The announcement many of
us knew would come someday, but few of us were looking forward to, has now
come. At the end of the season Steven
Gerrard will leave Liverpool.
I watched his debut, I seem
to have watched every game. Right from
the start you knew he had something about him, and when he emerged he was one
of a number of young players we were desperate to become the next big
thing. One thing which stood out to me
early on was his speed across the ground and his stamina. This developed into his long stride, driving
the team on, willing them to success.
This brought supporters to their feet and inspired previously lethargic
teammates.
Is he the greatest player
to ever play for the club? I don’t know,
but he’s in my top five favourite Liverpool players of all time, along with
Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler, John Barnes and Ian Rush. You could argue he was more influential in
cup finals than Dalglish ever was, but then he didn’t inspire a side to win League
titles as Dalglish did. Both men made
other players great as Ian Rush wouldn’t have been the player he was without
Dalglish, nor would David Johnson, much as Torres and Suarez wouldn’t have had
the impact they did without Gerrard. He
will be remembered as one of the greatest players of his generation and so many
who played with and alongside him, will testify to this. The fact he is mentioned in the same breath
as Dalglish is testament to his achievements.
For many he is Liverpool Football Club, possibly in a way Billy Liddell
was, often playing in a side undeserving of his huge talents. When you consider how his early career was
blighted with injuries it is also the mark of the man he has played for the
club for over 16 years.
Steven George Gerrard was
born on 30th May 1980 in Whiston, Prescot and went to school in
Huyton. He made his debut when he came
on late in the game for Veggard Heggem against Blackburn at Anfield in November
1998. He was a scrawny 18 year old and
joined a side which contained Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and
Jamie Redknapp. He made his first start
a week later at White Hart Lane, but was replaced ten minutes into the second
half. The first sign of his ability came
in the Merseyside derby the following April, when he came on for Heggem with
twenty minutes to go and cleared two shots off the line as Liverpool won, 3-2.
He’d come to the
attention of Liverpool scouts when he was 8.
At the age of 15 he was the same height as Owen, but soon grew, causing
him problems with his back and restricting his playing time. In his early career he was used in a number
of different positions including central and right midfield as well as right and
left back. During the late 1990’s a
number of young players made it into the first team, all carrying the hopes of
dreams of the supporters that one day they might make it big. Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher, David
Thompson, Steve Harkness, Dominic Matteo and Gerrard, all broke through with Owen,
Carragher and Gerrard entering the Liverpool history books in the chapter
marked, “Legend”.
His first goal came in
early December 1999 at Anfield against Sheffield Wednesday. Rigobert Song picked up the ball wide on the
right, just inside the Wednesday half and Gerrard was stood in the centre
circle calling for the ball. Song
obliged and Gerrard drove towards the area, side-stepping past two Wednesday
defenders before sliding the ball past Pressman. It was a great run, and a wonderful way to
open your account. It was a great taster
of what was to come.
Gerrard’s youthful
exuberance was in evidence in the Merseyside derby the following season when
his rash challenge on Kevin Campbell earned him a red card. He’d come on as sub that day and seemed too
highly strung. By then he’d earned
England honours at under-18 and under-21 level and then in May 2000 came his
first full cap when, a day after his 20th birthday, he was in the team
which beat Ukraine at Wembley in their final warm-up game before Euro
2000. Ex-Liverpool star, Kevin Keegan,
gave Gerrard his first cap yet his early days with the England squad were
tinged with shyness, homesickness and fears he just didn’t deserve to be in the
company of players such as Shearer, Seaman, Scholes and Adams. He made his first international tournament
appearance as a substitute for Owen against Germany in Charleroi. It wasn’t long before he made his mark with a
tough challenge on Didi Hamann who “screamed like a girl”, as the young Gerrard
would later claim. During that
tournament his homesickness got so bad he even rang his mum telling her he
wanted to come home.
2000-2001 was the season
when Gerrard really broke through and made a name for himself throughout
Europe. He was an integral part of the
team which won an unprecedented cup-treble.
