31 December 2023 , 05:30
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Their team has scored three goals in nine games without a win and attracted less than six thousand fans to a home game on Thursday night.
What on earth are Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson doing in Saudi Arabia? Scrap that, we know exactly what they are doing in Saudi Arabia. Filling their wheelbarrows with cash. But in Henderson’s case, surely the time is approaching when he regrets leaving the Premier League.
The Euros are six months away and there are several English midfielders in excellent form, notably Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher and Luton Town’s Ross Barkley. James Ward-Prowse, predictably, is doing well at West Ham United. Gareth Southgate’s loyalty has become a trademark but even his faith in trusted lieutenants must have a limit.
Henderson has made little impact for a team that drew with the Saudi Pro League’s bottom team in their last game.
Gerrard and Henderson will have a chance to spend some time with friends and family at home over the next month as their domestic competition takes an extended winter break, although the Al-Ettifaq manager might be busy with administrative matters having implored his employers to look for new players.
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Seen as though Al-Ettifaq are forking out for salaries such as the £375,00-a-week one enjoyed by Henderson, Gerrard’s request for new investment seems a bit rich. But, generally, that is what coaches do when they are not getting results and Gerrard has won six of his 19 Pro League games.
To see Gerrard and Henderson struggling in Saudi (not struggling in a financial sense, of course) should give no-one any satisfaction. It is only a slight exaggeration to say they were two giants of the English game and two giants of Anfield and perhaps they still have plenty to offer.
But it was not that long ago that the romantic idea of Gerrard at some stage becoming manager of Liverpool actually had some traction. Now, that is fanciful in the extreme. Taking the Saudi shilling does not bar a player or coach from returning to the Premier League.
The midfielder gave up the Liverpool captaincy to head to Saudi Arabia (Abdul Ghani Bashir Issa/MB Media/Getty Images)Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Al-Ittihad in November and is now at Nottingham Forest, but he won the Pro League and had a healthy 64 percent win record in Saudi. Gerrard’s win record this season, in all competitions, is 33.3 percent, slightly above the 32.5 percent he recorded during his 11 months at Aston Villa.
While his time at Villa did not go to plan, he made a bright start there and Gerrard’s standing was not considerably diminished by his dismissal. His standing is being diminished by every poor result in a low-standard league being played in front of sparse crowds.
And the same goes for Henderson. Gerrard and Henderson would no doubt insist they have no regrets about moving to Saudi and their bank balances will be reassurance that they made the right move. But to see two inspirational characters labouring in one of football’s wastelands is still a shame.