North-West Side Story, Geordie Sure and a night of drama at the opera
Isak saga dominates football's current narrative
Walking in to the Professional Footballers’ Association awards ceremony at Manchester Opera House last night, I saw Mo Salah’s photo on the wall of the stairs leading down to the stalls. Salah was soon on stage, gliding across to embrace Robbie Fowler, who was announcing the Premier League Team of the Year. A few minutes later, Salah returned to receive his Player of the Year award from Ian Rush. Legendary Liverpool attackers were everywhere, Salah, Fowler and Rush, three of the top seven scorers in the club’s gilded history, harvesting 775 goals between them. North-West Side Story was being performed on stage.
It was an evening to celebrate and remember Liverpool strikers past and present. It was also an evening which began with a minute’s silence to honour the memory of Diogo Jota, forever Liverpool’s No 20. The PFA’s chief executive, Maheta Molango, stood with head bowed on stage, as the auditorium fell silent. Jota’s tragic death, along with Andre Silva, brings perspective to every footballing story and situation.
There was brief hubbub at the absence of Alexander Isak from the players gathering on stage for the Team of the Year award. Only 10 of the team were present. Isak, sensibly, decided that the focus was too much on him so decided to stay away. It would have been too sensitive or provocative on Tyneside to see pictures of Isak, Newcastle United’s No 14, standing between Salah and Liverpool’s captain, Virgil van Dijk, with Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister closeby, and new boy Milos Kerkez also in attendance following last season’s excellence at Bournemouth. Or images of Isak chatting to Fowler or Rush on stage.
So Isak stayed away, instead posting about his pride at being recognised by his peers and thanking his Newcastle team-mates and everyone at the club “who has supported me along the way”. The 25-year-old explained he was not at the ceremony as “with everything going on, it didn’t feel right to be there”. So far, so polite. Isak then issued his petition to divorce.