Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool symptomatic of decline in one-club men in English football

STEVEN Gerrard’s imminent departure from Liverpool is the latest example of one-club men being an endangered species in English football.

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THE one-club man, one of the few Corinthian ideals left in modern football, is an endangered species, especially in England.

Steven Gerrard’s expected departure from Liverpool at the end of the season would remove the highest-profile prospect of a one-club man from the EPL.

The one-club, er... club is a select one, also counting Tony Adams, Jamie Carragher, Matt Le Tissier, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes among its members. Ryan Giggs was the most recent admission, and after him it’s slim pickings (with all due respect, if your club’s doorlist only reads ‘Darren Fletcher’, there’s not going to be much of a queue).

Railing against a lack of loyalty in modern football is akin to criticising the tide for coming in, but the dearth of one-team players seems to be an issue particularly prevalent in the EPL.

In Spain, Iker Casillas is likely to end his days as a Madridista, while Xavi and Andres Iniesta could, like team totem Carles Puyol, be carried out on their Barcelona shields. The thought of 38-year-old Francesco Totti leaving Roma is unthinkable, while Bastian Schweinsteiger shows every sign of following the example of many of his countrymen and staying faithful to his first love, Bayern Munich.

So what’s with the EPL? How does a player every bit as emblematic of his club as Casillas at Madrid, Puyol at Barca or Totti at Roma decide that he has no choice but to walk away at the age of 34?

Some will point to ego (Gerrard was reportedly told he will no longer play every game), others to a stoush with management (although after early tension Gerrard and coach Brendan Rodgers are apparently now on better terms), while others put it down to new-fashioned greed, with revised contract conditions clearly unacceptable to a team captain disappointed by his side’s performances this season.

Rodgers was at pains to tell fans in recent weeks that Gerrard would be offered a contract extension. The insistence on making this clear would undoubtedly have been influenced by the messy departure of Frank Lampard from Chelsea and his bizarre emergence as a nemesis to his former club.

Steven Gerrard is set to reject Liverpool’s contract extension offer.

Lampard’s West Ham origins meant he was never a contender to join the one-team ranks, but along with club captain John Terry he was the self-appointed beating heart of Stamford Bridge, as he rarely failed to remind everyone as he surged to the top of the club’s all-time goalscorer list.

The club denied him a contract extension, appearing on face value to have jettisoned a favourite son for the bottom line, although it’s likely Lampard was offered a performance-related one-year deal.

He departed as a free agent to New York City, but a loan deal took him back to Manchester City where he has become an influential figure in attempting to prevent Chelsea winning the title, recently announcing that he will stay with the champions until the end of the season.

He even popped up to score a crucial equaliser against his former club (which, as is de riguer these days, he refused to celebrate) in September.

Speaking after that game, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho — who reportedly wanted Lampard to stay — was cutting about his former charge: “When he decided to go to a direct competitor then love stories are over”.

Former Chelsea player Frank Lampard seems comfortable in a Manchester City jersey.

In an era when badges are kissed almost as often as goals are scored, it’s a telling phrase, pointing up the hypocrisy of player’s regular testimonies of undying devotion to whoever’s currently signing the cheque.

As much as fans would like to think otherwise, exceptions are rare, although it’s been reported that Gerrard has explicitly told Liverpool that he won’t join a direct rival. And say what you like about Terry (who is only denied entry to the one-team club by a brief loan spell at Nottingham Forest in 2000) but he accepted the contract terms — presumably similar to Lampard’s — that Chelsea offered to him, and is now enjoying a stellar season, sealing his legendary status with the Blues faithful.

The Lampard case is a decidedly modern phenomenon, symptomatic of the rise of footballing franchises, with the mothership of Manchester City able to beam up players from New York City and in turn, NY able to dictate terms to little brother Melbourne City.

The stigma of playing in a non-powerhouse competition like the MLS or Asian premier leagues has been mitigated by injections of cash and a resultant raising of standards, not to mention the possible flexibility exemplified by David Beckham, who managed to play dozens of games for Milan while an employee of LA Galaxy, a club tipped as Gerrard’s most likely destination.

Steven Gerrard is tipped to join LA Galaxy after telling Liverpool he won’t join a direct rival.

Signing for these clubs is no longer equated with early retirement, with many players still excelling on the world stage despite — or perhaps even thanks to — getting off the EPL treadmill, Tim Cahill being a prime example.

Former EPL nomad Robbie Keane has settled and shone at LA Galaxy, consistently scoring barnstorming goals and winning the league’s MVP, while fellow Irishman Damien Duff has been quoted as saying he wished he’d come to the A-League years ago after escaping the EPL furnace at Fulham to join Melbourne City.

The EPL might not be the best league in the world, as it constantly trumpets, but it is arguably the most physically demanding. Such a level of intensity makes it easier for players to decide to seek more sedate pastures overseas, where there’s similar salaries, more possession and passing, and less staring up at a lofted ball set against a grey Stoke sky.

Do one-club men really matter any more? A realist would say not at all. But as those badges keep getting kissed, it would be nice if even a couple existed in the wild to remind us that team loyalty is more than a marketing tool.

One thing’s for sure, the rarer they get, the more precious they’ll become.

Originally published as Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool symptomatic of decline in one-club men in English football