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Steven Gerrard: 'I was not out of control'
Ben Bailey23 Jul 2009
Steven Gerrard in court today
Steven Gerrard denied today that he lost control on the night he thumped a businessman three times in a bar brawl.
The England footballer told a court he was used to “mither” (bother) and had ways of smoothing over trouble when confronted.
Gerrard, who denies affray, told Liverpool crown court he was having an enjoyable night on 28 December last year as he celebrated Liverpool's 5-1 defeat of Newcastle United. He began his evening with friends at a bar in Formby, Merseyside, then went to the Vincent Hotel and the Lounge Inn in Southport, where the trouble flared into a brawl in which Marcus McGee, 34, was hit.
Gerrard, 29, has told the jury he estimated being about seven out of 10 on a drunkenness scale. Today he said: “I certainly knew I had had a drink. I was certainly in control of how I felt in my surroundings.”
His barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, said: “Obviously, there is no need to give an introduction to the captain of Liverpool Football Club.”
He said Gerrard had been in trouble with the police once before — when he was 19 he was banned from driving for nine months for drink-driving.
Mr Kelsey-Fry asked Gerrard if he had been in trouble with the police since then, and whether he had been involved in any other violent incident.
Gerrard replied that he had not. He said he suffered “a lot of mither”, not just in bars, but at traffic lights, shopping centres and in restaurants.
“Because I am a footballer, sometimes I get supporters coming up to me, be they Liverpool fans or Everton or
Manchester United fans, and sometimes the comments can be derogatory or insulting.
“So I try to deal with it in the best way I can. I try to talk to them and smooth it over.”
The trial continues.
