Jordan Henderson opens his mouth and removes all doubt
Sometimes it really is better to just keep quiet on a subject. It's a lesson that Jordan Henderson seems likely to learn the hard way.
At least, we might console ourselves, it is being called out in the strongest possible terms and in the plainest possible language. This is what sportswashing looks like. This is sportswashing. For the remaining few who have any doubts over the meaning of one of the most contentious words to have entered the sporting lexicon over the last twenty years, just refer them to this.
If part of the aim of the Saudi spending was part of a process of softening up the world for a World Cup finals bid, what more could they have asked for than a current England international and former captain—thanks for your role in this, Mr Southgate—giving an interview to The Athletic in which he says, “It was all about what we could do together to achieve something special and build a club and build the league”?
On going to Saudi Arabia “to grow the game that I love in another country, and grow the league into one of the best in the world” (presumably because he finds it upsetting that anyone could possibly think he’s doing it for the money), and on the outrage felt over someone who outwardly presented themselve as an ally to them, he had this verbal facepalm to say:
And obviously the LGBTQ+ community. I can understand the frustration. I can understand the anger. I get it. All I can say around that is that I’m sorry that they feel like that.
The absolute template non-apology. Not, “I’m sorry I did this thing”, but, “I did this thing, and in an ideal world for me you wouldn’t have got upset by this thing but well, you know.” It would have been one thing to simply shrug his shoulders and point at the thirty Rolexes wrapped up his forearm. It’s a kinda depressing thought, but there may be an element of truth to the suggestion that everybody has a price. But it’s a whole other to effectively say, “I’m not here for the money, I’m here to help build the brand”.
What is less comprehensible is why Henderson should have chosen to compound his initial decision in this way. Maybe, at some point along the line, someone has simply misjudged the mood. You can almost imagine a PR person making the short-sighted decision that it would be best to say, “Well actually, no, I’m not just doing this for the money”. No-one likes to be labelled a mercenary, after all.
But when I say myopic, I mean myopic, because no further thought seems to have been put into this. I mean, “Now, when I was making the decision, the way that I tried to look at it was I felt as though, by myself not going, we can all bury our heads in the sand and criticise different cultures and different countries from afar.” Those are not the words of someone who has thought this through in any coherent way whatsoever.
He suggests that, “people know what my values are and the people who know me know what my values are”, when almost exact opposite is the case. He gave a very distinct impression, and then did a complete 180-degree turn on it. It would have been a pretty lame piece of behaviour, even if the people he was promoting didn’t routinely commit grotesque human rights violations. Respect for taking the coin would likely have been grudging, but many would have shrugged their shoulders and thought, “Okay, fair enough.”
Elsewhere, he ventures into what is surely sophistry over his departure from Liverpool with the implication that somehow or other Anfield or Riyadh. It is frankly not believable that there was no other club at any level of the game, anywhere the world, that would have taken him on, even if his requirement for his next club had been, say, top flight or even European football.
I could go on. And on. And on. And on.
When you consider just how much trouble Jordan Henderson could have not had over where he went at the end of his time with Liverpool, it’s difficult to believe that this won’t all end up looking like a rather stupid decision. Unless he has financial management issues of Madoffian proportions, he doesn’t need the money. The weather out there is still getting close to 100 degrees fahrenheit at night. It doesn’t sound like much fun.
When his rainbow armband was switched to black and white, it was a precursor for what was to follow. Jordan Henderson has torched his reputation with one side of this country’s culture wars. Perhaps he’ll be doing his next interview with GB News, since they seem to be the most likely to go out to bat for him now. And what might the reaction be when it comes to his next England appearance (if there is one)?
In the meantime, the only reasonable advice to give to the LGBTQ+ community is not to expect allyship from professional footballers. Certainly not the men’s players. Because the unpalatable truth is that their opinions seem to be held until the price is right, at which point it doesn’t really matter how despotic the owners are, or whether you’re laundering their reputation. But Jordan Henderson might well find that his own reputation could do with a turn in the washing machine once he’s taken his coin and returned to England.
I'm more upset with Southgate than Henderson. JH is deluded, clearly buying into his own hubristic gibberish. Southgate is the England manager. He's picking Henderson, a man who has elected to go effectively part-time in a fledgeling league, and Maguire, someone struggling to get on the bench at a dysfunuctional former giant of the EPL.
These choices expose a manager approaching the twilight of his career. These two will suck up way too much oxygen and keep form players out of the squad.