Making 50 appearances that season he became an important part of the
mixture between youth and experience Gerard Houllier was building. He soon started up a battle with Danny Murphy
to see who could outscore each other, and both were under the tutelage of Gary
McAllister. Gerrard’s goal in the UEFA
Cup Final against Alaves was one of his most important and was typical of the
combative, energetic midfielder he’d become, surging from deep. That season also contained another facet
which was to become his trademark – the shot from distance. He unveiled this to great effect beating
Fabien Barthez from 30 yards when Manchester United visited Anfield at the end
of March. His performances that season earned him the Professional
Footballer Association’s Young Player of the Year award.
Internationally this season was also to be remembered for
his first England goal when he scored their 2nd in the famous 5-1
win in Germany. Manager, Sven-Goran
Eriksson had installed him in an exciting midfield alongside, Beckham and
Scholes but after playing a part in England’s qualification for the finals in
Japan and South Korea, he missed the tournament through another injury. Gerrard’s progress on the pitch was often
threatened by injuries off it as his continued growing pains affected his
posture. Houllier even had the idea of
sending him to a French dentist to have his wisdom teeth removed in the belief
this would aid his back problems.
After a disappointing season in 2002, another cup success
came a year later when Gerrard scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win over
Manchester United at Milllenium Stadium with another shot from about 30 yards
out on the left which took a slight deflection off Beckham. Seven months later and Gerrard’s influence
over this team was rewarded with the captain’s armband after Houllier decided
he was a better choice than Sami Hyypia.
Hyypia took the decision with good grace as his own form improved but
now Gerrard was the driving force within the team.
Rafa Benitez arrived in 2004 and struck up a good
relationship with his captain but the Champions League campaign stuttered with
defeats to Olympiakos and Monaco had left Liverpool going into the final group
game at home to Olympiakos needing to win.
Rivaldo gave the visitors a first half lead and Liverpool now needed to
score three. But then goals from second
half substitutes, Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor gave them hope. With four minutes to go, Carragher’s ball
forward was knocked down by Mellor and Gerrard met it on the half-volley and it
thundered past the Greek keeper nearly breaking the back of the net. It was a stunning strike, and one which will
be remembered not only for the goal, the celebration but the commentary which
accompanied it
“You beauty, what a hit
son, what a hit”
Liverpool were through and after seeing off Bayer
Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea, they were into the Champions League Final in
Istanbul where they were up against Italian champions, Milan. The game has gone down as the stuff of legend
with Milan racing into a 3-goal half time lead having played some scintillating
football for the first 45 minutes. But
it was Gerrard who inspired his team back into the game after some rousing
singing from the travelling Liverpool fans at the break. Riise’s cross into the area ten minutes into
the second half was headed in by Gerrard and this inspired one of the most
remarkable comebacks anyone can remember, when Liverpool scored three goals in
six bizarre minutes and the game was level. The penalty shootout win earned the club their
fifth European Cup and Gerrard was voted Man of the Match.
That season had been his best return for goals (13), but
the following one surpassed that as he was the club’s top scorer with 23 goals
in all competitions. The season
culminated in another memorable match when Liverpool took on West Ham in the FA
Cup Final at the Millenium Stadium.
After going 2-goals down, Gerrard provided the ball for Cisse to volley
one back and then early in the second half he thundered home the equaliser
after Crouch’s knockdown. After West Ham
went back in front, Liverpool appeared to be heading for defeat when Gerrard
fired one of the best goals ever seen in an FA Cup Final. He volleyed the ball arrow-straight from
about 35 yards out and it barely rose above the ground beating Hislop low to
his right. It was a stunning strike
coming just as the time added on was being announced. Gerrard would later explain in his
autobiography that he was suffering badly with cramp and he took the decision
to hit it first time as he could hardly move.
Had he been fully fit then he would probably have taken the ball on and
tried to get into the area. Gerrard
converted his penalty in the shootout as Liverpool won another trophy and the
game was to be known as “The Gerrard Final”.
Down the years there are only a few players to have a final named after
them, Matthews, Villa and now Gerrard.
