Jordan chastises the former Liverpool captain for acting like an agent in order to transfer to Saudi Arabia
Jordan Henderson’s assertion that “he hasn’t gone to Saudi Arabia predominantly for the money” has drawn criticism from Simon Jordan, a former captain of Liverpool.
Due to Henderson’s longtime advocacy for the LGBT+ community and the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign, his transfer to the rapidly expanding Saudi Pro League was questioned.
In Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is banned and punishable by death. The government is also accused of violating a number of other human rights, including the right of political protest and severely restricting the rights of women.
The former Liverpool captain’s attempt to justify his decision to join Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad in an interview with The Athletic didn’t help him either.
Here are 11 of his worst responses from their insightful conversation with David Ornstein and Adam Crafton, in which he spoke a lot of bullsh*t.
Henderson acknowledged that leaving Liverpool for Al-Itthad on the presumption of financial gain was difficult. When others see this wealthy club arrive, he just says, “Yeah, I’m going.”
“But in truth, that simply wasn’t the case. People might agree with me or disagree with me, but money has never been a driving force in my life or work. Ever.
“Don’t get me wrong, when you move, the business deal has to be tight. You have to have financials, you have to feel wanted, you have to feel valued. And money is a part of that. But that wasn’t the sole reason. And these possibilities came up before money was even mentioned.”
And former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan was annoyed by the interview and his ‘Agent Henderson’ outlook that he can “change the mindset of their belief system and culture”.
“It’s ridiculous for him to say that he hasn’t gone to Saudi predominantly for the money,” Jordan said on talkSPORT.
“I don’t care if he has gone there for the money or not, but the bottom-line is that’s what he’s gone there for.
“In the same way Phil Mickleson started playing on the LIV Golf tour for the money and then started to give us a load of old pony about diversity and inclusion and bringing forward a society that was in certain ways not where it needed to be.
“I don’t blame Jordan Henderson for going there for an inordinate amount of money for the age he is, and at this stage of his career if someone is foolhardy enough to pay him whatever the money it is he’s getting at his age, then that’s on them.
“He was the one that people attributed a lot of noise around his support of certain communities, and I’ve no issue with his support of those communities if he wants to follow through that support…
“I’m sure he does care but is he not prepared to suffer the consequences? What’s more meaningful, actions or words? Words are easy, so the action would have been, ‘I don’t agree with this society, I’m not going to condone the advancement of it through football by not going’.
“But that comes at a cost for Jordan because he would be throwing away all that money.
“So instead he’s said he’s going as ‘Agent Henderson’ in Saudi Arabia to change the mindset of their belief system and culture, of their law – and it’s a load of old rubbish!”
