Rough and Tumble
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Hitching a lift on Charlton’s Scott Parker, who later became my team-mate with England at Euro 2012. We had a decent partnership in the tournament. Scenes like this are part and parcel of the cut and thrust of the Premier League. I don’t know how I got on top of him, presumably I was going for a header at some point, and I’m on the way down.
Overstepping the Mark
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Squaring up to Kevin Campbell in a Merseyside derby – again – after a poor tackle on Gary Naysmith, who is lying on the turf out of shot. You’ll notice a certain Wayne Rooney trying to get involved. It was Wayne’s first Merseyside derby and the Everton fans had been singing all through the game, ‘Rooney’s gonna get you.’ He bounced our goalkeeper, Chris Kirkland, in one full-blooded challenge and also hit the bar. He was desperate to make his mark. I had seen Wayne in junior games, and word was spreading fast that he was a special player. It’s amazing to think that not long after this I was playing with him for England.
With a Little Help From My Freund
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I am either trying to win a free-kick against Steffen Freund here or looking to run the ball out of play and give my team-mates a breather. To me this is a classic Premier League photograph. Rough and tumble, no one giving an inch. There are a lot of strong players in the top flight and you have to try to hold your own. If you don’t, it’s simple: you get bullied and then disappear.
Always There With a Helpful Word
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Gerard was the manager and I was just a player, but at times our relationship felt as though it was father and son. I like this picture because I think the warmth between us and respect we had for each other comes shining through. Nothing was ever too much trouble for Gerard Houllier where I was concerned and that is still the case today. When England played France at Euro 2012, he was in touch in the build-up, looking to help me because he knew how important that tournament was for me. Yes he’s French, but he wasn’t being unpatriotic. I think 1–1 was the perfect result for him.
First Taste of Rafa’s Talents
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Our visit to the Mestella in September 2002 resulted in a performance I would get to know very well. Valencia were coached by Rafa Benitez and the way his team took us apart planted a seed with the Anfield hierarchy. Valencia were hard to beat, they pressed the ball well and had good players in the final third. It was the blueprint Rafa used when he eventually came to Liverpool. We were suffocated in this game, losing 2–0 to goals that were world class.
Adding to the Tally
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When you smack a ball as hard as you can, it naturally brings both feet off the ground. I have never set myself a goal-scoring target. When I first broke into the team, I think if you got double figures from midfield that was seen as being really good. But now the bar has been raised by players such as Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes, 15 is almost seen as the norm.
The Sweetest Thing
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There aren’t many better feelings than scoring against Manchester United, especially in a major final. It is important to take the chance to win silverware because it doesn’t come round too often and when we played United in the Worthington Cup Final in 2003, I knew we had to seize the moment.
I only ever fear losing to Everton and United because I am a fan and I know how much it hurts, so to win 2–0 was a relief as much as anything. My goal had a bit of luck to it, taking a deflection off David Beckham and looping into the top corner. But I’ll settle for that. My celebration was instinctive. Just the perfect day.
It Means So Much
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Days like this are everything I dreamed of as a kid: winning silverware, scoring a goal and celebrating with my mates. Michael added another late on to seal the win and we had a good celebration afterwards. At that time under Gerard Houllier, Liverpool had the Indian sign over United. We used to play a diamond formation in midfield, with a holding player for security and then we would end up out-numbering them in the middle. On a big pitch like at Cardiff or at Old Trafford, having more bodies in the middle helped.
FAREWELL HOULLIER
There have been plenty of occasions in my career when I have been asked for my opinion on a manager’s situation. What’s going on? Can we turn it round? Has he lost the dressing room? I have been asked those questions by fans and I have been asked those questions by people at Liverpool.
But I can honestly say, on my kids’ lives, that I have always backed every manager I have worked under. Yes, there have been occasions when I have been frustrated with how things are going and when I have been quizzed about things I could have said: ‘This is rubbish. We hate the manager. We want out. The club’s going nowhere.’ Instead, I have said we can turn it round and I believe I can help whoever is in charge.
I am all for fighting for a manager rather than sticking the knife in and pushing him closer to the sack. So the whispers and the rumours that become fact, especially in a city like Liverpool, that the senior players were behind Gerard Houllier leaving in the summer of 2004 – forget it.
I heard that I was consulted and I had a say in his departure. Not at all. I have gone out of my way on countless occasions to back managers not just through my performances, but in what I say. When results don’t go well at a big club like Liverpool everyone sees what is around the corner. As players we have targets, but also the fans and the club have aims and aspirations as well. When you fail to reach them, change becomes inevitable.
