Some Liverpool supporters do not seem to have a problem with Mohamed Salah taking aim at the state of the club on his way out of the door this week.
In fact, judging by the response on social media, a huge number of fans are actively celebrating a club icon causing unnecessary division before his last game for the Reds.
These people do not seem to be able to grasp why some are extremely disappointed with Salah and his petulant behaviour. For those unable – or unwilling – to see a different point of view, Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has laid things out brilliantly.
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Nicol explains why Salah’s behaviour is unacceptable
Nicol is often a vocal critic of Liverpool when performances are not up to scratch, and he has been on some typically bullish rants about the state of things this season.
Nevertheless, his love for Liverpool cannot be in question. Having played for the club for 13 years, winning every trophy possible, the Scotsman knows exactly what it means to represent the Reds and, crucially, how to leave with dignity when the time comes. As he explained for ESPN this weekend, Salah is falling short on the latter.
“He is somebody who every single Liverpool fan has looked up to ever since he put a red shirt on, and he’s done nothing but give his heart and his soul and everything to Liverpool and Liverpool fans and Liverpool Football Club,” Nicol began.
“And to do this now, right at the end of his time at Liverpool, it’s just complete and utter madness and I don’t understand. Is he angry? Is he angry at the manager? I mean, come on. I don’t understand why he’s doing it.”
“Everybody’s looking forward to saying goodbye to Mohamed Salah, so why do you want to go ahead and tarnish it?” he continues. “Because there will be some who will be looking at this and going ‘hold on a second, why are you criticising our club?’ We all know it’s been a tough season, we know things haven’t gone well. We all know that Arne Slot hasn’t done a great job this year. So why are you shoving it down everybody’s throat?
“I can’t tell you how disappointed in him I am. He’s been a fantastic player and up until now he’s conducted himself at the highest level and then he goes and does this.”
Nicol brilliantly went on to hark back to the exits of some legendary former players and how Salah’s own departure falls way short of what should be expected from such an important figure.
“Liverpool have had so many fantastic players over the last 40 years,” he said. “The whole thing started in the mid-60s, right the way through to when I left and Liverpool were struggling, then they came back again and then they were struggling and then they came back under Klopp. The amount of quality, world-class players who have been the very same position that he finds himself in now.
“His time has come, he’s on the back end of his career and it happens to every single one of us as professionals. But at Liverpool there have been so many stars who have finished their time there and haven’t been regular starters, have gone through similar things that this guy’s going through. And how many of them do you remember coming out and criticising the club, or the manager, or the team, or anybody else? You don’t do it, it’s called class. That’s what it’s called, and he has shown in that statement that he doesn’t have the class of his former veterans at Liverpool who showed absolute class who were in the same position. That is a lack of class from Mo Salah, which I can’t believe I thought I would ever say that.”
Salah is leaving in the wrong way
Nicol was not the only one to make some good points about Salah on ESPN. Former Liverpool player Luis Garcia also admitted that he was not a fan of the statement, while Frank Leboeuf pointed towards the classy goodbyes from Robert Lewandowski and Antoine Griezmann in La Liga this weekend.
Leboeuf makes a point that when people remember Salah’s time at Liverpool, that will also encompass memories of how he left the club, too.
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Instead of simply celebrating what he’s done for the Reds and putting the last, miserable season to one side, Salah has ensured that the final year will be a big part of his legacy.
Nicol is right in that so many Liverpool legends have left the club in decades gone by. None have seen fit to declare that their way of playing football is the definitive way forward for the club, or have taken veiled shots at the current manager along the way.
Nicol is a great example of that, but so is Steven Gerrard, who left amid a much worse period for Liverpool in 2015. He had also fallen out with the manager, Brendan Rodgers, and endured a humiliating 6-1 defeat to Stoke City on his penultimate match.
Gerrard kept things classy on his way out, even though he felt he should have been given a new contract and a bigger role, and that is the way things should be done. His supporters say Salah is simply looking out for the club, but who on earth at the club does this help? As Nicol rightly says, we all know it has not been good enough, but you take your medicine and you move on. To many, Salah will always be a god, but to those who truly have the best interests of the club at heart, this has been a huge misstep.
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