If Liverpool go on to win this season’s Premier League title there will be a lot of factors behind their success: a great manager, a quality squad and sensible owners to name but three.

Yet there is one thing more than any other that will have driven Liverpool towards glory, a part of the puzzle that cannot be understated in its importance – having the best captain in the country.

Watching Liverpool beat Manchester City last Sunday, two thoughts kept occurring to me. Firstly that Luis Suarez is not the reformed character many have claimed and is still a mouthy, petulant cheat. Brilliant, yes, but fundamentally flawed by his inability to resist conning the referee whenever the opportunity arises.

The other thing that struck me, and this is more relevant to my current train of thought, was just how absolutely vital Steven Gerrard is to the new and improved Liverpool Football Club.

Over the course of this season, Gerrard has shown himself to be a captain and leader of the very highest order. There has never been any doubt over his suitability for the role which he has carried out with dignity and enthusiasm for several years.

But this season’s title chase has brought out the very best him and taken his leadership qualities to a whole new level.

As a player the surging runs from midfield may not be as prolific as they once were – after all he is 33 now and entering his twilight playing years – but he has more than made up for that with a more mature role, dictating play from further back where he can also read the game better.

More than that, though, is his ability to organise, motivate and drive the team. Often a captain can turn out to be little more than a figurehead, a man to wear an armband, toss a coin and lift a cup (In some cases even when they haven’t played in the game, isn’t that right JT?).

In Gerrard’s case however, he is literally running the team on the pitch, barking out orders, maintaining organisation and making sure he is there to boost morale and offer support to younger lads as and when needed.

Off the pitch too he is an exemplary figure, acting with dignity and decorum at all times and representing his club in a manner which shows his deep-rooted love for it. A true ambassador.

I have absolute no doubt that the significance of this year being the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster is also playing its part. Let’s not forget that Gerrard is not some glory hunting mercenary footballer who just happens to play for Liverpool. As a man he is about as ‘Liverpool’ as it is possible to get. He even lost a cousin at Hillsborough, 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley.

When the final whistle went in Sunday’s game, Gerrard shed a few tears before pulling himself together and calling his team mates together for a pep talk. Raw emotion combined with a mature sense of responsibility.

We don’t know if Liverpool will win the title this year – a lot will probably depend on their game with Chelsea next weekend – but if they do ultimately triumph, they will have one man more than other to thank for ending their 24 years in the title wilderness.

As a Premiership neutral I don’t normally have any preferences as to who wins the title as long as they are worthy winners and haven’t bought it. But this year my neutrality has been gradually eroded.

Gerrard is literally running the team on the pitch, barking out orders, maintaining organisation and making sure he is there to boost morale and offer support to younger lads as and when needed

I really, really want Liverpool to win the league and Stevie G to get his hands on the trophy. Sorry Chelsea and City fans, but I think football would be a better place if that were to happen.

Sticky situation

I imagine for a football player, finding out you have made it into the Panini World Cup sticker album must be a rather special moment representing, as it does, your coming of age on the international scene.

Which is why I understand young Costa Rica player Joel Campbell’s excitement when he found out he had been allocated sticker number 296 in this summer’s World Cup edition of the book.

The Arsenal player, who has spent the season on loan with Olympiakos and made his name scoring against Manchester United in the Champions League, rushed out and bought 100 packets of stickers to try and find himself, so to speak.

Sadly, much tearing and possibly a little swearing later, he had opened all the packets and was sat amidst a pile of 500 stickers – but not one of them had his mug on it.

Oh well, if its any consolation Joel, I’m still trying to find the England team badge from Italia 90…

United in Swieqi

Time for a bit of a local success story.

A few years ago the town of Swieqi didn’t have a football team, a surprising reality considering its population and Malta’s inherent love for the beautiful game.

Two university students decided this was a situation that needed rectifying and set about creating Swieqi United Football Club.

Sometimes when people have an ambitious idea of this magnitude they are put off by the sheer size of the task they are facing. But not Michael Calleja and Ralph Agius Fernadez, who teamed up with Justin Fenech to get the ball rolling. Literally.

This week the club celebrated its fifth anniversary and the progress made in a relatively short space of time is quite remarkable.

Not only has the club grown to include under-19 and under-17 teams, it also has a team in the Futsal Premier League, it’s own nursery and recently opened a seven-a-side pitch at Pembroke.

Even more significantly, however, is the fact that this season Swieqi won promotion to the second division, a massive achievement for such a young club.

With football being such a long established sport, it is becoming increasingly rare to hear of new clubs being born. After all, most towns, cities and villages around the world have had one or more clubs for many, many years. Even more rare is to hear of a new club making such dramatic progress in such a short space of time.

I would like to wish everyone involved in Swieqi the best of luck for the future.

Oh, and congratulate them on picking some brilliant initials for their team by the way – SUFC has a great ring to it…

United at Wembley

Meanwhile, the other SUFC, the one based in Sheffield that is, did me proud at Wembley in last Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.

Ultimately Hull proved to have too much Premier League skill and experience in the locker for the Blades, winning 5-3 in what has to go down as one of the best semi-finals so far at New Wembley.

But United led 2-1 at half time after completely out-performing their opponents and, despite losing the plot a bit in at the start of the second half, carried on fighting till the very end.

Making our first FA Cup final for nearly 80 years would have been special and I have to confess at half time I was mentally planning my May trip to Wembley.

But I still don’t see Sunday’s defeat as failure – getting there was a victory in itself and performing so well on such a big stage was a great experience for a young United team that is slowly but surely restoring my faith in the club.

I can easily see us pushing for promotion next season and, with Nigel Clough in charge and his refreshing belief that the cups do matter, why not another visit or two to Wembley. August can’t come around soon enough for me…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade

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