Gerrard injury raises club v country row again

Steve Gerrard was unavailable for Liverpool’s game against West Ham yesterday and his absence raised the age old issue of the club versus country row once again.

Worse

Gerrard injured his hamstring in the eighty-fourth minute of England’s disappointing friendly with France last Wednesday. The game was a meaningless friendly and other players had been substituted well before that time. To make matters worse, Liverpool had asked England to only play Gerrard for an hour.

Gerrard faces a three to four week absence from the game and is likely to miss matches against Tottenham, Steaua Bucharest, Aston Villa, Newcastle and FC Utrecht as well as the game yesterday. Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson was barely able to hide his anger when he spoke about the matter on Friday.

Frustrated

“As Liverpool manager I am frustrated and disappointed to lose such an important player for such a long period of time. Anything I say, other than I am disappointed and even a little bit angry about it, would be dishonest. But I know Steven, as an important player for club and country, is keen to put a tin lid on the matter. He is disappointed and sad too but he is going to do everything he can to get back to fitness as quickly as possible.”

England boss Fabio Capello has explained that he kept Gerrard on the pitch longer than had been requested because he needed an experienced player on the pitch as Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry had been substituted at half-time due to injury. He also said that no club had the right to tell him and England how long their player could play. He said he would speak with Hodgson to sympathise about Gerrard but was not going to apologise.

Contact

On Friday, Hodgson confirmed that no such contact had been made.

“I don’t expect apologies from anyone and I’m not prepared to add any fuel to the fire. My main concern is with Liverpool Football Club and in particular with Steven Gerrard. He is anxious for it to be put behind him and everyone and not to prolong the discussion.”

There was controversy after the England game when Liverpool fitness coach Darren Burgess posted angry twitter messages after Gerrard was injured. He later removed the posts but the damage had been done. The messages were fairly unambiguous!

Disgraceful

“Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regard to Steven Gerrard’s injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history. Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.”

The English FA released a statement to confirm that in circumstances such as these, the club are financially compensated.

Insurance

“The FA has in place comprehensive insurance to cover injuries sustained to players on international duty. The FA is one of a small number of countries that has a voluntary insurance scheme to cover players wages should they suffer injury on international duty. Liverpool do not need to pursue us for compensation as our insurers will cover the wages for Liverpool as this was clearly a legitimate injury.”

So there we have it. Liverpool angry, England unrepentant, and the FA talking about money which is fairly irrelevant to all parties concerned.

There is no right or wrong answer to this issue as there are strong arguments both ways. What do you think?