LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN STEVEN Gerrard has spoken of his enormous pride at playing for “the best club in the world”.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show, Gerrard said he dreamed of playing for the club since he was a boy, and added:
“(My heroes are)… John Aldridge, John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp, Robbie Fowler, Peter Beardsley, guys who in the end I was lucky enough to play with. I’m living the dream still today. I’m the captain of my local team and every day I’m blessed…”
He looked back on his career at the club, saying that being named captain was one of his proudest moments, despite the difficult circumstances surrounding his appointment, given that Sami Hyypia was forced to give up the role.
“It wasn’t until Sami pulled me on a one-on-one and said it to me ‘no hard feelings you deserve it, you’ve dreamed of being a captain since you were a young boy, it means more to you than me’, that’s when it really sunk in and I was happy to do the job.“When the manager told me I was going to be captain the first thing that sprung to my mind was how was Sami going to take it. The last thing I wanted at 23 years of age in the Liverpool dressing room was any controversy.”
Asked what happens when you become captain, Gerrard said: “It’s your fault when you get beaten!
“The responsibility grows, I think looking back on it now I was still young, but I think Gérard Houllier gave it to me at that age was he wanted me to come out of my shell more, I was really quiet at the time and one of the younger guys in the dressing room, but he wanted me to grow and to have more responsibility and to believe in myself a bit more at the time.”
Gerrard also revealed he had strongly thought about leaving Liverpool at times:
“It’s a difficult question really, I’m a winner, I love playing football, I love Liverpool football club. I’ve always been honest and said there have been times when Liverpool weren’t doing so well and there were times when a little bit of insecurity crept into me and I thought maybe the club wanted to make money on me.“That’s when my head was turned by other clubs around Europe who were interested in me.”
He also said that England would not be affected by Fabio Capello’s resignation going into the European Championships, adding that the competition was “more difficult than the World Cup”.
