So the owners have tried, managers and players have tried, but we have so far fallen short. We have to accept that. I will never give up on that dream of winning the title. It’s just going to be tough because I know I am running out of time.
* * *
“He was a magician in midfield. The hub of everything we attempted.”
* * *
Biding My Time
* * *
I hate being a substitute for many reasons. For one it suggests that I may be easing my way back after an injury, or that the manager has decided to rest me from his starting line-up. Then there is the fact that when you are warming up on the touchline, the stick you get from some of the crowds in England can be relentless. The best atmosphere, other than Anfield, I have ever played in came against Besiktas in Istanbul in 2007. We lost the game 2–1, but the atmosphere their fans generated was unbelievable. They stood up and were bouncing for 90 minutes. That was a hostile environment.
Gratitude
* * *
I’m either pointing towards one of my team-mates by way of thanking him for setting me up with another goal, or I am picking out one of my family members in the crowd. My dad and brother come and watch me all the time. It’s good for me to share my success with them. They have made sacrifices in their lives to help me reach the top.
Keep Calm
* * *
The most dangerous part of any game is when you have just scored. Everyone is on a high and concentration can lapse in moments like that. Fernando had just scored against Everton in a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park and I am trying to tell the team that we’ve still got work to do, that we cannot get carried away. That is the role of a captain sometimes. It worked anyway because Fernando scored again and we won 2–0.
Set-piece Specialist
* * *
You can see from the shape of my body that I am trying to whip this set-piece right into the centre of the penalty area. Putting pace on corners can cause problems for defenders and open the door for attackers. This corner came at Fulham, a team with players such as Brede Hangeland, Bobby Zamora and Dickson Etuhu – all tall players. They would’ve had a better chance of relieving the pressure if I had just floated the ball across with little pace.
Jump for Joy
* * *
We played Everton three times in the space of a fortnight at the start of 2009: once in the league and twice in the FA Cup. We didn’t win any of the matches, drawing twice at Anfield and losing a replay at Goodison Park in which I had hobbled off with a torn hamstring. I scored in both the Anfield games and I always milk my celebrations against Everton because of the amount of stick I get from their fans. But I would rather have won the games.
Move Over Madrid
* * *
If you look at the players in the Real Madrid team we met in the Champions League this season, it shows what a brilliant performance we produced. Heinze, Robben, Cannavaro, Casillas, Ramos, Raul, Sneijder – and yet they couldn’t live with us. We won 1–0 in the Bernabeu thanks to a header from Yossi Benayoun, a great player and friend, and then battered them at Anfield 4–0. I scored twice.
Kiss Me Quick
* * *
There are just some days when everything goes right for the team. We were confident going to Old Trafford because we had just beaten Real Madrid 4–0 in the Champions League, but no one expected us to beat Manchester United 4–1 on their own patch. This was when Fernando was at his peak, scaring the life out of defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. He equalised and I dispatched another penalty before noticing the Sky cameras nearby and running over and planting a kiss on the screen. The celebration was to wind up the United fans, but also for my daughters watching at home.
Good Things Come in Threes
* * *
We produced a spell of football around the March of that season that was as good as anything I can remember in my time. We were swatting teams aside. Good teams as well. Aston Villa came to Anfield and we were on fire. I scored a hat-trick that day, including two more penalties, and finished the season with 24 goals.
Last-minute Winner
* * *
There is no better feeling than scoring a last-minute winner. We had been trailing at home against Middlesbrough until the 86th minute when they scored an own goal and I managed to find the back of the net in injury time to seal a 2–1 success. Anfield erupts at moments such as that and the dressing room afterwards is buzzing. Belief is important in any football team and it is games like this, which tilt in your favour right at the death, that allow you to dream and think anything is possible. It proves you should never give up or sulk about things when they are not going your way. There is always time to alter history. It just depends how you use that time.
One Captain to Another
* * *
Having inherited the captain’s armband from Sami Hyypia, it was my pleasure to hand it back to him as he said farewell to Liverpool after 10 years of brilliant service. Sami had announced he was leaving the club to move to Germany and this was his chance to say goodbye to the fans. He came on with six minutes left, which I thought was very harsh of Rafa. I kept looking to the sidelines in the game, thinking: ‘When is Sami coming on?’ We had nothing to play for against Tottenham apart from pride and I think that he should have started the game.
The Full Set
* * *
Having previously won the PFA Young Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards, it was nice to complete the hat-trick by being voted the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year in 2009. I am hugely appreciative of the honour, especially when you consider the standard of players in England.
