Liverpool’s embarrassment at Stoke came once players already had bags packed for Dubai holiday

Liverpool were thrashed 6-1 by Stoke in Steven Gerrard’s final game
Players went straight from the ground to fly to Dubai for a holiday
The trip was to mark Gerrard’s departure from the club
But Brendan Rodgers cancelled his trip to Wembley to front up for defeat

Published:
21:32 GMT, 26 May 2015

|
Updated:
21:56 GMT, 26 May 2015

View
comments

Liverpool fans who saw their team thrashed 6-1 by Stoke will not be impressed that the players had already packed their holiday bags before the game.

After the humiliating loss, most of the squad travelled straight from the Britannia Stadium to Manchester airport en route to their holiday destination of the Royal Meridian Hotel in Dubai.

The three-day trip was arranged by the players to mark captain Steven Gerrard’s departure from Liverpool after a hoped-for FA Cup final farewell for the club’s talisman failed to materialise.

Liverpool stars Steven Gerrard (centre), Philippe Coutinho (left) and Lucas look on during the Stoke defeat

Liverpool were thrashed 6-1 by Stoke City in their final game of the season, Gerrard’s last for the club

After suffering the embarrassment at the Britannia stadium, Liverpool’s players flew straight to Dubai

The intention might have been admirable but the side performing at Stoke like they were playing in flip-flops and sunglasses will not go down well with the Liverpool faithful especially after such a disappointing season.

In contrast manager Brendan Rodgers cancelled a helicopter trip down to Wembley to front up after the six-goal debacle rather than hurry off to support his midfielder son Anton who was on the Swindon bench for their League One play-off final defeat.

The club knew in advance about the players’ plans to give Gerrard a special send-off in the UAE but the team made all the arrangements themselves. A Liverpol spokesman refused to comment on the sunshine jolly yesterday.

The trip was to mark the end of Gerrard’s Liverpool career, but it backfired with a woeful performance

Brendan Rodgers did cancel his trip – to Wembley to watch his son – in the wake of the hammering at Stoke

The ExCo meeting on Saturday that follows Sepp Blatter’s coronation for a ludicrous fifth term could be a lot more lively than the pre-ordained election vote on Friday.

World Cup spots are up for discussion with UEFA adamant they will not relinquish any of their 13 places.

Sepp Blatter is set to win another term in charge of FIFA, but the meeting that follows could be more interesting

So the most likely fudge is that 2018 hosts Russia will automatically qualify as one of those 13 Euro representatives and their 14th place becomes a play-off between Concacaf and Asia, two of the confederations that Blatter has reportedly promised an extra spot.

Jeffrey Webb, Concacaf president, believes UEFA has too much power on the ExCo but he wants the World Cup to remain a 32-team competition.

Jeffrey Webb, the Concacaf President, has spoken out against the idea of expanding the World Cup

Prince Ali of Jordan’s chances of winning more than 40 votes out of 209 at Friday’s FIFA presidential election look doomed when his own Asian Football Confederation cancelled their planned summit in Zurich today because they had only recently met in Bahrain.

It was Ali’s last chance to attract more much-needed support from inside his own confederation whose hierarchy are firmly backing Blatter.

Not only is Blatter set to win, but his rival may struggle to get more than 40 of the 209 available votes

There was no mention at the last FIFA ExCo meeting about when the Michael Garcia report into World Cup corruption will be published despite promises to do so.

But at least there’s now more chance of the reforming voices on the ExCo being heard with nine new members coming on board this weekend and two arch rogues departing in Worawi Makudi of Thailand and the Ivory Coast’s Jacques Anouma.

FIFA are still yet to announce when the corruption report by Michael Garcia will be published

Adidas’ bag bonanza

Adidas’ £750m kit-supply contract with Manchester United has not affected their largesse when it comes to FIFA Congress gifts.

The ExCo fat cats and their partners were presented with a large travelling bag of goodies each on arrival in Zurich.

The other delegates are getting smaller Adidas luggage with nothing inside. However the ethics committee will be relieved there were no watches hidden among the trainers and polo shirts.

Retiring FIFA ExCo member Jim Boyce calls the ridiculous palava over the Brazilian football gift of the £16,000 Parmigiani watches to FIFA delegates in Sao Paulo the most distressing episode of his four years in Zurich.

FIFA ExCo member Jim Boyce said the watches scandal was the most distressing of his last four years

New FA chief executive Martin Glenn, having seen the great Wembley atmosphere from Norwich and Middlesbrough who had 40,000 fans each at the Championship play-off final, is further motivated to find a way for the FA Cup finalists to be given more tickets as the FA board discussed this week. But taking perks away from the FA blazers is easier said than done.

Fans flock to Wembley for the play-off final, and the new FA chief wants to see similar scenes in the FA Cup

The first dirty tricks of FIFA presidential election week saw Prince Ali report to his hired ethics advisor, former Met chief John Stevens who runs the Quest corporate investigative unit rather than FIFA that an unnamed individual from an unnamed country had offered to buy 47 election votes for him.

Quest have refused to say which police force they informed, but Germany is understood to be the country involved.