There has been a pattern at Liverpool, going back to when I was going to the games as a fan, whereby managers have left.
Ultimately, it is the manager whose job comes under threat because Liverpool’s history demands that the team competes at the very top. It is difficult and sad to see anyone in any walk of life lose their job, but when it is someone you have built up a very strong relationship with over the years, someone who has gone out of their way to be supportive of you, it hurts even more.
The harsh reality of football is magnified as well when you are young. Nowadays I am more thick-skinned. I have come to realise that football is a business and that managers come and go in every league in the world. However, when Gerard left there was a huge sense of sadness.
Liverpool finished fourth in the 2003–04 season, which ironically would be considered as a success today, but back then it wasn’t viewed as enough. The Premier League has grown stronger and stronger and that season was the first in which the landscape changed.
Roman Abramovich had just bought Chelsea, which was to prove fantastic for them, but a major set-back for everyone else. No one knew that much about Abramovich to begin with, but as the days and weeks went by you started to realise that big changes were taking place within English football.
Money has always talked, but now the sort of sums that were being spent were mind-boggling. Signings were arriving at Stamford Bridge left, right and centre and I realised that while Abramovich was around it was going to take time and be a massive challenge for Liverpool to win the league again.
It didn’t seem impossible, but Chelsea immediately established themselves at a level that we were still striving to reach. Overnight they became genuine contenders. I knew they weren’t going to go away.
In those circumstances, every pound and penny that Liverpool spent had to be spot on. Yet whereas other teams made signings and improved their squad, becoming stronger, I feel now that we went a bit flat. The margins are fine. If you don’t strengthen in the summer correctly, you will find other sides pulling away from you. The sides with the most financial power usually get their signings right because they have first pick of the best players available. Everyone else comes in behind them because they don’t want to get involved in a head-to-head battle for players that they cannot realistically win. You get judged on your signings and while it wasn’t solely down to Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou that we didn’t progress as we wanted, Gerard paid the price.
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br /> Yet that final step in football is the hardest. And it is getting even harder to take now. I was gearing up for Euro 2004 with England when the decision was taken by Liverpool’s board of directors that Gerard would be leaving.
I know the chairman David Moores and Rick Parry the chief executive were sad, even though they were making a decision they felt was in the best interests of the club, and I felt the same way.
From the moment I broke into Liverpool’s first team, Gerard spoke to me every day. The conversation I had with him for the first time after it was announced he had left was difficult and awkward. I had shared everything with him and yet now I didn’t really know what to say except ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’.
Typically, Gerard was more interested in me than in himself. ‘Keep going, keep learning’ was the gist of what he said to me when really I should have been the one offering him kind words. But that is Gerard Houllier for you. Before every big game, a text message will come through from him wishing me good luck. If Liverpool – or England – have a big result, he will be in contact offering his congratulations. He is always in touch to see how my family is and vice versa. I keep in contact with him as well. Just because he left Liverpool did not mean our relationship ended. In many ways, the texts and conversations I have with him now mean more than ever.
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“I can honestly say, on my kids’ lives, that I have always backed every manager I have worked under.”
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Getting Palmed Off
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I have taken a few blows to my mouth and face over time, but that comes with wanting to win. Tackling has always been a big part of my game and really I have no right to get to the ball here. I’m helped by the fact that I have got long legs, but being at full stretch probably explains why I have picked up niggles in my groin. Sometimes I’ll get the tackle right, other times I’ll get it wrong and it’ll be a yellow card. This looks like I got it spot on against Tottenham’s Helder Postiga, although referee Uriah Rennie probably gave a foul!
Laying My Body on the Line Against the Gunners
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Games against Arsenal are always physical and you have to be prepared to win the battle before you can win the match itself. I was trying my utmost to reach a pass here in the Arsenal penalty area, but the ball has evaded me. I’ve had some good moments against the London club over the years and the odd low point, but I love playing against them and I’ll always try my hardest to ensure that it is Liverpool who come away the happier of the two teams.
CAPTAINCY
When Gerard Houllier called me into his office one day, I thought it was just going to be another of those seemingly daily chats about how I was doing. Then he dropped something of a bombshell.
‘Stevie, I want you to be captain. I think the time is right for you.’ For a split second, I was stunned and shocked. And then excited.
‘Great. Fantastic. Of course,’ I said. I had worn the armband before. The first time I was captain was in a League Cup tie against Southampton in November 2002 that we won 3–1 at Anfield. But this was different. This was for keeps. It was only after I left Gerard’s room that a new emotion washed over me: worry.
