We are approaching the moment many never envisaged — Gerrard leaving Liverpool — and reality is biting.
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Steven Gerrard has barely had a chance to settle into his seat when he is immediately put on the spot: should we expect tears tomorrow?
‘Carra said I can’t cry, didn’t he?’ Gerrard replies with a wry smile, referencing a playful barb from his close friend Jamie Carragher.
‘I really don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation so I’m not sure. I don’t want to cry. I want to keep it in check but I’m dreading the moment when the final whistle comes.’
We are approaching the moment many never envisaged — Gerrard leaving Liverpool — and reality is biting. Soon the smile that greeted the question about keeping his emotions in check is replaced by a familiar furrowing of his brow.
‘When I made the announcement in January (to join LA Galaxy), this was the time I was dreading,’ Gerrard says quietly.
‘The simple reason is because I’m going to miss it so much. But it’s here now. I have to get on with it, play, then say my goodbyes.’
For that reason, what would have been a run-of-the-mill, end-of-season contest between Liverpool and Crystal Palace has assumed huge significance. After 708 appearances and 185 goals, Anfield is about to lose its last action hero.
Some believe he is going too soon. Goals in consecutive matches against QPR and Chelsea have hoisted his tally into double figures again and, for all the scrutiny of his displays this year, scratch deeper and his impact has been clear.
Without his interventions, Liverpool would be eight points worse off in the Barclays Premier League, have taken three fewer points in their doomed Champions League campaign and almost certainly gone out of the FA Cup in the third round at AFC Wimbledon.
The legs that pumped like pistons in Gerrard’s pomp and propelled him into the pantheon of Anfield greats may not move as fast as they once did, but the class that has hallmarked his game since he emerged from the substitutes’ bench on November 29, 1998, is still there.
Is there a concern, then, that in a few months’ time, when the Colorado Rapids, Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes makeup the opposition, he will discover he has made a mistake? His reply is typically honest and ends any of the conjecture over whether Liverpool dithered over offering him a deal.
‘There are going to be some challenges ahead as far as travelling, settling into a new country and playing in a new league,’ he says. ‘But it’s a nice challenge, an exciting challenge. I’m going to live in a fantastic place and the level is right for me where I am now.
‘I’m 35 in a couple of weeks. I’m not really sure how much more I could give the club at the level I’d like to give it. Going back to when I peaked from 23 to 30 years of age, the reality is that I’m getting too old for this level and maybe a different level will suit me more.
‘I’ve been in the spotlight in this city, in this team, for 17 years and had some highs and lows. In a couple of weeks there will be a release. What some people don’t understand is Liverpool is a tough place to live and be a player as well.’
Unforgiving might be a more suitable word, particularly for a local boy. Gerrard is adored on the Kop but, curiously, it is not unconditional in the way it was for Xabi Alonso and Luis Suarez.
A conversation with Carragher reinforced the idea that now was a suitable point to pursue another challenge. ‘I have grown up and played alongside players like Robbie Fowler and Carra,’ Gerrard says. ‘We spoke about those moments a lot, about when you make the decision, when it’s right.
‘I have always agreed, especially with Jamie, that you leave a touch early, when people want a tiny bit more. It’s better than people on the terraces or around the city saying, “You stayed too long”, and they are trying to kick you out of the door.’
He could have gone before. Jose Mourinho pursued him for Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid; Sir Alex Ferguson had two goes trying to convince him to do the impossible and head down the East Lancashire Road, and Bayern Munich, as recently as 2012, enquired.
‘I just always had that connection with this club that I didn’t want to let go of,’ explains Gerrard. Asked if he could have imagined there would be no league title, Gerrard said: ‘Not at the beginning. I thought I’d get the chance to win it and I did on a couple of occasions, last season being the best. That makes it a bit more painful because it’s so recent.’
Gerrard has already held talks with chairman Tom Werner and manager Brendan Rodgers about a future role at the club. ‘When you play for your family and your people, I always wanted to achieve success and win trophies to share with them — not to just go and look for glory, which I could have done.
‘Sitting in the dressing room after I was sent off against Man U (in March), I was thinking, “I don’t want this to fizzle out”, for people to remember a hamstring injury, a suspension and some bad games. So I’m really happy the last couple have gone well and I hope the final two games go the same.
‘But people will remember me not for a period of four, five, six games. If my name ever comes up, they will remember what I have done for 17 years rather than over a short space of time. I hope they do, anyway.’
That Gerrard is even wondering about his legacy — defined on those remarkable nights in Istanbul and Cardiff — is remarkable but that gives you an insight into his character. Even more revealing is the exchange that follows when he is asked to give his Liverpool career a mark out of 10?
‘What would you give it?’ he asks. ‘No-one is interested in what I would give it.’ Why not? There was interest when you rated your England career? ‘You’re just after a headline.’ No. There is genuine interest.
‘I’m not going to judge my Liverpool career out of 10,’ he says. ‘But I can judge two performances for you. I’ll give Istanbul nine and I’ll give the last Man U one zero.’
That, in a sentence, encapsulates Gerrard. There was, he felt, always room for improvement on the great days, and the pain of the bad days stays with him. It is an approach that enabled him to fulfil his dreams.
A rare moment of sense from Joey Barton
Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton offered his own unique tribute to Steven Gerrard on Twitter . . .
‘Lots of praise and admiration flying about for Steven Gerrard today and rightly so. A phenomenal career at his boyhood club.
‘He’s achieved so much. One of his biggest achievements in my eyes, which often goes under the radar, is having the same haircut for so long.’ – Daily Mail
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