When leaving seems to be the hardest part

THE great Liverpool manager Bill Shankly is famed, apart from his incredible legacy in the game, for saying: "People think football is a matter of life and death; I can assure them it is far more serious than that.

- ANDY PHILLIPS

It was tongue-in-cheek, of course, and yet for Shankly there was likely a kernel of truth about how seriously the people of Merseyside treated the round-ball game - and still do.

So I suppose I should not have been wholly surprised to have heard boos from a section of the Liverpool faithful directed at soon-to-depart player Trent Alexander-Arnold.

TAA, as he is known commonly to some football (and fantasy football) diehards, is coming to the end of his Liverpool contract, and has revealed that he won't be signing another; he is expected to join Real Madrid.