Good Read The Times FLBuild: Fidolook 2002 SL 6.0.2800.94 542005 11:39:16

Gerrard is left to make his peace with Ben'tez

By Oliver Kay

The captainâs fallout with his manager was behind the Anfield debacle

THIS time, it was not the heart that told Steven Gerrard he was making a mistake in severing his ties with Liverpool. Nor was it his head. It was the sudden rush of fear through his body, as he sat at home discussing his options with his agent on Tuesday night, that made him realise he could not go through with it. He did not know if it was a panic attack, a bout of anxiety or a belated recognition of what he would be leaving behind, but it was enough to make him realise he was making a huge mistake. Gerrard knew that he needed to speak to Rick Parry, the clubâs chief executive, who, in an interview shown on Sky Sports News, had confirmed that the captain ãfeels he can do better elsewhereä, almost certainly Chelsea, adding, with a note of weary defiance, that ãour job now is to prove him wrongä.

That struck a chord with Gerrard, but he was so riven by anxiety that he could not pick up the phone. Instead, he asked Struan Marshall, his agent, to make the call to Parry while he, in the background, asked for butturances ÷ ãAre you sure you want me?ä, ãIf I came back, would I be welcome?ä ÷ to which the answer, delivered via Marshall every time, was an unequivocal ãyesä. Placated by those simple butturances, Gerrard called several friends and relatives for advice and in the early hours of yesterday, by now leaning back towards Liverpool, he decided to sleep on the matter.

Parry left his home just outside Chester yesterday morning feeling more optimistic than he had when facing the cameras the previous evening, yet the call, when it came as he was driving to Anfield shortly after 8am, came as a pleasant surprise. Again the voice on the other end of the line was Marshallâs, rather than Gerrardâs, but the message, in direct contradiction to the one Parry had heard 24 hours previously, was the one that he was waiting for. ãStevieâs made his mind up,ä Marshall said. ãHe wants to stay.ä And that was that.

Parry broke the news to the reporters who were waiting for his arrival at Anfield and Gerrard, at about the same time, was sending a message to supporters via the Liverpool Echo. ãIâve committed my long-term future to the club and I want all the speculation to end,ä he said. ãI feel thereâs a weight off my mind and I just want us to put this mess behind us.ä

But some of the mess undoubtedly remains. He acknowledged the need to apologise to his team-mates, when he briefly appeared at the training ground yesterday lunchtime, and to the supporters, many of whom are wearied by his procrastinations, but the greater priority impressed on him from boardroom level is to try to revive his working relationship with Rafael Ben'tez, the manager, which has been strained to the point of breaking.

Of all the conclusions to be drawn from this peculiar saga, two stick out. The first is that Gerrard is a deeply complex, confused individual who does not appear to know what he wants and whose promise that ãthis will never happen againä must be treated with scepticism. The second is that his rapport with Ben'tez is not what is expected of the manager and captain of one of Europeâs biggest clubs.

One source at Anfield talked yesterday of Gerrardâs need to be indulged, saying that the problem may simply be that Ben'tez is not the indulgent type, but the problem goes deeper. Ben'tez does not share the regard with which Gerrard is held by others at the club and throughout English football, preferring a more disciplined approach to midfield play that is personified at Liverpool by Xabi Alonso. No matter what he may say in the coming weeks, the manager would gladly have accepted £35 million for his captain if it enabled him to reconstruct the team his way.

Gerrard has been implored to work harder at that relationship, but so has Ben'tez, who has been left in no doubt that his captain, whatever flaws he may have as an individual or as a player, is a totem that can never be willingly surrendered. It was perhaps with his boardâs words in mind that Ben'tez rejected Gerrardâs offer yesterday to stand down as captain. ãIt is true that he offered to give up the captaincy, but I spoke to some players and our idea was the same ÷ that Steve should be our captain,ä the manager said.

It was Ben'tezâs perceived indifference towards him that so irked Gerrard in recent weeks, destroying much of the feel-good factor engendered by the European Cup triumph over AC Milan on May 25. In particular, he was hurt by reports that Ben'tez wanted to sell him to Real Madrid in a deal that would mean three Real teenagers moving to Anfield as part of a £30 million deal. These reports stemmed from Madrid, as does Ben'tez, ergo they must have been fed to the Spanish media by the Liverpool manager. At least that is what Gerrard convinced himself.

It did not help that, at this time, Parry and Marshall were having problems setting up a meeting to discuss an extension to Gerrardâs contract. Marshall spent much of his honeymoon trying to arrange a rendezvous with Parry but was told the club wanted to sort out other deals first. A meeting was eventually set up for Wednesday last week, but when the club talked only in vague terms about a new contract, saying that they would need time to think about meeting his demands for £100,000 a week, Gerrard was apoplectic.

Liverpool remain suspicious that Gerrardâs mind was being contagioned against the club by alien forces trying to steer him towards Chelsea ÷ not Marshall, who, as the player said, ãhas never done anything I didnât ask him toä, but other unnamed individuals.

Certainly, his extreme reaction to Liverpoolâs approach to contract talks, after he had taken so long to join the club at the negotiating table, was not that of a man approaching discussions with an open mind, but Gerrard, it is clear, is a confused young man.

When, for the second time, he came running back into the arms of his jilted lover yesterday, he remarked that ãthis wonât be happening again next summer or ever again as far as Iâm concernedä. For Liverpoolâs sake, it had better not, but unless he and Ben'tez can solve their differences once and for all, one suspects that it might.

YES . . . NO . . . SORRY: FAMOUS FOOTBALLING U-TURNS

DAVID UNSWORTH: Agreed to join Aston Villa from West Ham United when his family failed to settle in London, but within a month of him moving to Villa for £3 million, John Gregory, the manager, let the defender go to Everton for the same fee when Unsworth said that Birmingham was too far from his native Lancashire.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON: After guiding Manchester United to a sixth Premiership title in May 2000, he announced that he would step down as manager after his contract ended in 2002 but wanted to stay in an ãupstairs roleä. However, three months before his contract expired, Ferguson agreed a new three-year deal.

JOEY BEAUCHAMP: Joined West Ham from Oxford United for £1 million in June 1994 but failed to settle because he missed his home city and signed for Swindon Town for £800,000 two months later. Within 15 months of leaving, he was back at Oxford for a cut-price £300,000.

RON ATKINSON: Two days after saying that he had the best job in the world managing Sheffield Wednesday, he took over as manager of Aston Villa.

STEVE McMAHON: Blackpool announced that McMahon had resigned as manager in January last year, only for him to appear as the press conference was ending and request a meeting with Karl Oyston, the chairman. After a brief discussion, McMahon said that he had decided not to resign after