On this week’s episode, Gary Neville, Jill Scott, Roy Keane, Ian Wright, and Jamie Carragher are joined by special guest Steven Gerrard as he reflects on his incredible career. The conversation begins with the current situation at Liverpool. With Arne Slot under pressure and Mo Salah announcing his exit, Gerrard shares his thoughts on the club and explains why he has found it difficult to watch at times this season. He also reflects on his spells at Aston Villa and in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Ettifaq. Looking back on his playing days, Gerrard opens up on the moments that defined his career at Liverpool, from the biggest highs to the toughest challenges, including the times he came close to leaving. International football also comes into focus, as Gerrard gives his view on England’s golden generation, what went wrong, and why that team fell short of expectations.
00:00 – Intro
05:55 – Current Liverpool
39:23 – Liverpool Return Dreams
44:33 – Saudi Coaching Experience
45:18 – Saudi League Standards
54:19 – Chelsea Temptation
01:07:58 – Staying at Liverpool Decision
01:28:04 – England Reflections
Key Quotes:
Gerrard on Liverpool’s performances this season…
“I have really enjoyed watching them in the Champions League and they look like a completely different team and I think that they are in a decent place there. In the league they look very different, I haven’t really enjoyed watching them. They look as if they’ve got a lot of issues to fix and after the game it’s been difficult to put a finger on one issue that they have got. They have quite a few and they are all over the pitch. They are very mixed and two faced this season. There are a lot of these types of performances that don’t look like the previous Liverpool team. Quite passive, disconnected, out of shape, easy to get through, giving big chances up. You’re seeing it a lot more in recent weeks. I think some of the issues they’re having this season, for me, watching as a fan from the outside and from afar, and going to some games, is it’s been happening at the back end of last season as well.”
Gerrard on Mo Salah leaving Liverpool…
“I think it’s in everyone’s best interests now. The timing’s right in my opinion. He’s obviously had a disagreement with the manager, I don’t know at what level because he’s done the interview which I think he’ll regret further down the line. That told me that there was an issue there. I spoke to him around the time of that interview. It gave me the opportunity to say to him ‘you’ve been here for eight, nine years. You’ve been a king here. You’ve got this legacy, just go on your terms the right way.’ He was still a little bit emotional from the incident. He was in and out of the team at the time. He was upset. I just thought it would be a shame if he left in January. The relationship I’ve got with him; he’ll still have himself down as one of the best players in the world. I think that’s the reason why the fallout’s come, apart from that he was probably struggling with the transition of a manager saying you’re not starting today.”
Gerrard on his feelings about his stint managing Aston Villa…
“I enjoyed parts of it. I had some difficult times as well. When you get the sack it’s not nice. I had a period after Villa where my head was done in for months, it was a tough one. I understood it, when you have a run of form like we did at the back end of it the responsibility was all on me. I accepted it but in my own time, sitting around, I was gutted because I thought there was a really big opportunity going into the first full season to really build on a half decent start so that was a tough one for me. I was having mixed emotions. I felt sorry for myself a little bit, felt a bit bitter, felt a little bit useless. I still sit here now and think to myself what I’ve seen from November to May and then the signings we made, I thought there was a real opportunity to kick on, and we never delivered that, so I must take that on the chin.”
Gerrard on how to manage difficult players…
“Alfredo Morelos at Rangers was tough to manage, he had maverick behaviours, he was challenging. He’d bend the rules and after he’d scored a brace. When you’re going into a job you want to try and set rules and values of your team, sometimes you’d have to bite your tongue and turn a blind eye to one or two and try not to get caught by the other players when you’re doing it. He was so important to Rangers, and I knew he was so important. I knew the time would come where I could get into a place where he’s maybe less as important that’s why I brought Defoe and Kemar Roofe in because when he was having these periods where he would be challenging or breaking rules and your values. Defoe and Kemar Roofe were itching to come on and play, and they were as good as him. Jermaine was much better than him at the age, but they were the reason why we won the league because of their goals in the team.”
