Thread by @C4Ciaran

Steven Gerrard just pulled out of #C4News interview.

Told by personal staffer- not Rangers- we couldn’t ask certain questions including about Neil Lennon and sectarianism. Then she disappeared.

Been waiting for him here for hours. Nobody even told us in person it was off.

Interview was arranged through maker of new film about Steven Gerrard’s life.

Minutes before he was supposed to arrive I was told by Gerrard’s representative what he would and would not talk about.

We had an amicable chat. She went off. Not seen her since.

We agreed interview would mostly be about issues featured in the film.

I said I’d like to explore what Steven Gerrard’s wife says about him being an emotional person.

I was told not to reference his wife directly and instead say ‘in the film it says you’re an emotional person.’

Steven Gerrard’s representative told me in no uncertain terms he would not talk about the attacks on Neil Lennon or the current discussion around sectarianism in Scottish football.

It was suggested I ask him in general terms what it’s like to be manager of Rangers.

In a recent press conference Hibs manager Neil Lennon, who receives torrents of abuse said:

‘In Scotland you call it sectarianism, I call it racism..I’m just one person so I need more people to come out and call it what it really is.’

There’s a section in the Steven Gerrard film in which some Liverpool fans call him judas and traitor over a proposed move to Chelsea.

It’s one of the clips the makers sent us in advance. So assume he would have been anticipating questions about vitriol in football.

So I hung about the Rangers training ground most of the day. I was told he wanted a chat before the interview.

But he didn’t show. Nobody came to explain or apologise.

(At least a few of the players said hello.)