5 months ago
106 
Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images
Say what you will for Steven Gerrard as a manager and of his decision to join the Saudi Pro League, at least he understood the assignment.
It’s fair to say that Steven Gerrard understood the assignment. Head to the Saudi Pro League, do the bare minimum, keep your head down while those on the outside criticize your move, and get paid to be the smiling face of sportswashing.
For a man who had seen his efforts to take the fast-track to managerial success implode spectacularly with Aston Villa and didn’t appear to have the drive or desire to buckle down and rebuild his image for another go at the highest levels, semi-retirement and a payday beckoned. He understood the assignment.
Jordan Henderson did not understand the assignment. He thought he could be the man who had it all, that he could take the Suadi Pro League payday while keeping his England place and his reputation as a socially conscious advocate and ally.
The man who during Covid won plaudits for leading the charge amongst athletes to back England’s publicly funded National Health Service headed to Saudi Arabia while deferring his wages for the back half of 2023 to avoid paying taxes in England—the taxes that fund the NHS—on his payday. And then he seemed surprised at the backlash.
The move, then, didn’t even work out. He abandoned Saudi and Al-Ettifaq manager Steven Gerrard in January, just as he was set to start getting paid. He joined an Ajax side in chaos. Lost his England place. Gerrard was recently asked to speak about it.
“I respected his decision [to leave] because I love him as a guy,” said Gerrard. “I love him as a player and have nothing but respect for him. But I was disappointed. Any manager who loses his captain during the season it’s not ideal and I told Jordan that.
“But if someone is not settled. If someone has some family things that are affecting him. If someone has got different outside goals or opportunities, like England for example, then I have to respect that and understand it. And I do. But was I disappointed? Of course I was.”
“He’s a big boy. If I had convinced him to stay and he felt it was the wrong decision then I didn’t want to be that person who was told ‘why did you convince me to stay?’ It had to be Jordan’s decision. He needed to go through his own processes. The advice I gave to Jordan was ‘do what’s right for your family.’”
Over the last five seasons, Ettifaq have finished eighth, fifth, 11th, seventh, and—under Gerrard last season—sixth. Their average home attendance last season was around 7,000, less than half their stadium’s capacity. A mid-season losing streak would likely have seen Gerrard sacked in a European league.
All of which is to say it’s hard to point to anything tangible from a football point of view that they’ve gained by having Gerrard as their manager and spending significantly on talent like Henderson—or the likes of Gini Wijnaldum, Moussa Dembele, and Demarai Gray.
Instead, Gerrard was given a mid-season raise and extension. Because he understands the assignment. He’s not there to develop as a manager and compete for trophies. He’s there because he’s Steven Gerrard and there’s sportswashing to be done.
