Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been charged with assault and affray following the nightclub fight in Southport after which he was arrested on Monday morning. Witnesses allege that Gerrard rowed with DJ Marcus McGee when he wouldn't play the record Gerrard wanted and Gerrard's pals then dished out some severe punishment. The question for Gerrard, Liverpool, England and indeed the magistrates who will hear the case on January 23, is whether or not Gerrard was a party to this. Photographs of the nightclub and its environs taken immediately after the fight show a fair amount of collateral damage and two 'his and her' Bentleys with personalised number plates belonging to Gerrard and partner Alex Curran. Which says it all really. Nightclub rumbles are part and parcel footballers' lives these days, a combination of people's resentment about their fame and fortune and their own 'do you know who I am?' attitude to lesser mortals. But Gerrard, who usually appears to be quite sensible, by such standards anyway, should obviously have known better. Expect some ferocious spinning by serried ranks of lawyers between now and January 23.