Gerrard ´changed´ by bar brawl trial

Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard revealed Saturday how his trial over an alleged assault in a bar was “very frightening” and has changed the way he will behave in public.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Gerrard said he regretted that some people would always now associate him with the behaviour he was accused of — despite the jury finding him not guilty after a trial in July.

“The whole experience was very frightening and intimidating. I have never been through anything like it,” he said.

He added: “The trial changed me. I had to learn from it, learn from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What hour I am out, where I go out — I will be more careful in future.”

Gerrard was accused of being part of a group that injured businessman Marcus McGee at a nightclub near Liverpool, northwest England, last December as he celebrated his club’s 5-1 win at Newcastle United.

“From now on, if we win 5-1, if I score two goals and we go top of the league, I won’t try to enjoy it in a bar with my mates any more,” he said.

“I’ll go for a meal and be in my house by half past ten. We get paid very well and there have to be sacrifices.”

The judge in the trial told Gerrard that he could “walk away from this court with your reputation intact”, but the Liverpool captain said he accepted that “some people will always see this as a blemish on my character”.