Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has bid farewell to the Premier League ahead of finishing his playing career with MLS side LA Galaxy.
Before heading to the United States, he sat down for an exclusive interview with former England team-mate and Manchester United rival – Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport.
RIO FERDINAND: There’s a quote that I’ve seen from you [during early Liverpool days] saying ‘I was out of position and out of my depth’.
STEVEN GERRARD: Gerard Houllier brought me in as a right wing-back at first and one of the first starts he gave me was away to Tottenham. I was up against David Ginola and he had too much for me. He had too much power, too much pace, too much strength. I felt out of my depth and I was saying to myself, can I get there?
Around about that time Houllier used to sort a lot of one-on-one chats with me and he said to me: ‘Look, you’ve been mismanaged over the last 18 months off the pitch, you’re not doing enough gym work. You’re not doing enough work on your legs, on your power and your upper body isn’t big and strong enough to cope at the moment. You’ve got the talent and the ability but over the next six months we’re going to be working you so hard off the pitch because we need to try and build you into a man because you’re a kid in a man’s game.’
So, I had to basically hammer the gym a bit just to try and develop, to cope.
Gerard Houllier told Gerrard he had to work in the gym to build his strength to cope with first team football
FERDINAND: Were there people at the club or elsewhere that would inspire you to become a footballer?
GERRARD: I had my heroes in Jamie Redknapp and Paul Ince, plus John Barnes, Steve McMahon and Ronnie Whelan before them, but I had a mentality where I wanted to go against them and I wanted to compete against them in training. So at first I really didn’t see them as team-mates, I saw them as people who had hold of something I wanted.
Gerrard used to look up to both Paul Ince and Jamie Redknapp when he broke into the Liverpool side
Growing up as a Liverpool fan Gerrard admired John Barnes and Steve McMahon
FERDINAND: Gerard Houllier made you captain in 2004 - captain of the club you support.
GERRARD: It was too soon for me. At the time, I didn’t really feel I had the respect and the personality in the dressing room to be the Liverpool captain. But he obviously saw a different side and thought that was the right time because that would help me mature and develop even quicker. I felt a little bit embarrassed at the time taking it off Sami Hyypia because he’d been so consistent for a couple of years.
Gerrard was named Liverpool captain in 2004 but he did not feel he was ready for the job
FERDINAND: In 2004, Houllier resigned after winning no trophies that year. There was murmurs that you weren’t happy with the way the club was going. And then Rafa Benitez comes in and that’s followed by great success for the club.
GERRARD: Obviously we had the success in 2001 and we felt like we were closing that gap to the big sides in the Premier League. But we made signings after the World Cup like El Hadji Diouf and a few others, and you’re wondering ‘are these going to be the signings that take us to the next level?’ They never worked. I’m a little bit naive at times and maybe I’m too honest, but I said the signings didn’t work and people said that I was frustrated. But you know yourself when you’re playing for a big club like Manchester United or Liverpool that if there’s no trophies, the gap is getting bigger and you fall far away, a change has to happen.
Gerrard enjoyed team success in 2001 when Liverpool won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup
Gerrard also enjoyed personal success in 2001 when he was named PFA Young Player of the Year
Liverpool signed El Hadji Diouf and others but Gerrard was not convinced the signings worked
FERDINAND: Who would you say was your favourite manager that you played under at Liverpool?
GERRARD: I think as far as love and support is concerned, definitely Houllier. He was like a father figure. He used to look after me on and off the pitch. I get on very well with Brendan Rodgers, he’s a great man-manager. Roy Hodgson, too. But Rafa brought the best out of me.
I wasn’t sure how he felt about me. Did he like me? Was he happy with me in that game? So, for every session and in every game I was desperate to impress him
FERDINAND: Chelsea had interest in you. Do you have any regrets not working under Jose Mourinho? He’s a manager that has won many things in different countries?
