FOOTBALL BOOK REVIEWS

PUBLISHER MICHAEL JOSEPH. OCTOBER 2022: 336 PAGES

INDEED, HAD HENDERSON HAD HIS WAY, THIS BOOK, RATHER THAN BEARING HIS NAME, WOULD HAVE BEEN TITLED WITH OR WITHOUT ME. NO, IT’S NOT A HOMAGE TO U2’S ‘WITH OR WITHOUT YOU’ BUT RATHER AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HENDERSON’S BELIEF THAT LIVERPOOL’S SUCCESS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITH, OR MORE IMPORTANTLY WITHOUT, HIM. THIS MAY COME ACROSS AS FALSE MODESTY FROM SOME AND I’M NOT SURE THERE WOULD BE MANY OTHER PREMIER LEAGUE AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS WHO WOULD BE SO QUICK TO WRITE OFF THEIR INFLUENCE, BUT FROM HENDERSON IT’S A GENUINE MARKER OF THE MAN –HIS LACK OF PRETENSION, HIS SENSE OF HUMILITY AND HIS RESPECT FOR HIS PEERS. I SUSPECT, THOUGH, THAT WHILE HENDERSON BELIEVES THE SUCCESS COULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT HIM, HIS TEAMMATES, FANS AND MANAGER WOULD VEHEMENTLY ARGUE THE TOSS. AFTER ALL, HENDERSON HAS BEEN AT THE BEATING HEART OF

LIVERPOOL’S MIDFIELD (AND EVEN, WHEN CALLED UP ON, THEIR DEFENCE) FOR OVER A DECADE.

THAT’S AN IMPRESSIVE ENOUGH FEAT AT ANY TEAM BUT TO HOLD DOWN THAT PLACE IN A SIDE THAT HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY CHALLENGING FOR DOMESTIC AND EUROPEAN HONOURS SPEAKS OF JUST HOW INTEGRAL AND VALUED HE IS.

IT IS EASY TO FORGET TOO THAT HENDERSON AND HIS CAREER WAS IN ITS RELATIVE INFANCY WHEN HE ARRIVED AT ANFIELD FROM SUNDERLAND IN 2011 AND THE TASK OF MAKING HIS MARK AND FORCING HIS WAY INTO A REDS SIDE LOOKING TO RECREATE

LIVERPOOL’S GLORY DAYS WOULD HAVE DAUNTED

MANY. HENDERSON NOT ONLY BATTLED IT OUT, BUT HE TURNED AROUND PERCEPTIONS AND THEN STEPPED UP TO FILL PERHAPS THE BIGGEST VOID IN RECENT LIVERPOOL HISTORY WHEN THE ICONIC STEVEN GERRARD LEFT. HENDERSON’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS TESTAMENT TO HIS DETERMINATION, HIS ENDEAVOUR AND HIS RESPONSIBILITY. THERE’S ALSO AN INCREDIBLE MATURITY, A WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT HIS FLAWS AND CRUCIALLY WORK AT THEM AND TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEAM AND TO PLAY HIS PART.

THERE IS MUCH TO ENJOY IN THE BOOK ABOUT LIFE AT LIVERPOOL, THE EARLY DAYS OF KLOPP’S REIGN, STRUGGLES WITH INJURY, MEMORABLE NIGHTS (FOR DIFFERENT REASONS) IN KYIV AND MADRID AND THAT COMPELLING FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE IN THIRTY YEARS, BUT WHAT DEFINES HENDERSON ARE HIS VALUES AND HIS ETHOS. HE SPEAKS ELOQUENTLY AND HONESTLY ON EVERYTHING FROM THE PRESSURES OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CHALLENGES OF CRITICISM TO RACISM, THE FAILED SUPER LEAGUE AND THE PRIVILEGES OF BEING A FOOTBALLER. HIS WORDS CARRY WEIGHT, AS DO HIS ACTIONS, AND ON AND OFF THE PITCH HE EPITOMISES WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CAPTAIN, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A LEADER, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A ROLE MODEL. WITH HIM, LIVERPOOL HAVE EXPERIENCED ONE OF THEIR MOST SUCCESSFUL PERIODS IN HISTORY – A COINCIDENCE, I THINK NOT. WITHOUT HIM, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY DIFFERENT STORY.

WITH OR WITHOUT HIM? I SUSPECT LIVERPOOL FANS WOULD SAY WITH HIM, 100%.