Still Upset Over Release by the Heat, Gerrard to Return With New Team

John Gerrard steps onto the soccer field for the San Diego Nomads Saturday night with mixed emotions.

Cut unexpectedly by the Los Angeles Heat only three weeks ago, the gregarious Englishman faces his former teammates in an American Professional Soccer League West match at Chula Vista’s Devore Stadium. The Heat is in third place in the APSL West’s Southern and San Diego leads the division.

Gerrard is expected to have a pivotal role in the match. The first-place Nomads are expected to move him from midfield to fullback, a defensive position that guards the area in front of the goal box. He’ll be shoulder to shoulder with some of his former teammates. One mistake could mean a shot attempt for the Heat.

Clearly, in Gerrard’s heart, he should be playing on the other side of the line with his buddies on the Heat, a team he played with for two seasons.

“But we have some good lads here, too,” he said. “If the Heat doesn’t score, they can’t win, and that’s my job.”

Gerrard was stunned by his release. A month ago, a press release from the Heat said Gerrard, an assistant men’s coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills, would be part of “the nucleus” of the team. His picture appeared in the media guide. But after playing in a few exhibition games with the team, Gerrard, was pulled aside by Coach Bob Sibbald and told he was being let go, although he was asked to remain under contract and practice with the team for at least another week.

Gerrard was miffed by the way his release was handled.

“When they passed out (complimentary) tickets to the players (for their families and friends), I didn’t even get them,” he said.

The Heat listed Gerrard as a forward when practice began this year. But when the team signed Salvadoran national Waldir Guerra, 23, in early April, it went over the league limit of two foreign players per team. Gerrard, 32, became expendable.

“It was a joint decision of the coaches and the owners,” Heat General Manager Jill Francisco said. “They felt that Waldir was a younger player, and that he would be around for several years.”

Gerrard, a Torrance resident, said he was “devastated.”

“It really left me in the lurch,” he said. “I had had a lot of offers from other teams to play (before the season began), but I wanted to stay with the Heat because it plays right around the corner from where I live. Now I have to drive to San Diego at least two times a week.”

Originally a forward (also called a striker), Gerrard has played professionally in England, South Africa and the United States, developing a reputation as a classic English-style player: One that can punt the ball long distances and score when needed.

He led the Heat in scoring in 1987, but when the team added several younger offensive players, Gerrard became more of a field general. From his forward spot last season he often assumed the role of a midfielder, a crucial position where a properly placed punt often sets up forwards, with a scoring opportunity.

“I can play a lot of positions,” he said. “Sometimes that is good. Sometimes that is bad. If you are a forward and you have to move to midfield to fill in for an injury, and in a couple of weeks the injured player returns, you may not get your old job back because the guy that took your place is playing very well.”

Sibbald said experience appears to be a Heat (2-2) shortcoming this season, making Gerrard’s release appear hasty. Following last week’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Seattle Storm, Sibbald, an Englishman who has lived in the South Bay since 1975, criticized his American players for not being “take charge in soccer.”

“Americans have the skills to match any players in the world,” he said. “On the field they know what to do, but don’t know when to do it.” He said a player of Gerrard’s caliber “would not let you down. He’s a leader on the field.”

Gerrard said: “I don’t know what it is, but their team is just missing something (on the field). It’s a little bit of professionalism, I think.”

But Gerrard said he wants it made clear that he has no animosity toward the Heat, or Sibbald.

“I have a lot of good friends on that team,” he said.

But it will be all business on the field Saturday night, he said.

“Playing in this game will be awkward. But I want to win to prove a point.

Married to an American and in pursuit of his U.S. citizenship, Gerrard criticized the APSL “foreigner rule.”

“I’ve lived here since 1981, except for a few months when I played in South Africa,” he said. “I’m being penalized for being a bit lazy in getting my papers in order, that’s all.”

Sibbald has mixed emotions about Gerrard’s situation. He feels players with green cards who have resided in the country for some time should be counted the same as American players. However, “if I had my own way, there wouldn’t be any foreign players allowed in this league,” Sibbald said. “We must develop American players here.”

Gerrard began his professional career in the United States with the Nomads in 1986, the first year of the Western Soccer Alliance, which through expansion has become the APSL West. He is expected to “give us a little bit of experience,” according to operations manager Derek Armstrong. Through injuries and attrition, the Nomads are missing four starters from last year’s championship team.

Gerrard expects to spend a lot of time on the road this summer. He said he will receive about $200 a game from the Nomads. That’s not enough to support a family, which means he has to work as a painting contractor. Recently he accepted a large contract to repair a San Gabriel Valley mall damaged by the recent earthquake centered in Upland. Most of the work has to be done at night so the dust and noise won’t bother customers.

Gerrard plans to keep his family in Torrance and commute to both jobs. In addition, the Nomads play four away games beginning in July.

An admitted soccer junkie, Gerrard is taking an optimistic approach.

“I guess I’m lucky to be playing, really,” he said.

But the situation figures to qualify him as a true Nomad by season’s end.