GERRARD: I love the manager, I love the man, I’ve had a distant relationship with him for many years but, I have regrets for not playing for the man and the coach because I know he would have made me a better player. I know he would have had more trophies to what I’ve already won. But looking back now I have no regrets not signing for Chelsea. I don’t regret it at all. I’m happy with the decisions I made. The connection I’ve got with Liverpool, my home town club. I’ve probably underachieved at times in certain years with Liverpool but for me it is not all about winning trophies. It’s also about memories and love and what those memories meant. Winning four or five trophies with Liverpool means an awful lot more than winning 10 or 11 with Chelsea.
Gerrard says he would have won more trophies if he had played under Jose Mourinho
FERDINAND: I can understand what you’re saying there. That’s loyalty. Maybe there isn’t as much loyalty in the game today?
GERRARD: I don’t think you’ll see much more. Players are going to move around more. With the amount of money in the game and the opportunities that come about, players are a lot more easily led. What kept me at Liverpool - when I was close to making the decision whether to stay or go – was my dad, who is a big Liverpool fan, my brother, all my friends. When I won for Liverpool, I shared it with people that are close to me and not many people will understand that.
Gerrard stayed at Liverpool and shared the glory with his friends and family when they won
FERDINAND: I can understand why you did that and why you’re still proud that you made the right decision.
GERRARD: I am biased towards Liverpool. In certain games, I’ve been too biased and showed too much loyalty. But I knew I always wanted to come home, I always wanted to watch Liverpool. I’ll have season tickets now forever and I knew if I’d have gone to Chelsea or anyone else, I’d have risked losing that. I’ve been there since I was eight and it was too much to let go.
Gerrard talks to Ferdinand about his career in England with Liverpool before heading off to the United States
FERDINAND: I remember looking at the TV for a month after the match [Manchester United 0 Liverpool 3, March 2014] when you kissed the camera. I wanted to jump through the TV...
GERRARD: I was thinking when I saw it myself that I bet all those United players are dying to give me a belt for doing that! But it’s a tongue-in-cheek thing, a lot of the players know I’m not like that. But I’m thinking how can I wind you up on the pitch because at times you have frustrated us when you beat us 3-0 and we can hear your dressing-room music pumping and you’re walking past our dressing room shouting ‘Yes!’
You gave Daniel Agger a clip on the way in but things happen and rivalries happen. The thing is, you wouldn’t be able to perform how you did in those games or have that much hunger to win them if you didn’t behave like that in those situations.
FERDINAND: So, talking about hurt - in the 2013-14 season you were going for the league. I remember watching the huddle at the Manchester City game on TV and thinking you’ve got the bit between your teeth and they could go on to win it. Then the game against Chelsea happened…
GERRARD: I think in that game against Chelsea with the slip, our tactical approach was inexperienced for the whole game - going out to try and blow Chelsea away. A lot of teams we played prior to that game, we were blowing them away comfortably. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge were on fire. Raheem Sterling was coming in. I was in good form, too.
We got to the Man City game and we were in front, controlling it. Then we were on the back foot but we managed to get over the line. We put that much into the game the huddle after the game was just sheer emotion. Being in a position where we felt like it was ours and we were playing, it just felt like it was the right time to have a huddle and remind the players the team that we’ve got a lot of hard work to do. The atmosphere was great at that time.
Going into the Chelsea game – and this is no fault to Brendan at all - but we sort of went in with the same tactics, you know? We heard Chelsea would possibly make a few changes and we had the confidence to blow them away, but we underestimated the power of Mourinho. He came and spoilt the game. He ruined it. He made them very hard to beat. He had all the units. He even said that they came to spoil the party.
The slip happened at a bad time, it was cruel for me personally. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about if that hadn’t happened. Would things have been different? Would it have turned out different? Maybe, I don’t know. But it happened after half an hour and we still had the time to get the draw that we needed. The inexperience showed from myself having not been in many title races and the inexperience of the team. Our reaction was to go chase it, hunt it down and try to make up for that cruel moment. We lost our way. We were gung-ho instead of being controlled. We should have been a little bit more calculated in the way we went about an equaliser.
