Experience is all about learning from your mistakes – but you are also allowed to learn by the observing the actions of others too.
And it is for that reason that I have been left somewhat stunned by Brendan Rodgers being quite at home with Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool.
Apart from the fact that I assumed, probably like many others, that for the former England skipper would seamlessly move from playing into a coaching role at Anfield – a la Ryan Giggs at Old Trafford – it is hard to imagine Stevie G sporting anything other than a kit bearing the Liver Bird crest.
The thing about Gerrard is that as a follower of another team you could only appreciate his talents for what they were because there was no point in being covetous as there was no chance on earth that he would ever leave Anfield.
Let’s face it the guy is more Liverpudlian than Ringo Starr and Gerry Marsden travelling on the New Brighton ferry while sharing a few bowls of scouse with the cast members of Brookside and Bread.
However, it would appear that Merseyside’s midfield marauder is heading for pastures new – with America’s MLS competition the likely destination.
At this point you have to ask whether Rodgers has failed to notice what happened to the last England international midfielder supposedly heading for a Stateside boost to his pension pot.
Chelsea thought they were letting Frank Lampard go to New York City, but a handful of months later he was scoring against them at the Etihad Stadium in the colours of Premier League title rivals Manchester City.
While you can credit Jose Mourinho with a touch of genius in getting tens of millions of quid in selling David Luis last close season, that has to be balanced against his decision to let Lampard go because Chelsea’s goal-scoring record holder was going to be playing fewer games – only to painfully discover that the 36-year-old still had a lot more to offer than being just a ‘bit part’ player at the very top level.
One of the reasons reported for Gerrard parting with his boyhood club was that manager Rodgers could not promise his 34-year-old maestro regular first team football.
On the basis of Liverpool’s third round FA Cup win at AFC Wimbledon, where two goals and a goalline clearance were just the tip of the iceberg in another match-winnning display by Gerrard, it would only be logical for Rodgers to be telling another 23 members of his squad that they can’t be sure of first team football either.
It is New Year and therefore it is darts time again.
After the thrilling finale of Gary Anderson seeing off Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in the PDC World Darts Championship, all eyes are now on Frimley Green as the BDO Worlds Darts Championship is heading for a weekend final showdown at the Lakeside Country Club.
Like tennis during Wimbledon in the last week of June and snooker when the World Championship makes an annual appearance at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in April, the art of arrows is currently basking in the glow of national media coverage that – like Santa Claus – comes but once a year.
Among the great claims that have been made about both tournaments this year is that darts is no longer the preserve of portly chaps who like pubs – and the occasional beer.
Apparently the fact that author Martin Amis, QI presenter Stephen Fry and World Cup winning midfielder Toni Kroos, of Real Madrid and Germany, are big fans has had a hand in elevating the status of the sport in 2015.
Added to that at Alexandra Palace, for the PDC version of the world title, there was even a stamp of royal approval with Prince Harry in the VIP suite where he reportedly enjoyed ‘champagne-fuelled aristocratic banter’ – I didn’t even know they did Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil-sur-Oger 1997 in pints!
However, statistics fortunately prove that claims of the gentrification of darts could very much be wide of the mark as at Ally Pally more than 250,000 pints were sold during the competition which – and I am relying on other peoples maths here – works out on average as 11 pints of lager per spectator at the event.
A revolution in the tastes of the genuine darts connoisseur would appear to be still some way off.