He won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award that
year too and things could hardly be better for him on and off the pitch. That summer he played an important part in
England’s World Cup campaign in Germany, although it ended in disappointment as
he was one of the players to miss his penalty kick in the shootout defeat to
Portugal.
2006-07 saw Gerrard make over 50 appearances as Liverpool
again made the Champions League Final, but this time there was to be no
fairy-tale as Milan got their revenge.
Liverpool again finished third in the League but their defence of the FA
Cup faltered at the first hurdle as Arsenal won at Anfield. The following season saw him score a
hat-trick in the competition when Luton visited Anfield in a Third Round replay. Jamie Carragher was named captain for his 500th
match for Liverpool and Gerrard’s triple came in just 18 second half
minutes. But that season will be
remembered for Fernando Torres first season in English football and Gerrard
soon built up a strong partnership with the young Spaniard which went a long
way to helping him net 33 times and 24 in the League, the most number of League
goals scored by a non-British player during his debut season in England’s top
division.
Gerrard, himself, added 21 goals as Liverpool narrowly
missed out on their third Champions League Final in four years when Chelsea
beat them in extra time. A fourth place
finish was the pre-requisite to the following season when they had their best
ever League season since 1990, pushing Manchester United all the way. Gerrard was top scorer for the season as he
netted twice in a memorable night against Real Madrid at Anfield. Again Liverpool succumbed to Chelsea in the
Champions League but this time at the Quarter-Final stage. In the League they lost just one of their
last 27 matches, dropping just 2pts in their final 11 games. A run which included another memorable
performance to come from behind and beat United, 4-1 at Old Trafford with
Gerrard and Torres particularly influential.
But United was forced to put together one of their best finishes to a
season to deny their rivals. In plenty
of other seasons, Liverpool’s tally of 84pts would have been enough to carry
off the title, a measure of how well United had to be to beat them.
Gerrard was again awarded at the end of the season,
picking up the Football Writers Footballer of the Year. Liverpool were unable to match this
performance a year later, as they went out of the early rounds of both FA and
League Cups and finished 7th in the League. They didn’t get out of the group stage of the
Champions League but their subsequent Europa League qualification saw them
reach the Semi-Finals. The summer saw
Gerrard captain his country at the World Cup and initially things got off to a
great start as he scored the opener against USA, but things turned sour as the
performances got worse, culminating in a humiliation at the hands of
Germany. Instead of being used as a
talisman, Gerrard found himself blamed by his own manager for the team’s impotence
and the whole experience was utterly forgettable.
The dreadful season was to cost Benitez his job, yet the
club was in complete turmoil as both owners fought with each other and their
manager. For reasons best known to
themselves they decided Roy Hodgson was the man to replace Benitez but
performances did not improve, in fact they got worse. Hodgson only lasted till Christmas as new
owners took over and installed club legend, Kenny Dalglish. His influence galvanised the team to 6th
from having been just 3pts above the bottom three when he took over. On the downside, Liverpool lost Torres to
Chelsea, something which affected Gerrard who had become really close to
him. But Liverpool’s replacement was
Luis Suarez and he was to build an even greater partnership with Gerrard over
the next few seasons.
2011-12 saw Gerrard lift Liverpool’s first trophy for
seven years as they beat Cardiff in the League Cup Final. They also reached Wembley for the FA Cup
Final but were narrowly beaten by Chelsea.
Injuries confined him to only able to play in half the Premier League
games, with the highlight coming on a Tuesday night in March where his 5th
hat-trick helped beat Everton in his 400th Premier League
appearance. The 8th place
League finish did for Dalglish though, and Gerrard was now working with his 5th
manager as Brendan Rodgers took over.
Rodgers immediately installed an individual training
regime for his captain and it soon paid dividends as Gerrard played every
minute of every Premier League game until he went off with an injury against
Newcastle in late April, game 35. No one
played more matches than he did that season and the Newcastle game, which
proved to be his last of the season, was a thumping 6-0 away win and was an
early preview of what was to follow.