THE MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND
Rafa Benitez is the best coach I have played for. Tactically he is very astute, he undoubtedly made me a better player and I respect him. But I understand why he was sacked by Liverpool in the summer of 2010. Everything felt a mess at that point and it was the right time for a change. Rafa had become embroiled in fights with different people at the club and lost his focus on what his strengths were. His job was to coach the team, it wasn’t to get into political battles and it seemed best for everyone – the club, the players and also Rafa – that there was a break and the slate wiped clean.
We had disappointed that season, finishing seventh in the Premier League and crashing out of the Champions League. It looked like our season could still end with a silver lining as we progressed through the Europa League, but we fluffed the semi-final against Atletico Madrid and ended up watching them lift the trophy.
Rafa could have continued into the new season, but the first sign of a set-back and the atmosphere would have turned poisonous again. That would have been no good to anyone. Again there were whispers that it was the players who said: ‘Push the button. Get rid of him.’ But that just makes me frustrated and angry. It was Liverpool’s board of directors who made a decision they believed to be in the best interests of the club. All the rumours suggesting otherwise simply harm reputations and harm relationships with managers.
OK, so I don’t think I will be going out for a meal with Rafa any time soon, but if he had been in charge on the first day of the following season I would have stood in the dressing room before the kick-off and told my team-mates this was the campaign in which we would achieve something. And from the moment the first whistle went, I would have been giving 100% because it is Liverpool Football Club.
I feared for Roy Hodgson almost as soon as he became Liverpool’s new manager. I feared for him because he was not Kenny Dalglish. I have no doubt that if Roy had arrived at Anfield at a different time in the club’s history, he would have done well. The demands and expectations, the history and tradition at Liverpool make it one of the most difficult jobs in football, but I believe he could have made a success of things with the right support.
But from the moment the club overlooked Kenny as a replacement for Rafa, it was always going to be difficult for Roy. Kenny
is the number one hero of everyone at Liverpool: the fans, the staff, the players. He was itching to step back into management, desperate for the chance to return to the club he loves and where he had been so successful previously. I totally understand why there was such a groundswell of opinion among supporters for Kenny and that made things tough for Roy.
Tough, but not impossible. There is a lot said about the way teams play under Roy. Negative is a harsh criticism of him. Cautious? Maybe. That’s fair. But then Gerard Houllier and Rafa were cautious as well at times.
When you are playing against the best teams at the top level, if you are not sensible, if you are not disciplined and if you are not cautious, then you are going to get beaten. It’s common sense. But I wouldn’t say England were cautious when we were losing 2–1 against Sweden at Euro 2012 and Roy sent on Theo Walcott to help the team win 3–2. His style could have worked.
Managers become good managers with good players and the right personnel around them. Don’t forget that at that time, Javier Mascherano left Liverpool and once again not all the money was being reinvested into the team. Roy was also on the trail of Luis Suarez at that point but we couldn’t afford him, and some of his other signings, like Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen, didn’t work out.
Still, there is no point making excuses. Roy also knows football is about results and we didn’t win enough matches.
You could smell pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to work out. We lost to Northampton in the Carling Cup and Blackpool at home in the Premier League and were soon on a downward trajectory. The atmosphere was deteriorating.
I remember after we lost 1–0 to Wolves in December, a defeat that ended with boos ringing around Anfield again, going to my car and a fan shouting over towards me. ‘Hey Gerrard, you’re the captain, get it sorted. You want to have a look at yourself,’ he said (and that’s minus the swear words) as he peered through the huge iron gates by the Centenary Stand.
My initial reaction was to go over to him and front it up face-to-face, but I ignored him. It wouldn’t have looked good if I’d started rowing with a fan. Someone with a camera phone takes a picture of us and the next thing I am on the front of a national newspaper, adding to the problems. We had enough of those without me making it worse. I did the right thing.
Liverpool fans are the best in the world. That is not just me being biased. There have been hundreds of football people who have no ties with the club, but have visited Anfield and said the same. Fact. But like with everything, there are a handful who are daft. It’s like the supporter who took £20 to burn one of my shirts outside Melwood in front of the Sky Sports cameras around the time of all the stuff about me going to Chelsea. I understand the frustration, but from the first time I pulled on a Liverpool shirt I have been doing everything I can to ‘get it sorted’.
If the fan who shouted at me after the Wolves game sits back and thinks about my contribution over the years, then hopefully he will recognise that he was wrong.
