THERE HAS BEEN A LOT of fuss made lately about Liverpool’s players not getting their due reward for their Champions League triumph. Maybe I am naive, but I would have thought that winning the trophy was good enough for them, but Rick Parry, the chief executive, has said that it is wrong that Liverpool were overlooked in the New Year’s Honours List while the England cricket team got awards.
Danny has lots of friends at Anfield, but I don’t think Liverpool deserve a single MBE. I don’t think the cricket team should have got them either. They were just doing their jobs. It is not as if they have spent 40 years working tirelessly for charity. They were playing sport, getting well paid for it and achieving the ultimate reward via their medals. I don’t imagine the players were bothered in the slightest.
I think the people who should get honoured are the likes of doctors and teachers — the people who make a real difference. I know we all get very excited about football, but it doesn’t really change lives. The same goes for the entertainment industry. Bruce Forsyth? I have nothing against Brucie, but the gift of the gab and tap-dancing ability are not what the MBE should be about. Maybe Jodie Marsh will get one soon for her services to celebrity lip gloss.
That said, there is not a British empire any more anyway, so it seems strange that people should be worried if they are not a member of it. I am sure the honours list did not used to be like this, but I put it down to Tony Blair trying to make everything trendy. I would be saying the same if Danny had still been at Liverpool and been part of the team who had won in Istanbul.
I do think Liverpool deserve a lot of recognition for what they did. Stevie G has been up for loads of sporting awards over the past 12 months, which is well earned. Reward them within their sporting field, but do not pretend that it has some sort of wider significance. It is just football.
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This is the way of the world, though. Every aspect of football is now big news, including the role of agents. I have no personal knowledge of bungs being taken and have never come across it, but I am sure it happens. The money is so huge in football nowadays that there are bound to be people making a bit for themselves.
The banner headlines suggest that people are surprised by what Luton manager Mike Newell said, but do they really think everyone in football is going to be whiter than white and do things by the book? It is the same with “tapping up”. I cannot say from experience that, yes, it happens, but I would be amazed if it did not. It is against the rules, so you shouldn’t do it, but I doubt clubs would go to the lengths of sorting out fees and deals if they did not know the player concerned had any intention of moving.
At transfer window time, fans talk about loyalty, but it should be a two-way thing. I’ve sat in the stand in the past and heard people saying that Danny is playing great and should be in the England side. Then I’ve sat in the stand and heard them slate him. Sometimes things just don’t quite go as well as you would like — not for the lack of effort, they just don’t.
I also think fans do not realise that players are human beings with their own personal lives. Sometimes there are things going on that people have no idea about. A player might be carrying an injury for instance, or he might be having problems in his home life, but everyone still expects players to be almost bionic.
I remember one time when Danny was playing against Man City and we had had some really awful news and were very upset. Danny went to the ground and Robbie Fowler told him that he should go home to be with me, but he is a committed professional, so he stayed and played. I imagine many of the fans would have been with their wives in the same situation, but it takes a lot for footballers to miss games.
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It is not always an easy life, either for footballers or their wives, but it has its compensations and nobody is making them do it. They don’t deserve a medal for it. And definitely not an MBE.