Liverpool FC writer Neil Jones has admitted that former club captain Jordan Henderson has to be ready to accept criticism for his transfer to Saudi Arabia club Al Ettifaq this summer.
The England international has received criticism from some quarters due to his previous fine work in supporting LGBTQ+ rights, with Jones admitting in his CaughtOffside column that he feels disappointed in the player for appearing hypocritical with his previous activism.
Henderson’s exit will also surely have come as a bit of a surprise to many, with Jones admitting it’s not how he expected the long-serving club captain to leave Anfield, as it comes close to the start of the new season without the chance of a proper farewell to the fans at the stadium.
“Jordan Henderson’s move to Al Ettifaq is now a done deal as has been widely expected for some time, and I’d be fascinated to see if he comes out to address some of the criticism that’s come his way, though you’d have thought maybe the time to do that was when the announcement was made,” Jones said.
“I think he has to accept the criticism, and I think he must have known it would be coming. When you put yourself in a position where you’re standing for something, as he did with LGBTQ+ rights, and then you take actions that go against what you previously stood for, you have to accept that you’re going to be accused of hypocrisy, that you’re going to be accused of changing your priorities.
“I think the main word I’d use to sum up Liverpool fans’ feelings is sadness. To be club captain, to be at the club for 12 years and to leave without any real fanfare, doesn’t really feel right. I know he got some messages from Jurgen Klopp and his teammates on social media, but I think when we pictured Henderson leaving Liverpool we thought it would be with an emotional ceremony at Anfield where he’d get the chance to say goodbye and fans would get the chance to show him what they think of him.
“It feels a little bit unsatisfactory for him to leave this way – close to the start of the new season, and to a league like the Saudi Pro League, which, with all due respect, is not the strongest even with the flurry of big-name signings this summer, while Al Ettifaq are a team he probably hadn’t even heard of a few months ago.
“There’s a lot of disappointment in him, and I have to say I understand it completely – he positioned himself as an ally to people who needed allies, and got a lot of plaudits for it, and it looks to me and to a lot of people that he’s no longer that, or that the priorities of his life have changed.
“While it’s hard to put too much on his shoulders in terms of the challenges that LBGTQ+ people face, when you put yourself out there to support those issues, it makes a difference, and likewise when you don’t support those issues, or go against what you’ve previously done, it makes a difference as well. That’s now a big part of this story, as big as Liverpool losing their captain and of the growing influence of the Saudi league, I think the moral side of it is front and centre, and I don’t think he comes out of it very well, personally.”
Henderson was a star player for Liverpool for many years and lifted both the Champions League and Premier League titles as captain, so while he’ll surely still go down as a Reds legend, it’s clear he’s soured his reputation slightly with the way he’s handled his future this summer.