Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba – Premier League icons currently seeing out their careers after dropping down quite a few levels in competition.
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville doesn’t agree with the modern phenomenon of players moving to MLS in their mid 30s so that they can become the hugest fish in a relatively small pond.
Neville writes in his Telegraph column that “across football there is mishandling of 32 to 34-year-olds,” and remains hopeful that the same doesn’t happen to Chelsea captain John Terry who was substituted for the first time by Jose Mourinho in last week’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City which many believed was a sign that we were finally seeing the beginning of the end for the Blues stalwart.
And the Sky Sports pundit believes that the problem can be solved by a combination of older players’ realisation that they can’t start every game and managers’ trust that their veterans will not become a troublesome force
“Didier Drogba was moved out of Chelsea, then brought back in. Steven Gerrard should still be at Liverpool. There is no way he should be kicking a football for LA Galaxy.
“At Liverpool on Monday night, Jordan Henderson went off injured with his team 1-0 up. Why could Gerrard not come in those circumstances to do a job, to provide control and experience?”
Neville raises a valid point that fewer games for a top-level side are more valuable to the legacy of a player than more games in a lesser league.
“Terry doesn’t need advice from me, but in these situations I would always say: relax, enjoy what’s to come, realise that 25 games for Chelsea is better than 45 for the Orlando Owls or the Tasmanian Tigers. Equally Mourinho has to be happy with it and know the player will not be disruptive.”
And not one to discuss football without referencing his beloved United, Neville raises the example of two former teammates Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs who were able to continue playing to such an amazing age respectively, albeit having to remain content at becoming a bit-part player.
“There is a reason why Ryan Giggs played until he was 40 and Paul Scholes made it to 38. They accepted the shift into a different phase of their career: a change Gerrard struggled to accept last season. It was a challenge, too, to Frank Lampard at Chelsea.”
But Neville hopes that Terry doesn’t become the latest player to be forced out of the club and believes that an honest discussion between player and manager is enough to clarify Terry’s position at Chelsea in 2015.
“It’s about acceptance and consultation. It cannot be that Terry either a) plays every game or b) leaves the club.
Jose Mourinho needs John Terry and John Terry needs Jose Mourinho.”
