A quick look at the internet versions of today’s papers confirmed to me that there was no point whatsoever in going out and paying for them. Sunday’s papers always seem to bring out the worst in the journalists in this country, I really don’t see why. Liverpool aren’t the only victims of the clamour to make the big news that will be spoken about all week. If there’s nothing true to sensationalise then it’s just made up.

The Mirror had a go at us on Friday through their interview with the cowardly traitor off the Liverpool board, their sister papers are determined to join in today.
Take the People. Well, don’t take the People, because if this is an example of the standard of their product then it’s really not worth paying for. They have a story today, by a Mr Bates, saying that Gerrard is off to Madrid. Well, they say Madrid want him. They want him so much that they let it slip to a tacky Sunday paper in the UK before they told their own contacts in their own press:

People.co.uk - MAD FOR HIM
EXCLUSIVE SPANISH GIANTS TARGET GERRARD Real plot £32Mraid
By Steve Bates

STEVEN GERRARD will find a £32million European bolt-hole at Real Madrid this summer if his fragile relationship with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez reaches breaking point.

That was the word emerging from Spain last night with Madrid ready to part company with one English legend - David Beckham - and welcome another in Gerrard next summer.

I understand Madrid chief Fabio Capello is a huge fan of Gerrard and the Spanish giants are reported to be willing to pay the £32m it would cost topers uade Liverpool to part with the Kop king. Gerrard revealed after the disappointment of the World Cup how he hoped Liverpool would finally end 16 years of misery by lifting the Premiership title for the first time since 1990 this season.

But after a poor start they are in turmoil with dissent in the boardroom being compounded by fan anger and frustration to give Benitez his first full-blown crisis since taking over from Gerrard Houllier.

“Fan anger and frustration”? People were fed up I’ll grant you that after last weekend’s victory, but they were far from acting angry with Rafa yesterday. Not that Mr Bates would have checked this out anyway. He goes on…

Last night Benitez insisted Gerrard was happy despite being played on the wide right of midfield and he doesn’t want to sell his inspirational skipper - who feels he’s wasted in an isolated role.

But senior members of Liverpool’s hierarchy are concerned a substantial bid from Madrid for the Anfield skipper is in the pipeline - and this time the 26-year-old England star will go.

Well there’s only one “senior member” of Liverpool’s hierchary who’d go to the likes of Bates with his views in this way, and he picked the People’s sister paper the Daily Mirror for his moment of back-stabbing. The next paragraph from Mr Bates was sensationalist nonsense, because Gerrard still does not want to leave Anfield, no matter how many reporters and pundits try to make it seem that way:

He knows his only realistic escape from Anfield next summer is to Spain to either Madrid or Barcelona.

Chelsea no longer need him, while Arsenal couldn’t afford his fee or £120,000-a-week wages and he wouldn’t go to Manchester United.

Meanwhile the Sunday Mirror are just as bad:

SundayMirror.co.uk - WORLD EXCLUSIVE: GERRARD’S RAFA RIFT
29 October 2006
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: GERRARD’S RAFA RIFT
Skipper’s future in the balance
By Simon Mullock

STEVEN GERRARD’S future at Liverpool is hanging in the balance, with the Anfield captain growing increasingly unhappy with life under Rafa Benitez.

Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal the strained relationship between Gerrard and Benitez is now close to breaking point.

Gerrard publicly insists that he is happy to play anywhere in Benitez’s tactical system.

But privately, he feels his poor form this season is down to the Spaniard’s insistence that he plays wide on the right of midfield, while Xabi Alonso and Momo Sissoko play in his favourite central position. Gerrard is prepared to put his preference to one side for England - but feels his talent is going to waste at Anfield.

Benitez, who has insisted he will not quit Liverpool, now faces a third fight to keep the £30m-rated midfielder at his home-town club. Gerrard looked destined for Chelsea after Euro 2004, but was persuaded by Benitez when the Spaniard arrived at Anfield from Valencia.

Twelve months later he asked for a transfer after becoming frustrated by the lack of progress regarding new contract talks - but changed he mind again.

“World Exclusive”? You made it up! Sorry Mullock, but you aren’t one of Gerrard’s confidantes! He’s probably not even heard of you, let alone spent any time chatting with you. “Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal the strained relationship between Gerrard and Benitez is now close to breaking point” - I think you mean that Sunday Mirror sport’s lazy reporter made this story up on Friday afternoon, after Lipton printed the story in the Daily version of your paper from the idiot on the Liverpool board.

Some of the stuff being spread about Stevie around Liverpool is even worse than this, and equally fake. All kinds of stories about personal issues for Stevie, all kinds of stories about how one paper or other will have it printed soon, yet not a shred of evidence. No photo, no video, in this day of camera phones. No “someone close to the couple” quotes. Nothing. Why? Because none of it is true.

I don’t know how they live with themselves making stuff up like this, when they know that it can only cause hurt. Stevie hurt a lot of us when he said he was leaving - but he made up for that in other ways. We’d not have won the FA Cup without him for example and we certainly wouldn’t have finished third last season without him. All the players have started off badly this season, Stevie included, but yesterday they showed that they are determined to stop the rot. If Stevie comes out in the papers himself and says he’s leaving, that’s the time to slate him. Until that happens - and all the real evidence points to it not happening - then button it.
It’s time that Liverpool supporters (not all of you, just some of you) started to remember that Steven Gerrard is a life-long Red and a human being, just like you. Ignore the stories the mancs and bluenoses are trying to spread. And stop spreading them yourselves too - especially those of you who’ve sent emails to us with this nonsense. The press are already having a good go at ruining Steven Gerrard and Liverpool’s season, and I really don’t know why. Don’t give them that bit of help they need to finish the job off.

People who are close to the players know that these stories are nonsense, especially the rumours that no paper would dare to print because they are so fake they’d be sued. The rumours are so wide-ranging that eventually they might actually get one right, but there’s no way all of them could be right, they contradict each other. And if just one of them did turn out to be true, don’t Liverpool supporters owe it to Steven to allow him to sort it out in his own way?
As for what the papers can print, well between Friday’s Mirror and today’s two Sunday versions of that paper, it’s clear that someone in that group - at least the southern-based part of that group - has some kind of an agenda against Liverpool FC and maybe that’ll be clearer soon. In the meantime I think most Reds would be better finding something else to read instead.