An open letter to Raheem Sterling from a Liverpool fan

Raheem Sterling seems to be burning all bridges with Liverpool

Dear Raheem,

Over the past couple of days, you have asked to be omitted from Liverpool’s pre-season tour to Asia and failed to report to training. Before I say anything else, let me just tell you this:

In my 10 years of supporting this club, I have not seen a more exciting talent emerge from our academy. What you are capable of doing with a football at your feet, there aren’t too many other 20 year-olds in the world who can boast of doing that. There is absolutely no questioning your ability and potential as a footballer, but decision-making? Nah. We’ll leave that for another day.

Your decision-making on the pitch is questionable. You have always struck me as a player who relied more on instinct than reason. What else can explain you running through the heart of the Chelsea rearguard or scoring that goal at Carrow Road in early 2014 on one day, and missing open goals on others?

Let us get this straight; I, like most other Liverpool fans, rate you. We rate you massively. We see a potential superstar in you. But we also accept that you aren’t quite that finished article just yet. If you had thought like us, you would have known better than to reject a £100m a week contract or refuse to go on a pre-season tour with the rest of the squad.

But you, with that questionable decision-making ability, chose not to think like the fans who so adore the club. Instead, you chose another man to think for you. A man for whom the pay he receives as an Agent Fee when you leave Liverpool, would be more money than he has ever made at one go.

Aidy Ward and you have held the club to ransom ever since the club started its negotiations with you for a new contract. You could have chosen to respectfully reason with the club, as to why you deserve to be paid as much as you think you do. Instead, you chose to go on BBC and face their cameras without the club’s permission.

At that time, I really wished that Brendan Rodgers and the rest of the club hierarchy put their foot down against the filth that you were throwing in front of them. Why should a club, with such a rich history and tradition be bullied to submission by anyone?

And now, after your latest histrionics, I’m divided in my opinion. One-half of me wants you to go wherever you want to because we don’t like such unadulterated filth at our club. But, there is the other half of me. The half that is the sadist.

The half that wants the club to make an example out of you, so that future coaches can quote to their talented youngsters, “You never do what Raheem Sterling did”. That half of me wants the club to play hardball against Manchester City or whoever puts in a bid for you.

Demand unrealistic fees that no one would pay for you, even in the wildest of dreams. And for the first tantrum you throw, that half of me wants you to be training with the U21s. You are still under 21, mind you!

In your interview to the BBC, you said you did not want to be perceived as a money-grabbing 20-year-old. Unfortunately, your course of action after that has suggested that you are every bit a money-grabbing 20-year-old as you said you did not want to be perceived as.

For us fans, we want to see Liverpool climbing back up to the top of English football. We want the club to reclaim the perch that is rightfully ours. And as we begin a new season, the last thing we want is a distraction. We want the players and the staff to be focussed on achieving what everyone at the club wants to, and if they are to do that, it wouldn’t be with a 20-year-old publicly criticizing the manager.

We know your head was turned long ago. After all this, you have reached an untenable position at Liverpool. You got booed by England fans recently and trust me, your reception won’t be much different if you ever set foot on the hallowed turf of Anfield again.

I can criticize your agent all I want – but ultimately, he is just his client’s master. In your current state of mind, you are poison, Raheem, and I don’t want that at our club, ever.

For me, the bid that takes you away from Liverpool FC cannot come soon enough.

So Long, Raheem.

Yours,A Disgruntled Red