This was something I desperately wanted, but questions instantly popped into my head. Would I be any good as a captain? How would the lads react? It wasn’t as if my form had been sparkling around that time and there were other senior players who might have deserved that honour.
More importantly, how would Sami Hyypia, who was the current captain, react? From what I could see Sami was doing a good job. Ideally, you don’t want to receive the captaincy on account of it being taken off someone else. It is better if a player leaves a club or someone retires after a distinguished career. But Sami still had years ahead of him at Anfield and he had developed into a key player for us since arriving from Dutch club Willem II in 1999.
My respect for him, therefore, only increased as a result of the hand-over of the armband. I knew he was a top guy, but he went up in my estimation afterwards. Not once did he sulk, not once did he make life difficult for me and not once did he let the disappointment he must have felt show. Sami made a decision just to get on with things and he can rightly be described as an Anfield legend.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I walked out for the first time as Liverpool’s permanent skipper in a UEFA Cup tie against Olympic Ljubljana on October 15, 2003. It wasn’t a bad start either: we won 3–0. My life changed again with the armband on. I went from being a normal player to Liverpool captain at the age of 23.
Looking back, maybe it came too soon and I was too young. Usually captains are aged 25 and over, and coming into their peak years. But one of Gerard’s motives for giving it to me at such a young age was that he wanted me to mature that bit quicker because he wanted me to reach my potential. He wanted me to realise the opportunity I had in front of me.
When you are 23 and a Liverpool player, you can still get away with going to certain places and doing certain things. You are under the microscope, but it is not as intense. When you are 23 and you are the Liverpool captain, the responsibility is greater again. You can’t do the things some of your team-mates are doing. Yes, I had to make more sacrifices, but any sacrifice in the world is worth it when you are the captain of Liverpool Football Club, the club you love. I learnt an awful lot by being made captain so young. I grew up.
People think I am a quiet captain, but I don’t see it like that. It is just that I would never ever stitch one of my team-mates up in front of the media or the public. What image is it going to create if I start shouting at a young kid in front of 40,000 fans or in front of 25 members of the press, who are then going to write about it?
Of course, there are times in matches when the cameras or the fans will catch me shouting at someone. And my team-mates shout at me, believe me. That is all acceptable. Sometimes the player next to you needs shouting at to tell them they have done something brilliant. Sometimes you need to shout at them to tell them not to make that mistake again. But if you are on someone’s back and verbally bullying them, then that is not the right way to lead a team. I won’t do that, but have you ever known a Liverpool player to come out and say that I am quiet in the dressing room? That just isn’t the case. I prefer to say the right things at the right times. In football, there are plenty of players who make a lot of noise but not much sense comes out of their mouth.
But the most important aspect of being a captain, for me, and I don’t care what anyone says, is how you play yourself. It is not how noisy you are or what you say. It is about what you do. If you are a senior player in the dressing room, then usually the less senior players in there will watch you. That is the most important thing. It is not simply 3 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon when a captain comes into his own. Training that week is just as important and the entire build-up to the game. For example, if the team gets picked on a Thursday and Jay Spearing is playing, I will text him or speak to him and just point out a few things for him to expect in a certain game.
Jay’s a great lad. Someone who is still making his way in the game and willing to take on board any advice. I will do it in a quiet way – one-on-one – not wanting people to think I am this noisy captain, roaring in front of people on the Sky cameras. For me, that is the wrong thing to do.
Gerard appointed me because he liked the things that I was doing, but I have learnt from some of the other captains I have played under. I liked Michael Owen’s demeanour on the occasions he had the armband on. He was never in your face, ranting and raving, but he preferred to show he was right up for it by going out and scoring a couple. Leading by example.
David Beckham is another captain I hold in high regard. He never said too much in the England dressing room, but when he spoke it was sensible and constructive and, best of all, he went out and performed at a consistent level for the vast majority of his career.
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“My life changed again with the armband on.”
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The Armband That Means So Much
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My life as a Liverpool player changed for the better on October 15, 2003. That was the first time I was officially Liverpool’s captain for a match. We played Olympic Ljubljana in the UEFA Cup at Anfield and won 3–0 with Anthony Le Tallec, Emile Heskey and Harry Kewell scoring. It was a proud, proud day. From that moment on, the way I was viewed and the responsibility I had altered. Team-mates, managers and fans look to the captain to get results and to pull the team through when times are tough. I always prided myself on doing that even without the armband, but now I realised I had to step up another level. I was even more of a role model. It remains one of the best days of my life.
Fully Committed
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It is easy to see just how much winning means to players. I’m desperately trying to get the ball on target and the Fulham defenders are doing everything in their power to protect their goal.
Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story Page 6