I Respected Henderson’s Decision To Quit Al-Ettifaq Because I Respect Him – Gerrard

Al-Ettifaq manager, Steven Gerrard has come out to open up on Jordan Henderson’s exit from the club just six months after he joined them from Liverpool. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, he respected his decision at the time because he loves him as a human being and a player, even if losing his captain was not ideal.

Gerrard added that family issues cannot be overlooked when it comes to the lives of our footballers.

His words, “I respected his decision because I love him as a guy, I love him as a player and I have nothing but ultimate respect for him. I was disappointed. Any manager who loses his captain during the season is 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.

I did [try to convince him to stay] but I didn’t overdo that because it had to be Jordan’s decision. He’s a big boy and I didn’t want to be someone – for example, if I had convinced him to stay and he felt further down [the line] that it was the wrong decision then I didn’t want to be that person who he was told: ‘Why did you convince me to stay?’ It had to be Jordan’s decision. He needed his own time. He needed to go through his own processes. The advice I gave to Jordan was: ‘Do what’s right for your family’.”

WOW.

Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation.

Domestically, the club has won 19 league titles, eight FA Cups, a record nine League Cups and 16 FA Community Shields. In international competitions, the club has won six European Cups, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups—all English records—and one FIFA Club World Cup.

The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, led the club to a combined 11 League titles and four European Cups. Liverpool won two further European Cups in 2005 and 2019 under the management of Rafael Benítez and Jürgen Klopp, respectively; the latter led Liverpool to a 19th league title in 2020, the club’s first during the Premier League era.

Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park. Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the club moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding. Left with an empty ground, Houlding founded Liverpool in 1892 and the club has played at Anfield ever since. The capacity of the stadium at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool’s first match at Anfield.