Footballer Gerrard not guilty over bar brawl

Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard was found not guilty Friday over an alleged assault on a businessman during a bar brawl.

The player voiced relief at the ruling, in a case which has hung over him since the incident last December.

“I’d like to put this case behind me. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead and concentrating on football,” he said in a brief statement outside court.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez hailed Gerrard Saturday voicing confidence that his captain would be mentally ready for the new season.

“We are really, really pleased with the news which means he can now play football and focus on football,” said Benitez.

“But the plan is to rest him and he will start again next week.”

Gerrard was accused of being part of a group that injured Marcus McGee, 34, at the Lounge Inn nightclub in Southport near Liverpool, northwest England, on December 29 last year.

The Liverpool captain was celebrating his club’s 5-1 win at Newcastle United at the time. He denied the charge of affray. An initial charge of assault was dropped at a court hearing in March.

The jury took only 70 minutes to reach their verdict Friday. Gerrard showed no emotion when it was read out.

Judge Henry Globe told Gerrard: “The verdict is a credible verdict on the full facts of this case, and you walk away from this court with your reputation intact.”

Before sending the jury out to consider their verdict, the judge had told them to set aside “any football loyalty” in making their decision, and described the incident as an “explosion of violence.”

Giving evidence at the trial Thursday, the 29-year-old midfielder had insisted he punched McGee only in self-defence after an argument about what music was being played.

But he said he was sorry about what he did, adding: “Obviously I am upset about how the whole thing turned out.”

The row erupted after Gerrard tried to choose a few songs from a list of tracks being played on a CD player, but was prevented by McGee.

On Wednesday, McGee claimed that Gerrard attacked him “with a succession of well-aimed uppercut punches delivered with the style and speed of a professional boxer rather than a professional footballer.”

At one point Thursday Gerrard — who estimated that he was seven out of 10 on a drunkenness scale — was asked to demonstrate an upper cut punch, and he did so.

When asked if he was “sickened” by what he did, he said: “I’m certainly sorry.”

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez welcomed the verdict Friday. “We are really pleased… He is very important for us and he can now focus just on football,” he said.

“We are all pleased at the club and over here at the training camp,” said Benitez, speaking from Singapore, where Liverpool are currently as part of a regional tour.

“We have been supporting him all the time and were just waiting for the decision. Now he can concentrate just on football and hopefully play at the same level as last year,” he said.

Gerrard’s absence from the Liverpool squad has put a dampener on the club’s current much-hyped Asian swing.

His British court date was set before the trip to Asia was announced, although Gerrard featured in promotional adverts aired on television in the region.

Gerrard had faced trial at Liverpool Crown Court alone after five co-defendants admitted affray and one admitted a lesser charge of threatening behaviour.

The other five were Accrington Stanley players Robert Grant, 19, and Ian Dunbavin, 28, as well as Ian Gerrard Smith, 19, Paul McGrattan, 31 and John McGrattan.