Gerrard was now the talisman to probably the third great
team during his time at Anfield and 2013-14 was one of the best in recent
times. Buoyed by the prolific strike
partnership of Suarez and Sturridge, along with the industry of Coutinho,
Sterling, Henderson and Gerrard, Liverpool came within a whisker of winning the
Premier League. Gerrard played another
39 games during the season and returned another 14 goals to add to his tally. The football played that term was
scintillating, destroying teams on a regular basis, as Gerrard willed the team
on. The impact the player has had over
the years can be measured by a number of neutrals who wanted Liverpool to win
the title purely for Gerrard and the loyalty he’d shown the club.
In the end it wasn’t to be but Champions League football
finally returned to Anfield after an absence of four years. The mood around the club was sky high with
thousands taking to the streets just to welcome the team to each home
game. But from there it all gradually
slipped away, as Suarez left for Barcelona and the football played in the early
part of this season wasn’t a patch on what had come just months before. Sturridge’s injury also hit the team hard
after he’d given a taste of what might be alongside Balotelli against Spurs.
The end came after a conversation between Rodgers and
Gerrard where the Liverpool manager explained he was going to manage Gerrard’s
game-play. The 34 year old said he was
intelligent enough to realise he wasn’t going to play as often as he would like
and therefore he finally revealed he would move on.
So many professionals within the game have stated their
admiration of the player, such as Zinedine Zidane
“He has great passing ability,
can tackle and score goals, but most importantly he gives the players around
him confidence and belief. You can’t
learn that – players like him are just born with that presence.”
In 2009, Zidane had been asked how highly he rated the
Liverpool captain and said
“Is he the best in the
world? He might not get the attention of
Messi or Ronaldo but, yes, I think he just might be”
Luis Suarez sent his own tribute
“With you I have lived
one of the best moments of my career in a stadium. I am proud to say I played with a legend like
you. I admire everything you have done
during the years in Liverpool MY FRIEND.
I wish you the best of the best!!
YNWA”
Xabi Alonso tweeted a picture of himself with Gerrard,
with the message “My hero. My mate”
Dietmar Hamman, stated
“What a career, what a
player. Thanks for the many wonderful
moments.”
Thierry Henry
“He, for me, is
Liverpool”
Francesco Totti said,
“Steven Gerrard would be
the captain of my Word XI dream team”
And all the Liverpool squad gave their praise and tribute
to their captain, many of which pointed to the help and support he gave them
all.
Emre Can
“I have learned a lot
from him. Steven is the greatest captain
Liverpool have ever had and I feel comfortable on the pitch because I always
know he is behind me. I hope to be
similar to Gerrard but it isn’t going to be easy because he’s been so
successful”
Adam Lallana
“I grew up watching
him. To my best mates, he’s their
legend. For me to be playing alongside
him, not just at England but at club level, is quite surreal really.”
Rickie Lambert
“Stevie is his own man
but he is Mr Liverpool. He’s no.1 for me
and I think he always will be. He has
meant everything to me growing up as a Liverpool fan. The nights he has given Liverpool fans are
unbelievable – I’ll never forget them and I know the Liverpool fans will never
forget them”
Jordan Henderson
“He is a top player but
he is also a top person. The lads can go
to him with anything and he will always help them out and put them first. That is massive as a captain. With the aura that he has got, he could be a
different person but he is very humble”
Philippe Coutinho
“I try to observe him in
training, his playing style. He’s
phenomenal. It’s a pleasure for me to be
playing alongside him.”
Jon Flanagan
“Steven Gerrard was my
hero growing up, so to run out and play with him has been a dream come
true. He is still my hero now”
Mario Balotelli
“Wow. I think of him as being at the same level as
Pirlo. Vision, technique but he is
powerful as well. Stevie can do
anything, he’s an amazing player. It’s
going to be very difficult for the team to find another player like him in the
future”
Dejan Lovren
“When you come to
Liverpool, you look at someone like Steven and you realise very quickly what it
means to play for this club. Steven is a
fantastic player but he also has a massive personality and his influence in the
dressing room is more than just being our captain”
Lucas Leiva
“When you say the name
Steven Gerrard, you automatically think Liverpool Football Club. He really is the symbol of the club. He is a player who has always valued the club
too. I’ve never played with a player as
complete as him”
Alberto Moreno
“I don’t have words for
Stevie; he’s a great footballer and he’s a special person, not just here but at
a world level. Steven Gerrard is a great
player. I am proud to be playing with
him.”