Roy was sacked not long after that debacle, the shortest reign of any Liverpool manager, but he is a good man and an honest man, and my respect for him is not diminished by his time at the club.
* * *
“You could smell pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to work out.”
* * *
The 500 Club
* * *
When I walked off the pitch on my debut against Blackburn, it was with a real sense of accomplishment. Never mind I had only been on a few minutes, I’d played for Liverpool. It was a dream I never thought I would realise. Then you get greedy. You want to play again and again and again.
To pull on a Liverpool shirt 500 times is something I am hugely proud of. It was nice of the club to commemorate the milestone with Rafa and managing director Christian Purslow presenting me with an award as I hold Lilly-Ella and Lexie. The next target is 600, which isn’t too far away.
Rallying the Troops
* * *
I would always prefer to lead through my actions rather than words, but sometimes the occasion demands it. I try not to rant and rave as a captain, but look to choose my moments to speak. Otherwise, people can switch off if they are hearing the same voice over and over again. There have been a lot of changes at Liverpool in recent years, new players coming in and young, foreign players arriving – that is when I have to step up as skipper. It is important to make people feel welcome off the pitch and make sure that on it they understand what playing for Liverpool is all about.
Blood, Sweat and No Tears
* * *
Beating Everton always pleases me because I know how badly our fans feel when they turn up for work on a Monday morning and have to take a load of stick from their Evertonian mates. David Moyes has done a really good job at Goodison Park and helped Everton finish above Liverpool on a couple of occasions in the Premier League. That hurts, but we still have a good record in head-to-heads against them and that means a lot. Arms aloft, teeth gritted, you can see what winning against our neighbours means to me.
I’m No Dummy
* * *
You can imagine the stick I took when I walked into the dressing room the day after this shot appeared in the papers. I’d kept it quiet that I had been approached by Madame Tussauds because I knew what would follow. Carra and Pepe Reina were the ring leaders, passing comment on my hairstyle and my nose among the cleaner stuff I can reveal. I was hugely flattered, if a little embarrassed, when they said they wanted to produce a waxwork dummy of me. I think the likeness is really good. The real Steven Gerrard is the one on the left just in case you can’t tell.
These Boots Were Made For Talking
* * *
As soon as I signed a boot deal with adidas as a teenager, they put ‘Gerrard’ on my boots. It was a bit embarrassing at first because I’d only played a handful of games and some of the senior players at the club might’ve thought I was a ‘Big Time Charlie’. Nowadays, of course, it’s odd if you don’t have your name on your boots.
It’s a nice touch. This is the perfect boot for me because it’s black. I can’t be doing with those boots that are yellow, pink or orange. Maybe I’m boring, but give me a standard black boot any day. But I am on my own on that one it seems. Recently adidas were saying to me that black boots don’t really sell well these days.
Always a Poignant Day
* * *
When my cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was nine he went to Hillsborough with his family to watch the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. He did not come back. Jon-Paul was the youngest fan to lose his life that day. It is important for the club to never forget what happened at Hillsborough and never to forget the 96 fans who lost their lives supporting the club they love. Each year on the anniversary of the disaster, Liverpool hold a memorial service at Anfield. The players and staff attend and pay their respects to the dead and their families. It is personal for me because of Jon-Paul, and I will never forget. For the families of the Hillsborough victims, the battle for justice continues. Hopefully their persistence and dedication is going to pay off soon and the truth about what happened that day will finally come out in public. I admire their fight and resolve. I am with them.
KING KENNY RETURNS
In the games’ room at my house, I have the shirts of some of the players I have been lucky enough to play against, and also alongside, hanging on the wall.
Zidane, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldo, Totti, Keane, Vieira and Henry are all there, together with Torres, Alonso, Reina and Carragher. Thinking about it now, Carra has done well to get himself into such esteemed company!
But there was one shirt I wanted to make the room complete: Kenny Dalglish’s. I knew Kenny before he came back as manager and so I tried my luck. He said he might have an old one in a box upstairs at his house somewhere and true enough he found it for me and signed the Number 7 shirt with a private message on it.
As much as I was disappointed that things didn’t work out for Roy Hodgson – because
I think he is a top coach – at Liverpool Football Club, when results are not good, inevitably changes will happen no matter who is in charge. Things couldn’t carry on like they were. We were in the middle of the table and not certain of climbing it, which is ridiculous when you consider the quality of the players we still had.
Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story Page 12
