Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story (9 page)

GERARD MY HERO

The night we lifted the UEFA Cup to complete our
Treble season, I was ready to party. Gerard Houllier had other ideas.

We still had one game left – away at Charlton Athletic – and one that would determine whether we would be defending our European trophy next season or rubbing shoulders with the big boys in the Champions League. This wasn’t the time for beers and champagne. Gerard put us on lockdown. He told us to be patient and then we could party.

At the time, the lads and myself didn’t understand. We’d just written a glorious chapter in Liverpool’s history and wanted to be let off the leash. I thought the manager was being a killjoy and I didn’t appreciate fully how important the Champions League was at that point. But without him, we would not have qualified to join Europe’s élite. There is no question about that. If we as players had had our way, I doubt we would have won 4–0 at Charlton just a few days after the Alaves game and finished third in the table. As always Gerard’s professionalism shone through and he guided us over the line.

When you consider how important Gerard was to Liverpool, then for him to suffer a life-threatening illness just three months into the new season was upsetting and worrying for everyone. We came in at half-time of a game against Leeds United at Anfield in October 2001 expecting him to be there as always and impart some more words of wisdom. Even when we were told he had been taken ill, I, for one, thought he’ll just get it checked and then he’ll be fine. It wasn’t until we spoke to the club doctor, Mark Waller, that we grasped just how serious the heart problem he had was.

I was worried about what would happen to Gerard and then I worried about what would happen to us as a team. We had all been on an upward curve, winning trophies and making giant strides, and I did wonder if his illness would derail us and lead to us caving in. But his battle for health was the most important thing. I don’t know how all the players felt, but I missed him enormously. He had been there for me every day since I broke into the first team set-up and I missed his reassuring presence, asking how I was, giving me little tips, telling me what I was doing both right and wrong.

It was typical of Gerard that he was sending text messages to the team as soon as possible and sooner than the doctors would have allowed had they known. ‘Keep playing well. I’m OK, I’ll be back soon’, were the sort of messages he sent. Again, it was typical of Gerard that he thought of others before assuring you that he would be OK. He was more interested in the team than himself, which is amazing really when you consider how his life was in danger. That is impressive.

My concerns about whether our season would unravel without Gerard were unfounded and did not factor in Phil Thompson’s capabilities as coach.

We had a lot of foreign players in the squad – Sami Hyypia, Markus Babbel, Vladimir Smicer – and I suppose I wondered whether Thomo would be able to maintain the atmosphere and harmony that had built up between us all.

We had just won the Treble, but already that season we had added the Charity Shield, beating Manchester United, and the European Super Cup, beating Bayern Munich, to our expanding silverware collection. It was a big challenge for Thomo to come in and take the reins alone, but he was brilliant and did an unbelievable job.

You couldn’t challenge him because he had lifted the European Cup as captain in Paris in 1981 and won so many other trophies and titles that it was ingrained in him exactly what the club stood for. Anyone looking to pinch an inch and cut some corners in Gerard’s absence didn’t stand a chance and so we continued making strides.

There were set-backs, however. Barcelona came to Anfield in the second group phase of the Champions League and played us off the park, winning 3–1 despite Michael opening the scoring. It was mind blowing how they moved the ball and how different their style was to our own. Xavi played, but it was Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars who did the damage.

After matches like that you start doubting yourself and the team. I thought to myself leaving Anfield that night, ‘What level can I get to because these players seem to be on a different one from me?’

But you dig in and recover and as the season progressed we were still in the hunt to win the league and the Champions League.

Gerard had returned to the dug-out on an emotional night against AS Roma when we needed to win by two clear goals to remain in Europe. He would admit now that he came back too soon, but that he did so showed the strength of the bond he had with the club. He wanted to be in the dug-out, helping, guiding his team. Still, his presence helped us that night with Jari Litmanen scoring a penalty and then Emile Heskey sealing our progress and leading Gerard to proclaim later we were ‘ten games from greatness’. We came up short.

Bayer Leverkusen beat us 4–3 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-finals before we came second behind Arsenal in the Premier League, finishing seven points behind Arsene Wenger’s side. After all the highs we had grown used to, the disappointment was numbing.

For me, the pain manifested itself in other ways as well. All throughout my career, problems with my fitness have repeatedly cropped up.

The first serious set-back I endured came on the final day of the 2001–02 season. I had been nursing a groin injury for some time, but given the importance of the games Liverpool were competing in I played through the pain barrier.

There was also the World Cup coming up with England in Japan and South Korea and there were people saying to me to wait until after the tournament and then have surgery.

The pressure they were putting on me left me with a decision to make. Do I get the injury sorted and come back the player I want to be at the start of the next season for Liverpool? Or do I go to the World Cup carrying an injury, not being able to train and go into the games maybe 50% fit, then get judged on those performances and miss a big chunk of the next season?

When I put it like that it seems straightforward. In the event, the decision was taken out of my hands.

I broke down on the final weekend of the campaign in a home game with Ipswich and I knew as I trudged off that England was no longer an option. It was a tough moment for me, but throughout the summer one thought kept me going: I was confident that we could challenge for the league.

“It was typical of Gerard that he thought of others before assuring you that he would be OK.”

A Special Rivalry

What you don’t see in this picture is that I have my tongue out as I run along the front of the Bullens Road stand at Goodison Park down to the corner where the Liverpool fans are. I had been abused by Evertonians throughout the game. They had thrown coffee at me, and half-eaten sausage rolls, and I actually got hit by a coin on the bridge of my nose. It hurt, but the only thing you can do is try to make their team suffer. I rifled one into the top corner and the celebration wasn’t just instinct. It was to say: ‘Throw whatever you want at me . . . there you go, there’s my reaction.’

The Art of Crossing

The way I look to cross a ball, I take risks because I want to put a certain amount of pace on it. I can hit the right area 10 times out of 10 if my cross is slow or floated, but I try to put in balls with pace and venom so that they are enticing for my team-mates. Sometimes you can’t get them right, but I have the confidence now that if one goes off-target the next one will be better. My delivery from wide areas is an important part of my game. You can catch opponents out if you hit the ball early and with power into the right area.

Bulking Up

I’m trying my luck from distance here against Everton, but if you look at the difference in my physique now to when I made my debut the contrast is stark. The change is down to Gerard Houllier. I hate the gym. I find it boring. Unfortunately, due to the injuries that I have had in recent seasons, I have done more gym work in the last 12 months than I ever did between the ages of 22 and 28.

I never used to go in partly because of the back problems I have had earlier in my career. But when I started out, Houllier said that if I wanted to play for him in the middle of midfield then I needed to bulk up a bit. You can see the definition in my quad muscles which you get from doing squats holding weights. I am starting to get the build of a strong Premier League player.