Gerrard's jukebox and a spot of bother

Steven Gerrard has found himself front page news this week.

Normally the star of the rear of a newspaper, the England international has been sharing pages with the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the despair in the housing market and Zoë, 17, from London.

He was arrested and subsequently charged with assault and affray following an altercation with the D.J at the vapidly named Lounge Inn in Southport in the early hours of Monday morning.

The whole sorry incident is said to have taken place over the D.J’s refusal to play one of Gerrard’s favourite songs.

A known admirer of the musical ditty’s of Phil Collins, its little wonder the man behind the decks kept his principals and was prepared to lose a tooth to rebuff the request.

If that was actually the case then he must be in line for the “Outstanding Contribution to Music Award” at this year’s Brit Awards.

Perhaps if Gerrard’s alleged misdemeanour had taken place in Knowsley it would have attracted less attention.

As a freeman of the borough, slapping around a part time D.J is surely only secondary to driving his sheep down the main street of his home town.

Whatever went on and whether he is innocent or not, Gerrard is undoubtedly one of the most important footballers to come out of the country in recent years.

His ability, drive, passion and indispensability has carried Liverpool to European success and to the brink of domestic triumph.

Every Red’s fan in the country will have fingers, toes and anything crossable crossed that this won’t influence their title aspirations.

If Gerrard does falter Rafa Benitez will have to hope Fernando Torres can rise from the treatment table to take the mantle and rediscover his form of last season.

But this blow comes at a time when Manchester United have fought their way to a series of one nil victories ready for their traditional New Year blitz on the Premier League.

We all now Sir Alex Ferguson will burst every blood vessel left in his increasingly cardinal cheeks to ensure it’s the Manchester Reds who sit perched at the top of the pile come May.

Gerrard will have to be more determined than ever if he is to be undeterred by the combined pressure of the clubs domestic and European campaigns, the legal process and the impending lambasting from opposition fans.

I imagine the chants of sewing bags, finding a file in the half time oranges and being sodamised in the showers have already been dreamt up.

Not to mention; “You’re just a sh** Joey Barton”.

I’m sure we’ll all be watching and listening intently when he takes to the field at Preston this evening.

If he is to eventually be found guilty and locked up it would be a flagitious blow to Liverpool Football Club’s attempts to rejoin the English Championship winning elite.

However it might provide Fabio Caello with the unlikeliest of solutions to the Lampard/Gerrard debate.