In January 2000, Leeds United were top of the Premiership, had just demolished Manchester City 5-2 at Maine Road and were threatening to dethrone their bitter rivals Manchester United as champions.

Then Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer went for a night out in Leeds city centre - and so began the start of a two-year legal case surrounding the assault of an Asian student.

In January 2009, Liverpool are top of the Premier League, having just demolished Newcastle 5-1 at St James' Park and are threatening to dethrone their bitter rivals Manchester United as champions.

Then Steven Gerrard went for a night out in Southport - and ended up being arrested and charged with assault and affray.

Now no two cases, no two people, no two clubs are the same.

But Leeds never came close to winning the title that season and, although the club did not go into total meltdown until soon after the end of the case, Woodgate and Bowyer's night out is seen as the turning point in the remarkable rise and fall of the club under David O'Leary and Peter Ridsdale.

We don't know exactly what happened in Southport last Sunday night, but anyone who has ever spent time in the company of lawyers will attest that few things in life can prove so stressful.

Bowyer and Woodgate were promising young England prospects, but their status at Leeds paled into insignificance compared with the importance of Gerrard to Liverpool.

In a rare moment of saying something interesting, Fabio Capello recently admitted that Gerrard was a better player for Liverpool than he was for England, because he thrived on the responsibility of being 'the man' at Anfield.

The Italian's words had the clear ring of truth about them - and they say as much about Liverpool as they do about Gerrard.

The old rule about "no player being bigger than the club" might just have found its exception.

Gerrard's holy grail has, for some time, been to captain Liverpool to their first league title since 1990.

You get the distinct impression this would mean far more to him than winning the World Cup.

When, during two successive summers, Gerrard turned down moves to Chelsea after lengthy transfer sagas, many applauded his loyalty but doubted whether he would ever win a title medal.

And, despite being top of the table for much of the first half of the current season, Liverpool had rarely been impressive and few believed Rafa Benitez's squad had enough about them to be champions.

That was until last Sunday afternoon, when - with Gerrard quite magnificent - Liverpool could easily have rattled up double figures at one of the cathedrals of English football.

And all that without Fernando Torres, probably the finest goal poacher on the planet.

Travelling back from Tyneside last weekend, many Liverpool fans must have been wondering what could possibly occur to stop Benitez's team achieving their destiny.

Such thoughts would have discounted the crucial fact that football teams are made up of young men in their 20s and that young men in their 20s make mistakes.

If Liverpool are to win the title now, Gerrard will have to handle severe off-field traumas - because they will not remain at the summit without him.

It is interesting to note that Bowyer played the best football of his career during that twoyear legal battle, using the game as an "escape".

Not so Woodgate, whose form suffered to such extent that he spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

According to the trial judge who handed him a community service sentence, Woodgate had "suffered agonies, it is etched on your face".

Few remember that Bowyer was acquitted of all charges or that Woodgate was cleared of assault and convicted of the lesser charge of affray.

They have less difficulty in remembering what damage the case caused to Leeds United.