It must be said that Trent Alexander-Arnold was not the first Liverpool player to feel the wrath of his own supporters when he was met with howls of derision at Anfield on Sunday.
Ask Alan Kennedy and Phil Neal, legends who never left, about the moans that would come out of the Kemlyn Road stand on a Saturday afternoon if they weren't at their best. The old place has always had exacting standards.
But that doesn't remove some cold, hard truths about what happens next if, as seems likely, Alexander-Arnold doesn't sign a new contract and bid farewell to Anfield. Liverpool will lose some of the love for him. It will not be remembered as it could have been. A legacy will have been tarnished. It will hurt.
Liverpool is the type of city that makes it different for local players. A place where it's “us against the world,” where they take care of their own, appreciate their local stars, and – because it's supposed to be reciprocal – where the process of leaving, if not handled with subtlety and thought, will always seem like a betrayal.
When Steven Gerrard was deciding whether to leave for Chelsea in 2004 – a process of such anguish that he poured paracetamol down his throat and called a family friend who was a doctor to help him calm down – he sat stunned at home watching Fans Burn an old GERRARD 17 t-shirt near Shankly Gates. And he hadn't even remotely courted that team. Gerrard revealed years later that he had asked himself: 'Could I look at myself in the mirror again? Leaving would seem like a betrayal.
Michael Owen also felt the anguish. He says he drove to the city's John Lennon Airport crying and wondering: 'What have you done?' after signing for Real Madrid in 2004, having reached a flexible agreement with chief executive Rick Parry that he would return after about a season, as would Ian Rush, whom Liverpool decided to sell to Juventus in 1986 “I never dreamed of that leaving Liverpool. I never asked Real Madrid to come for me and I never worried,” Owen would later reflect.
Trent Alexander-Arnold faced fury from some Liverpool fans against Man United on Sunday
If Alexander-Arnold does not sign a new contract, Liverpool will lose some of the love for him
Steven Gerrard thought leaving would be 'a betrayal' when considering joining Chelsea
It was never the same between him and Liverpool. Nor for Steve McManaman, who single-handedly won two cup finals for the club, although he is hardly remembered for it due to the way he also left Anfield to join Real Madrid in 1999.
The individual with the deepest insight into all of this is Jamie Carragher, who after watching those two friends of his leave Liverpool would listen to Gerrard's private agonies about staying or leaving, when they shared a room. “Remember McManaman,” he said. “You can go and win something, but in Liverpool no one will bother about that.”
Carragher recounts this in an interview for the book Ring of Fire, author Simon Hughes's excellent account of Liverpool's history of the early 2000s, rating it with the consideration that Alexander-Arnold is no doubt weighing now.
'On the other hand, if you stay too long, people say, “You're shit.” You're finished “as soon as you hit 30 and have a few bad games,” he told Gerrard.
So it is not an easy terrain for this 26-year-old player who has been at Liverpool since he was six. But what Alexander-Arnold does have under his control is how he handles his exit, and so far there is little evidence that he realizes this.
To date, it has been dedicated to cryptic messaging, in the modern and completely depressing style. Informing an announcer that he would rather win a Ballon d'Or than another Champions League. Celebrating a goal at West Ham with a 'chat' gesture that seemed to mock the discussion about his future. It's at odds with that message on the mural depicting him near Anfield: “I'm just a normal boy from Liverpool whose dream has come true,” and it's a dangerous game he plays. It's fine if Liverpool continues to repeat victories. Less, if not.
Some have suggested since Sunday that fans who expressed negative feelings toward him were wrong. Nonsense, of course. No player can expect a free pass at Anfield, regardless of the achievements they have achieved before. Any Liverpool player who has seemed less committed than he should have heard about it over the years.
Michael Owen cried on the way to the airport after leaving Liverpool to sign for Real Madrid
Alexander-Arnold appeared to mock the discussion about his future by celebrating a goal
His cryptic message does not fit with the message written on his Liverpool mural
Signing a new deal with a realistic buyout clause could be one way to help preserve his legacy.
There is a route through all of this. A way of leaving Liverpool that would not be inharmonious. Sign a new deal with a realistic buyout clause, so that when Real Madrid return this summer, Liverpool take away something to reinvest.
In an interview with the Men in Blazers podcast on December 19, Alexander-Arnold said his ultimate personal ambition was to leave “a legacy,” explaining that this meant “being spoken of in the highest regard, especially after to have finished… as one”. of the best right backs, or the best right back.
Staying where you are surely offers the greatest guarantee of legacy, as Sir Kenny Dalglish, whose name is now emblazoned on the Kemlyn Road Stand, can attest.
“I never wanted to go abroad simply because I was afraid,” Dalglish said years after he retired. He wasn't sure he could understand the language or master the dressing room banter in Spain or Italy, he said, so he stuck with it and didn't regret it. It was a different world back then.
David Moyes OBE should get more love
It was a great irony that David Moyes was appointed OBE in the New Year's honors list, precisely when the madness of West Ham replacing him with the gloomy Julen Lopetegui was reaching its peak.
Moyes says he is not done yet, although he does not want another role in the fight against relegation.
That doesn't seem to rule out the idea of returning to Everton, a club now reduced to earning a point a game, with eight clean sheets in their last ten and struggling against any team that lets them have the ball.
But don't hold your breath. Moyes' lack of appreciation for him is one of the great business mysteries.
David Moyes was appointed OBE when the folly of West Ham replacing him became clear
Moyes' continued lack of appreciation for him is one of the great business mysteries
International cricket risks drowning in its own greed
More evidence arrives that international cricket is drowning in its own greed, with proposals for a two-tier Test cricket system that will mean the Ashes will be played twice every three years, thereby becoming belittled as a spectacle. .
Those who will inevitably suggest that the market must dictate – and that England, India and Australia are right to enter into agreements with each other that spin money around an expansion of their borders – may wish to consider the work that Ireland has done.
That country has greatly increased the turnover and quality of its game. The Big Three cartel has barely wanted to know.
The Ashes would be diminished as a spectacle if it were played twice every three years
The Big Three, including Australia and India, should consider the work Ireland has done.
The BBC documentary series on the London bombings of July 2005 revives my memory of reporting on those events for The Independent from the Holbeck district of Leeds, near Elland Road, where three of the suicide bombers were from.
Leeds United had been involved in vital community work at the time, amid controversy over the merger of a local, predominantly white school with its predominantly Asian neighbour.
The interdisciplinary project focused on the life of Albert Johanneson, a black footballer from South Africa who played for Leeds but died in poverty and obscurity. It was a great success.
Four days before the school merger took place, the bombs exploded, bringing Leeds back to square one. One of the countless tragedies of those dark days.