Gerrard reflecting on the jump from the SPL to the Premier League…
“It was a big jump, didn’t realise at the time when I made that decision but in hindsight again, I would have stayed at Rangers and got more experience, so I regret doing it now sitting here but I didn’t at the time. The conversations with Rangers after we won, the recruitment and the finance chats that we were having didn’t feel like Rangers were ready to go again. The Premiership offers and opportunity comes in and it’s tough to say no to that. Villa are a great club and I’ve got nothing bad to say about Villa. The opportunity was given to me, and it didn’t work out so that’s on me.”
Gerrard on the rumours of him leaving Liverpool…
“Yeah, I’m guilty of doing a little bit of snooping around such as the Chelsea and Real Madrid rumours because it does cross your mind when you’re not competing for what you set out and what you want to try and achieve. I’m guilty of doing a bit of flirting and a bit of thinking if you like, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t. Especially under Rafa [Rafael Benítez] who was the type of coach were you never ever really thought he wanted you. He was quite cold and challenging and provoking and then when I see a few people going in for contracts and I felt like I should have been a priority at the time. It gave me a little bit of doubt. As many rumours as there were about me with these teams and other rumours that Rafa would sell and reinvest with players in Spain to replace me. That’s all the things that was swirling around in my head at the time.”
Gerrard on renewing his contract at Liverpool in 2004…
“Rafa was trying to provoke me a little bit around some of the stories in the media (rumours of Real Madrid). I said I’ll sign a new contract for you right now if you pay me in and around the ballpark of what people would be getting who were playing in Champions League at the time. I’m not saying make me the highest paid player in the world but give me a contract that I deserve and I’ll sign it right now in front of you. He put a piece of paper in front of me and said write down how much you want. It took for me to go to the chairman and say look what’s going on here does this club want me or is he at it here.”
Gerrard on the possibility of managing again…
“I’m not throwing my CV around. I’m not itching. I’m not desperate for any opportunity. The phone’s gone a few times recently and the time isn’t the right time family wise or just hasn’t been the right thing. If something comes that’s right, I’ll be open to a conversation for sure. Most of the calls that I’ve had since I came out of my last job would be around championship level.”
Gerrard on the Saudi Pro League clubs…
“Part of the remit was we want you to come here and you’ve been around top institutions where we’ve got no footings in place in terms of academies and what do we need to become an elite team. When I was there, there were four/five big teams who PIF owned and now you’ve got a few other teams that are private, I think there’s six private owned now. The rest of the league were trying to put brand new academies in place and better facilities and better infrastructure so by the time the World Cup comes around they can keep producing young Saudi kids that can improve and close the gap. They want Ronaldo around for elite standards and they want people playing with him, playing against him, and them type of players they believe will bring their own up. Difficult to gauge probably the middle and the bottom of that league but the top I would say probably lower prem, top championship. I think the top four teams would comfortably be better than the MLS teams. We had friendlies against some of the MLS teams, and we were very comfortable against them, and we weren’t a top team. We weren’t a top team like PIF teams. So, it’s a bit better than the outside opinion.”
Gerrard on his England career and the golden generation…
“I loved representing England, playing the games, being in training and competing against all the players to see where I was. I loved all that side of things, but I hated the camps. We had a little bit of a Liverpool group, but it was very clicky early on. It was like the Man Utd table, Arsenal table, Liverpool table, so I was very young and just a little bit in awe of everyone. I moved on and there were less Liverpool players that were getting into the squad. I didn’t ever feel like it was a team with England. I just felt like it was a group of individuals. There were missed opportunities and frustration, and I think we should have done a lot better. We collectively should have done more to come together and be a better team and a better group and better mates to give us a better chance. I felt like everyone going to England just wanted to do well themselves, it was a lot of ego. I loved playing for England, I loved the training, but Liverpool was always a priority”
Stick to Football is brought to you by Arne Clothing – to watch the full podcast episode with Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Ian Wright, and Jill Scott visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-xGpLYb7Qg