You’ve got to be thick-skinned and take a bit of criticism along the way. I’m not scared of any criticism or cruelty. I understand it and the impact it had it kills me, don’t get me wrong. Inside it kills me and it will do for a long time. I think to myself ‘if I’d have got that league, it would have been the icing on the cake’.
But what helps me with it is that I’ve got the cake. I’ve achieved a lot of dreams with a team that has never been the favourite. I’ve had some incredible moments for a young kid on a council estate. I’ve got memories, good memories that will live with me forever. But that one moment will always hurt me until the day I go because if I’d have got that moment, I’d have achieved every dream with Liverpool. It hurts.
FERDINAND: Do you think Liverpool have replaced Suarez?
GERRARD: No but it was mission impossible for me. Even initially after Fernando Torres it was difficult to go and replace him straight away. Suarez came out of the blue. I didn’t really know much about him but he was a phenomenal player. Who do you go and get to replace Luis Suarez? You’re going to need endless amounts of cash. And then does that player want to come with no Champions League football? So, it’s difficult to replace him. Sturridge is an unbelievable player. He’s got just as much ability as Torres and Suarez but we can’t get him consistently on the pitch.
FERDINAND: I came to watch Liverpool vs Real Madrid – I couldn’t wait because of the history of both clubs. You were on the bench that game and I was sat there thinking what would I be like if I was in your shoes? Potentially your last game in the Champions League, away to a huge club like Real Madrid…
GERRARD: Well, you know me. This was round about the time when I was doing a lot of thinking about what’s next because I’d had a couple of chats with Brendan saying he was going to start managing my games I have to look after you and I want you to be fresh and I don’t want you to be playing three games in a week because you may be tired’ - and stuff like that.
But this situation was unique because it was Real Madrid and I wanted to play. When I was told I wasn’t playing for the sake of the team, because of my relationship with Brendan, I took it and I accepted it. But I sat on that bench devastated because I wanted to play. It pushed me into making a decision to move on and try something different.
FERDINAND: You had those moments when you walked out and thought ‘I know he’s not going to be able to live with me today? He can’t live with me no matter who it is in world football.’
GERRARD: Not so much ‘he can’t live with me’ but there were games were I’d come up against Juventus, Inter Milan or Real Madrid and I’d be that fired up that I’d be in a moment where I thought I fancied this today. I fancy it, I feel good and I had no fear. Domestically I was always striving to be in the same league as Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira and there were times when they’ve walked all over me. But there’s also been times when I’ve come off the pitch and thought I’ve just mixed with two of the best midfielders in the world.
FERDINAND: Do you think the domestic rivalry between the players in the England squad had anything to do with failing to win tournaments?
GERRARD: Possibly. I felt like there was a couple of cliques. I always feel with England it takes six days for the team to connect. When you get to England, you want to have your lunch and go to bed and keep away from everyone because there’s a shyness. There needs to be an England atmosphere when you turn up and you know each other, you want to be with each other. I look at foreign players in the Liverpool squad and they pack their bag a week before and can’t wait to get to their national squads. And I think in England it’s like ‘oh, we’re away for eight days’ or ‘I don’t really know him’ or ‘I’m a bit shy and a bit quiet’.
FERDINAND: Do you think St George’s Park may change that? I was there recently and it just felt football-orientated…
GERRARD: They need to add to it. It’s an unbelievable site but they need to be a bit more realistic around it. They need to put a golf course in, they need to make it a little bit friendlier for the players. It’s a top place to train and prepare but away from training pitch and the games, it can be boring. The FA need to look into making it even better. We need to create that atmosphere where England players are desperate to get away and do well.
Source: Daily Mail.
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