I’m sick of footballers moaning, I’ve just retired & I’d give anything to play

IT’S only been four months since I last played professionally but I’m already sick of hearing managers and players moaning.

Moaning about kick-off times, moaning about fixture congestion, moaning about playing in too many competitions.

What wouldn’t I give to play just one more Premier League match?

What wouldn’t I give to have just one week like Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal players are experiencing now, in the heat of a title race?

It’s not that I never complained about my workload when I was playing — but I certainly didn’t do it publicly.

In a TV interview after Liverpool’s derby defeat by Everton on Wednesday, Virgil van Dijk made a point of mentioning that his team have to play West Ham at 12.30pm on Saturday.

It echoed a long-running gripe of Jurgen Klopp’s that Liverpool get more lunchtime kick-offs than anyone else.

To which the obvious response: 'OK, do you want to give back the huge slice of your salary that comes from TV money?’

Van Dijk plays for one of the most famous clubs in the world and it’s entirely natural that their matches are going to be televised live more than most other clubs.

Liverpool’s players are also paid more money than most for the same reason. They’re at the pinnacle. Where all of us wanted to be. So it’s tiresome to hear them moaning.

How will those complaints sound to a diehard fan, perhaps a manual worker, who’s gone to Goodison on Wednesday, then does two hard days’ graft and is up at dawn to get a train to London to watch his side again — paying serious money to do so?

That’s why you never heard me complaining publicly. And it’s funny but you never heard Liverpool’s players moaning about fixture congestion when things were going well — when they won the title in 2021.

Pep Guardiola