Rodgers’ decision to manage Gerrard’s game-time – resulted in the player deciding to sever what seemed like an unbreakable bond and head for Major League Soccer, where it seems likely he will sign for LA Galaxy.

“If a contract had been put in front of me in pre-season I would have signed it,” he told the Liverpool Echo.

“I’d just retired from England to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool. 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.

“There’s no blame and I’m not angry about it. There are other people in the squad and the club had other things to worry about.

“There is no finger pointing from me towards the manager or anyone else at the club.”

Rodgers left Gerrard on the bench for Liverpool’s Champions League match against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and there followed further discussions about how he would be used for the remainder of the season and beyond.

Gerrard felt he still had enough in him to play more and so looked for a new challenge.

“I’ve got to be honest, that chat with Brendan came earlier than I was expecting,” he added.

“It was about a month before that he first mentioned to me about managing my game time.

“We had another chat on the subject recently – 10 days to two weeks ago.

“It was tough but I understood. It’s been very amicable. Everyone knows how much I rate Brendan. Our relationship is very good.

“There hasn’t been a cross word between us. Brendan has been fantastic for me.

“I’ve always worked hard all week to prepare and make sure my performance is right come the weekend.

“When it gets to the stage where you don’t know if you’re going to be starting or not it becomes different.

“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.”