The preface of Raheem Sterling’s name appearing in headlines for all the wrong reasons this season began in October when he claimed he was “too tired” to play for England, followed by his mid-season Jamaican winter holiday a few months later. Oh, what a time to be alive, these were innocent stories on their own, nothing wrong with his actions. Just innocent Raheem, he’s just a kid!
Now? Looking back at these stories with the fresh tint of gluttony, treachery and utter disrespect to the club by emancipating the ins and outs of contract talks to the media, then hypocritically blaming Liverpool for not shielding him from negative headlines his agent carefully crafted, they’re no longer innocent. And he’s no longer “just a kid who loves football.”
Since January, he’s been waltzing between the ropes with Liverpool Football Club. He’s thrown jabs and irresponsible haymakers at the club through the media and his agent. Watching this bout from afar, I’ve taken out my scorecard.
Round 1: Rumblings of “will he, won’t he?” contract extension talks: This certainly is not the worst thing in the world for Sterling nor Liverpool. The preference would be to keep such information behind closed doors, but sometimes those doors are cracked. Nobody wins here, but nobody loses either. A round that would do Pacquiao-Mayweather proud: nothing really happened.
Round 2: Brendan Rodgers late January quotes on the contract: A meager, early win for the Sterling corner. Rodgers kept saying that he thought the contract would be signed imminently and that the club offered him a “wonderful” contract accompanied by multiple assertions that Sterling is very happy. Rodgers was attempting to quash this as a non-story but there was no need to speak on the matter.
Round 3: Rodgers reveals in March that contract talks are on hold until after the season: How great would it have been if this is was where it ceased until late May? Rodgers claimed this stall was on the accord of Sterling and agent Aidy Ward. This should have been a win for Sterling; had it not been a lie. It would have been the mature thing to do. He’d concentrate on his football and they’ll sort it all out after the season. Unfortunately, neither Sterling nor his agent seem to be mature.
Round 4: The infamous BBC Sport Interview. With Liverpool facing a virtual do or die match for their Champions League qualification hopes, Sterling decided this was an appropriate time to thrust the attention onto himself with an unsanctioned interview with BBC Sport. The quotes that seeped from dialogue turned into a wayward attempt to blow away the black cloud surrounding his name. “I’m just a kid who loves to play football,” he said. Kids who just love to play football don’t come crying to BBC Sport for a chance to talk about contracts, money, trophies and ambition before a colossal match. Kids who just love to play football don’t need to say it: it’s just understood through their actions. Big, big loss for Sterling. At this moment, things are beginning to look grim for his corner. Quick! Desperately say something stupid to try and get pity!
Round 5: Desperate attempts to get pity: “They’re not protecting me from negative headlines” and “I feel bullied into accepting a £100,000 per week deal” Seriously though. This is his defence? “Guys. My life is so hard. They’re offering me £100,000 per week to smack a ball around. It’s just not fair! They are literally putting the pen in my hand and moving my hand to sign the contract!” Furthermore, he’s angry that Liverpool aren’t protecting him from the negative press he and his agent keep creating. Speechless!
Round 6: The agent comes into the foreground and launches an offensive: “Carragher is a knob” and they “won’t sign for 700k, 800k, 900k per week.” Aidy Ward, you’re a moron! There aren’t many words that can accurately convey what the brain wants to put forth without excessive vulgarity.
By my count, it’s (at least) 4-1-1 Liverpool. The Sterling corner cannot win this bout on points. They need a knockout. They need Ian Ayre kidnapping Sterling’s daughter and holding her ransom to elicit Sterling to sign the contract to shift all the blame onto Liverpool. Outside of that, there’s not much else Sterling can do to fix his image in the public eye.
As much as Liverpool fans were desperate for Sterling to stay, prior to the aforementioned shite avalanche, it didn’t need to be as morose and gruesome as it is now. Nobody particularly enjoys losing key players, but keep a lid on all of this, tell whoever needs to be told he won’t sign a new deal then at least he walks out the door with some respect. All of this has been completely unprofessional, immature and unnecessary for proceedings to have advanced to where they sit now.
Not so surprisingly Sterling has been borderline useless on the pitch since this avalanche of shite had first started rolling. It’s painfully obvious to everyone who watches him play… other than his agent. Carragher was right: just shut up!
