The best footballing farewell? It's an open and Schutt case

AMONG the many footballing farewells we will suffer, patiently, as the season comes to a close were the emotional departures of Steven Gerrard and Alje Schutt on Saturday.

The Premier League made the most of Stevie G's last game at Anfield; understandably so. A player who spends 17 years at one club and NEVER changes his hairstyle in the modern age is a rare commodity.

Sadly, after the guard of honor with his three daughters, Gerrard was unable to conjure a final chapter of magic in a career highlighted by that three-goal comeback to win the Champions League in Istanbul.

Instead we witnessed once-mighty Liverpool getting hammered 3-1 by Alan Pardew's revived Crystal Palace; by the end, Gerrard was goal-hanging, exhausted by the hype, hoping for a large slice of good fortune to deny Palace a just result.

Afterwards, the Liverpool players - including a laughing Mario Balotelli - emerged in shirts with Gerrard emblazoned on the back and we listened to The man himself offer a few creaking platitudes about  how tremendously proud he was to have played for such a great club and in front of such wonderful fans.

Few will mention the time, in 2003, when Gerrard agreed to join Chelsea but reneged on the deal after threats to his family from those same fans. And nobody dare mentions what Frank Lampard did to Chelsea after his "move to America" actually saw him go on a full season loan to deposed champions Manchester City.

So good luck in Los Angeles, Stevie... And don't mention the infamous slip which let Demba Ba in to ruin Liverpool's rare title challenge this time last year.

A far more satisfying footballing farewell had already taken place in Port Elizabeth by the time Liverpool submerged themselves in crocodile tears.

The Dutchman Alje Schutt, in his last game for Mamelodi Sundowns, gave his all in the Nedbank Cup final, physically and verbally. he rallied his troops against Roger de Sa's stubborn young side and earned a yellow card for his attempts to keep the referee on his toes.

As extra-time wore on, Schutt fell heavily after an aerial challenge. His 34-year-old ankle had clearly given up. But not Schutt. He manfully limped on until, five minutes before the penalty shoot-out, Pitso Mosimane took him off, saying later: "This final was a tribute to our captain, we wanted him to go home with another trophy."

And he did, thanks to an extraordinary shoot-out which saw Ajax Cape Town's youngsters succumb to the pressure with THREE big misses, to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory.

It's what happened after 120 goalless minutes and a dreadful set of penalties which roused the nation.

Schutt, who burst in to tears when the Nedbank Cup had been added to his 2014 championship medal (that's one more than Gerrard ever managed in 17 years), was thrust forward for his post-match interview late, after much celebration and back-patting from the KaboYellow troops.

What he said should be framed and put on a wall at Chloorkop, and added to every school syllabus. I hope I've got it word perfect:

"This was a great win for Sundowns, I could hardly walk at the end. I'm just so glad we won it.

"South Africa has been so good to me. This is a wonderful country, I have enjoyed my time here, every minute.

"I want to say that xenophobia is not the South Africa I know. Everybody I met was so warm and friendly. They made me feel at home. It cannot be right.

"This is an amazing country. It is not over. I WILL BE BACK."

Hours after Schutt's heartfelt message, friends - South African and otherwise - started sending me messages from Sunnyside, the Sundowns heartland in central Tshwane, saying the police were out in force hunting down foreigners at the dead of night.

I prefer to remember Schutt's words. Xenophobia is not the South Africa I know.

Sent from my iPad

Gerrard: I Won't Let Real Speculation Spoil This World Cup

SPECULATION over Steven Gerrard’s long-awaited departure from Anfield will NOT spoil his performances at next month’s World Cup.

Gerrard, constantly linked with Real Madrid this time around, admits transfer gossip affected his performances in Germany four years ago but he insists: “I won’t make that mistake again. People around me are under strict instructions not to be talking about my club future or any speculation – it’s not important now.”

One of English football’s best known faces – part of a golden generation which includes Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry – says simply: “I’m not really interested at the moment in what’s going on at Liverpool. The biggest thing you can do as a player is win the World Cup.

“There’s still a lot of ambition in me to go and achieve big things. But this might be my last World Cup – I turn 30 soon and the next one in Brazil is four years away.

“My thinking is just to make the most of this one. I fell into the trap four years ago at the last World Cup in Germany. I was driving myself mad thinking about my future – this time I won’t make this mistake.

“I feel as if I am experienced enough now to park issues like that. If other people want to talk about my future, I can’t control that.

“For me, I am really focused and determined at the moment to put all my energy into playing for England.

“But four years ago I used to go back to my room and read the papers, go on the internet and then I would speak to people at home, who were telling me that there was stuff going on.

“I knew that Chelsea were very interested because my agent was telling me. But this year, that won’t be happening. Every time I went back to my room I was driving myself mad thinking about whether I should go to Chelsea or not.

“Mentally, it might have drained me. I don’t know if it did or not but it might have. What is important is that I have a good and successful World Cup with the team. Agents, friends and family have been told not to be talking to me about club stuff.

“You don’t know what the reason was for me not doing myself justice in Portugal in the European Championships and at the World Cup in Germany.

“As a team, we weren’t successful in ’04 and ’06 and not many players came out of it with flying colours, so hopefully this time it will be different.

“The squad is a lot more experienced and the quality is there. The question now is can we go out on the pitch and prove we can be successful enough to challenge for the World Cup?”

There’s no question this has been one of the toughest season’s of Gerrard’s Liverpool career. While the American owners attempt to sell the club, Rafa Benitez could only guide his side to a lowly seventh in the Premier League after failing to see the Reds through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

Off the field, Gerrard has been subjected to all kinds of internet rumours and the Daily Mail snapped a picture of his wife Alex Curran without her wedding ring when they investigated the shocking but unsubstantiated claims.

