STAN COLLYMORE Jord’s ready to step up at Hend of Stevie G era
COLLY REDS HAVE NEW LEADER-IN-THE-MAKING Lamps to light it up
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport IT was refreshing to hear that Jordan Henderson stood up for himself in a tunnel row with Diego Costa.
This is an era when the hundreds of TV cameras at every match rarely miss a moment.
So when details emerged of a confrontation after that great game at Anfield, I think Liverpool fans would have been impressed to read about their England midfield player’s passion.
No punches were thrown in the spat but to know two men became so riled can give supporters reassurance that the club really does mean something to these millionaire footballers.
You can tell that Costa is the type of man to stand his ground but with Steven Gerrard leavi ng Anfield soon – and obvious c oncerns about the heartbeat of the side once he is gone – it’s good to know t his side of Henderson exists too.
We know he is a quality midfield player but it seems he is learning that a captain of Liverpool is a symbolic figure.
Violence is not something we want to see. But passion is.
And it is definitely still alive in the game. Only occasionally do we hear tales like this one but I reckon they occur as regularly as in my playing days.
The difference is that these days the details are kept under wraps.
I was not involved in too many scraps but there were occasions when there was a score to settle and you could quickly separate the men from the boys.
I always found that the best thing to do when there was some on-pitch aggro was to run off the pitch really quickly at full time and then wait outside the dressing-room door.
You would find out which players hid behind seven or eight team-mates and which were willing to actually have a row.
In the 16 years that I played professionally I only remember one man who had the balls to continue our row after it had started on the pitch – and that was Vinnie Jones.
Other men would go scuttling into their dressing room but I remember Vinnie was more than willing to front me up. And I respected him for that.
During a game at Selhurst Park he had punched me in the face and split the skin between my top lip and gum.
He was sent off but afterwards was still more than willing to have a ruck.
Nothing ended up happening between us but at least we knew where each other stood.
Other instances I recall were when Andy Todd of Bolton went toe-to-toe with me on the pitch, and I also remember a battle with Manchester City’s Andy Morrison, when he licked me. That was a bizarre one!
There was a training-ground incident when I was at Forest too, with Alf Inge Haaland.
He kept standing on my toes and I said ‘If you do that again I’m going to knock you out.’
He told me in no uncertain terms where to go ... so I swung at him and he landed on the deck.
Tasty
I was sent back to the dressing room for that one – and the lads sung the Rocky theme tune as I trotted in!
I think this type of situation does still go on at football clubs up and down the country.
Players spend their entire lives in a competitive environment and they care about how they are perceived as a man and as a footballer.
From my experience things could often kick off in training sessions at the beginning of the week.
A Monday or Tuesday session could get tasty. Come on, let’s not kid ourselves into believing that every player in every squad gets on!
Of course we do not want to see punches flying on or off the pitch but there is still room for passion and pride.
And when that occurs between opposing players like Costa and Henderson it is reassuring to know that the fire is still burning in their bellies.
With Gerrard on his way out, Henderson is showing signs that there will still be plenty of life left in the side. IF Frank Lampard plays at Chelsea next weekend, it will be a masterstroke from Manuel Pellegrini.
That top-of-the-table clash is a massive one for reigning champions Manchester City, particularly as Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony will not be available.
I think it is set up for a Chelsea win but if Lampard starts the game I think it would help City’s chances of getting a result.
His presence will ensure the home crowd are not as wired as normal for such a big encounter.
Fans idolise him in west London. They will want his autograph, they will applaud him, they might even sing his name.
The focus would be on Frank – the rest of the City side can focus on their game without the crowd on their backs.
It is presumed Lampard will one day return to Chelsea but his eyes have been opened to a wider world. He is in Manchester now; soon he is off to New York.
He may well ultimately return to Chelsea but don’t be surprised if he ends up going to another club before then.
GARY NEVILLE is a great TV pundit and hasha a nice gig with England so I don’t see that there is much to gain from moving into the big bad world of management. He hinted this weekw that he may yet go back into club football, stating on Twitter that he would have a big decision to make in the next 18 months. Yet from his perspective he needs to remember you can go from being a great analyst to a s**t manager in no time
at all.