Mamadou Sakho
“The player that always
impresses at Liverpool is Mr Gerrard. He’s
a respectful man, calm, serene, with a foot like clockwork. He puts the ball exactly where he wants. He’s an exceptional person on and off the
pitch”
Raheem Sterling
“He has been brilliant
for me. He’s always looking after me,
always checking to see if I’m alright.
He’s an inspiration and a great captain”
Kolo Toure
“Steven is a man for
great days. He makes the magic when no
one can make it. That is why he is one
of the best players in the world. I am
really happy to have him as a captain first and as a man because he is a great
player”
Daniel Sturridge
“Stevie will always be a
legend – not just for Liverpool but to England as well. He will go down in history as one of the best
midfielders in the game. He’s just
unbelievable every day, a great leader and the perfect example for every young
player around the country.”
Carlo Ancelotti
“He is undoubtedly one
of the best midfield players in the world.”
Kenny Dalglish
“He’s a fantastic
statesman; he has been unbelievably successful at this football club with what
he’s done, the amount of games he has pulled out of the mire, and the general way
he conducts himself.”
Daniele de Rossi
“Gerrard has been my
idol for 10 years and is one of the best players in the world. He is the example of what all midfield
players aspire to”
Gus Hiddink
“I love Gerrard’s
qualities as a player and a leader.
Technically and tactically he is the best. He is a player who fans can identify
themselves with and a man who carries the love for his club on his club
badge. There is not another player in the
world who combines all those qualities”
Kaka
“An excellent player, in
my opinion, he is a modern player because he is a player who runs, marks, knows
how to pass, cross, score goals and he is a leader on the field for
Liverpool. So he is a player that I
would like to have in my team”
Ronaldinho
“For me, in the position
he plays, he is one of the very best in the world. For the job he performs, for me, he is one of
the greatest.”
For a man so inspirational to many players and fans
alike, what was his special motivation? His
autobiography explains all
As my car inches past the Memorial, I look down the names of those who fell on the Leppings Lane End, never to rise again. My eyes stop at one name. Jon-Paul Gilhooley, ten years old, the youngest of those who died following the team he loved. A boy whose life was snatched away just as it was starting. Crushed to death in a stand unfit for human beings. I knew Jon-Paul. He was my cousin. A shiver runs down my spine. I make the sign of the Cross and drive on.
Whenever I saw Jon-Paul’s parents during my Youth Trainee
Scheme days at Anfield, it gave me an extra determination to succeed. Just before I made my Liverpool debut, they
said “Jon-Paul would be so proud of you”.
During the match I felt Jon-Paul was looking down on me, pleased I was
fulfilling a dream we both shared.
Hillsborough must never be allowed to happen again. No one should lose a life or a relative at a
football match. Everytime I see Jon-Paul’s
name cut into the cold marble outside the Shankly Gates, I fill with sadness
and anger. I have never let anyone know
this before, but it’s true; I play for Jon-Paul”
There will be many a debate on who was the greatest and
the fact Gerrard is spoken alongside players such as Dalglish, Barnes, Fowler
and Hansen just tells you the impact his career had on the club. Just imagine a midfield with Gerrard,
Souness, Molby and Xabi Alonso.
In Gerrard’s final season at Anfield how fitting would it
be for his final game for the club to be on 30th May, his 35th
birthday. The FA Cup Final is set for 30th
May 2015.
697 club appearances, 182 goals so far. 114 international caps, 21 goals, 6
international tournaments.
Champions League winner, 2005
UEFA Cup winner, 2001
FA Cup winner, 2001 and 2006
League Cup winner, 2001, 2003, 2012
FWA Footballer of the Year 2009
PFA Player of the Year 2006
PFA Young Player of the Year 2001
Research
Lfchistory. Com
LFCextra
Liverpoolfc.com
Gerrard – My Autobiography
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