Four years ago, when Gerrard considered joining Chelsea following the arrival of Roman Abramovich’s billions, the move fell through amid death threats to his family.

But it looks like this may be the year Gerrard finally makes the break from his home town with Jose Mourinho’s imminent arrival at Real Madrid the major talking point.

Currently training in Austria before arriving in England’s Phokeng training ground at the Royal Marang next week, said: “After this World Cup, you have three or four weeks’ holiday to consider what the next best move will be for you.

“But also, that depends on how well we do in the World Cup and also what the manager is thinking – so that might be taken out of your hands.

“It has been a disappointing season at club level so, yes, it’s definitely a case of hoping to make up for that at the World Cup and trying to achieve something with England.

“This season was a massive disappointment after finishing second the previous year.

“The challenge for me was can we go one step further? But we took steps backwards.

“Hopefully, things might happen at Liverpool while I’m away. There might be players coming in to help strengthen the team.”rengthen the team.”

Lampard and Gerrard are not among the best midfielders in the Premier League. Who says so? Their fellow professionals!

FRANK LAMPARD is not one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. Neither is Steven Gerrard. Who says so? Their fellow professionals.

When the Professional Footballers’ Association named their team of the season today, neither Chelsea stalwart Lampard – who scored twice in the 7-0 demolition of Stoke yesterday – nor Gerrard – who produced a rasper for Liverpool against Burnley – were included.

And if England manager Fabio Capello needed a further blow before he names his provisional World Cup squad of 30 on May 11, John Terry wasn’t included either in a side which featured Irishman Richard Dunne of Aston Villa and Arsenal’s new find, Belgian Thomas Vermaelen, in the heart of defence.

There was no place either for Ashley Cole, generally considered the best left-back in the country, though he can blame injury for the lack of faith shown in his compact talents by his colleagues. That’s fair enough, but how United’s Darren Fletcher gets a place ahead of Lamps or Gerrard, I’ll never understand.

Cesc Fabregas? Fair enough, though he was far less influential than either Lampard or Gerrard this season. Still, I'd love to see the side named in London last night compete in the World Cup under a Premier League flag!

The team picked by the PFA (listed in full below) will generally depress Capello. There are just three Englishmen included: young Joe Hart in goal, the inspirational James Milner in the middle of the park and, of course, Wayne Rooney up front.

But the good news for Capello comes in the individual awards. As expected Rooney, top scorer in the Premier League with 24 this season, gets the nod as the Players’ Player of the Year, while Milner, who replaced Rooney as the youngest scorer in the top flight when he scored for Leeds at 16 in 2002, earns the Young Player accolade.

Rooney, twice a winner of the Young Player award, continues a bit of a Manchester United tradition: Ryan Giggs won it for his ageless talents last season while Cristiano Ronaldo won it in 2007 and 2008 before decamping for Real Madrid.

All the talk of course, is of Rooney’s gluteus maximus injury, also known locally as “the pain in the Arsenal.” United say he’ll be out for the last two games of the season but Rooney himself insists he will try to make himself available: another reason to be uncheerful for Capello.

Rooney, interviewed by Sky’s superb analyst Jeff Stelling after winning his award last night, said: “I voted for Didier Drogba for the senior award and Cesc Fabregas for young player.”

Asked if he thought he was the best in the world, Rooney grinned modestly: “It's nice that people put me up there, but for me I think Messi is the best in the world.”

He insisted his knee and his backside WILL be fit for the World Cup, as Stelling sympathetically said: “The whole nation gets in a panic when you’ve got a runny nose.”

Rooney added: 'You rely on the support and service of your team-mates. Without the support of people like Antonio Valencia (who has effectively replaced Ronaldo at United and was also named in the Premier League team of the season), I wouldn't be scoring goals. A lot of what I think I've achieved personally this season is down to that support from my team-mates.”

Rooney’s stats this season – assuming he doesn’t play in those last two games against Sunderland and Stoke – are: 230 shots, 82 on target, 34 goals in total, 18 with the right foot, an unprecedented 10 with the head, six with the left foot.

He has scored 20 at home, 12 away – and those two at Wembley. Thirteen goals came in first half, 21 in the second half. Some season.

But in the Premier League at least, he could be over-taken by Didier Drogba, who is one behind him on 24, with Liverpool and Wigan to play.

The Premier League team of the season, as selected by the Premier League players: Joe Hart (Birmingham, on loan from Manchester City/England), Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea/Serbia), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal/Belgium), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa/Republic of Ireland), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/France), Antonio Valencia (Manchester United/Ecuador), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal/Spain), Darren Fletcher (Manchester United/Scotland), James Milner (Aston Villa/England), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United/England), Didier Drogba (Chelsea/Ivory Coast).

My view? Dunne is a poor man’s Terry, Fletcher can’t compete with Lampard in terms of goals or presence, Sunderland’s Darren Bent deserved a shout ahead of Drogba. He’s scored one less goal for Sunderland who have scored 47 goals to Chelsea’s 93.

Apart from that? I'd suggest Arsenal's Bacary Sagna ahead of Ivanovic at right back but I'd be showing my bias!

Otherwise, this combination, boasting players from nine nations, would be capable of taking on just about any other League Select XI in the world. Except, perhaps, for La Liga.

But then that English v. Spanish debate could dominate the World Cup at all levels this summer.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqck5JuZtuc or www.nealcollins.co.uk .