RICK PARRY:
It's disappointing. Personally it's disappointing because we really did make it clear that we wanted Steven to say, there's no question about that. It's the ups and downs of football I guess but there you are. Now we have to move on. He's made it clear he wants to go so we look to the future now.
REPORTER:
Are you resigned to losing him?
RICK
All the trolls and their palsDuring the wake of SG's announcement. I have noticed allot of trolls and co, are finding "easy" pickings on this subject...
I think he's made it pretty clear. We've done our best. It looks pretty final.
REPORTER:
What is the next stage? Do you wait for Chelsea to come back?
RICK:
The next stage is tomorrow.
REPORTER:
What might happen do you feel?
RICK:
Who knows what might happen. We'll see tomorrow.
REPORTER:
It's particularly disappointing after the fact that you won the Champions League, the sort of thing that Steven Gerrard suggested he wanted to happen, happened. Is that at the back of your mind?
RICK:
Well yeh. I think.. what better signs are there that the club is going in the right direction. I remember sitting with him last summer and understanding his frustrations and they were deep because obviously it came close and it was alll to do with a perceived lack of success and we said stick with it and let's see what we achieve and we think we achieved quite a lot.
REPORTER:
What do you think of the motivations behind his decisions to say he wants to go?
RICK:
Errrmmm... (pauses, shrugs shoulders and lets out a weak chuckle)... you're better asking Stevie but you know, it's ambition, success and trophies but that's the same with us.
REPORTER:
Do you feel you have offered him as much as you can? Do you feel as though you've given him everything you can as a club?
RICK PARRY:
Yeh I don't think it's an issue of money to be fair to Stevie. The money wasn't a problem. It was about long term commitment and feeling this was the place he wanted to be and this was the place he was going to win trophies and I guess in the final analysis he feels he'll do better elsewhere.
REPORTER:
Some people have suggested that he wanted a clause about if you weren't in the Champions League next year, is there any truth in that?
Cya Stevie GHow many of us have loved the club from being babes? I know i have and SG as been...
RICK PARRY:
I'm not going to comment on detail or am I going to have a go at Stevie. He's made his decision. He wanted success and feels he'll get success elsewhere and it's our job now to prove him wrong.
REPORTER:
Do you think he'll have lost the fans with what he's done?
RICK PARRY:
I think people might be thinking like we said that Champions League success was a pretty good mark to say the club is going in the right direction. I think this is a special club with special fans. I did say to him think of Istanbul, think of the fans, think of the twelfth man we've had through the Champions League this season. The fans will still be here, the fans will still be with us. As we've said all along it's disappointing but the club has to be bigger, always has to be bigger, than any individuals, so onwards and upwards.
REPORTER:
Where does this leave the manager now because there's not much time?
RICK PARRY:
(Shakes head in disagreement) There's plenty of time. Rafa is very calm, very measured, very methodical in his thinking. There's time.
REPORTER:
Do you have a timescale on what might happen with Steven now? Do you put a deadline on this now?
RICK PARRY:
We're calm. We haven't put any deadlines on. It wasn't our decision at the end of the day. We're fairly calm.
REPORTER:
Will Chelsea come back? Have Real Madrid shown any interest? What kind of interest have you had?
RICK PARRY:
We'll see. I don't imagine it's just going to be one club. It's only one day at the end of the day, although as you've seen in the last few days (smiles) one day makes a big difference to negotations, but it's early days yet.
-- "Nobody knows everything about football but I am prepared to live and die by my ideas." - GZrard Houllier
