Steven Gerrard’s Villa sacking leaves him further from Liverpool destiny than ever

SACKED: Steven Gerrard will take his dismissal badly. He is an intense, deep individual and unlikely to see silver linings from being so unceremoniously dispensed with. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire

The 2018 documentary charting Steven Gerrard’s routinely astonishing life and times had sadness as a backdrop. Gerrard was – and presumably still is – scarred by events of April 2014, when that slip against Chelsea turned the Premier League title tide against his beloved Liverpool. “There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t think about what if that didn’t happen,” Gerrard said. One got the impression lows lingered for far longer than epic highs.

We were entitled to believe there would be redemption. Gerrard was in the midst of restoring Rangers’ reputation from the manager’s office. His route looked clear: from Glasgow back to Anfield, possibly via a major club in England. Gerrard’s profile as a player meant he would never need to pitch particularly hard for jobs. A hero’s journey back to Liverpool looked straightforward.