Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story (4 page)

We lost 2–1. I was dragged off so I didn’t need telling that my full debut had not been a success. I hated Incey after that game. I had endured bad games growing up, but nothing like this. I doubted myself and was concerned that my Liverpool career would be over almost before it had begun.

Obviously, I was worrying too much, but at the time you just hope the next game will be easier. You don’t think, ‘I’ll learn from being ripped apart by David Ginola at White Hart Lane.’ Nowadays I would prefer to receive the treatment Incey gave me that day. Yes, I felt sorry for myself and sulked at the time, but he wasn’t picking on me for the sake of it. He was pushing me to become the best I could be.

I was fortunate that Liverpool played Celta Vigo in the UEFA Cup just three days after my Tottenham ordeal. It was my third game for the club and I knew how important it was. Thankfully, I was back in midfield, my position, and I did well. I felt comfortable straight away: finding my passing range, making tackles and redressing the balance from the previous game against Spurs.

We lost 1–0, but looking back on that match I believe it was a key one for me because it gave Houllier the confidence to persist with me. If I had bombed in that game as well, he might have decided it was better to take me out of the front line. Instead, he stuck by me and I was given another chance to prove myself when we played Everton in the April of that season. It was my first taste of a Merseyside derby and I wasn’t about to let the Bluenoses ruin my weekend. It was 71 minutes before I came on, once again for Heggem, but I made my mark. I threw myself into tackles, almost ripping the shirt off Danny Cadamateri’s back at one point before kicking an effort from him off the line with the goal gaping, as Everton sought to make it 3–3 in a pulsating game.

Anfield exploded as we kept our slender advantage intact and I even celebrated stopping the equaliser, shaking my fists before getting pats on the back from my team-mates. It felt like I was the match-winner. There is no better way to win supporters round than ensuring they had the bragging rights in a derby. Now the fans could put their trust in me. I was one of them. I had only been on the pitch for 19 minutes, but I crammed so much into that time that as I headed back to the dressing room after the final whistle it felt like I was floating on air.

The next time I faced Everton, however, I was to trudge from the pitch with very different emotions.

“I was playing for Liverpool’s first team. No one could take that away from me now.”

Starting to Contribute

In the few minutes I played on my debut, I had five or six touches. There were a couple of short passes, I took a throw-in and I over-hit two crosses. You do worry when you are just a kid and the cross you’ve put into the penalty box sails over the intended target. If I over-hit a cross now, people will expect the next one to be good.

Back then, the fans didn’t know anything about me and I was desperate to make a good impression. Without being big-headed, the shape and technique I am using in the picture shows how to whip the ball over with pace. You practise crossing like all other aspects of your game. A lot of players find it hard to get that shape.

Gerard Houllier – The Master

I love seeing pictures of Gerard, and I love meeting him at games. I still have a lot of contact with him. There will be phone calls and texts from him before a big game and he is still encouraging me and giving me advice.

I will always listen to what Gerard Houllier has to say and that illustrates the respect I have for him. He is someone who I owe an awful lot of gratitude to because without him I would not have had the career I have had.

Pushing Me to Be the Best

Paul Ince was one of my heroes when I was watching England as a kid and so when he signed for Liverpool I was delighted. This was a chance for me to learn from one of the best around. But when I got to a certain age, Incey became an ‘enemy’ (in a good way you understand) for me because I knew I had to try and push him for his place in the team. Yes he was a hero, but he was also standing in my way of a regular place in Liverpool’s starting line-up. He used to get on my back an awful lot when I first started playing in the team and that can be hard to take when you are tentatively feeling your way into the team. ‘What was that?’ he would bark at me, or ‘Stop giving the ball away’ – I’ve taken out the swear words in between! Deep down I knew Incey had my best interests at heart, however, and it was his way of pushing me. He was doing it for the right reasons and that is why, to this day, I have an awful lot of time for him as a player and a person.

First Taste of Europe

An aerial duel in my first European start against Celta Vigo at Anfield, although I can’t have got up very high if David Thompson is level with me! My first action in a Liverpool shirt against Blackburn and Tottenham had come out of position and as a result I felt out of my depth a bit. Here, I was in central midfield and in the thick of the action.

I loved it. This was my position and I started the game well which gave me a huge boost to my confidence. The UEFA Cup was important in my development because I learnt about different styles and got to experience different types of football. In the background is Michel Salgado, ex-Real Madrid, Spain and also Blackburn.

In Awe of ‘God’

Liverpool used to get me match tickets when I was young, but on the occasions I felt too ashamed to ask for them I would pay to go to the game and stand on the Kop. Robbie Fowler was my first idol. He was the man on fire, banging goals in left, right and centre. He was one of the best finishers in the world.

It was surreal for me when I later became his team-mate. I was in awe to begin with, but Robbie was one of the players who helped me the most. He’d offer little tips, but mainly he made sure I was always involved in whatever was happening. He has always been there for me and I am good friends with him now.

SEEING RED

When I was younger I could be a nasty piece of work
on the pitch. Off it I was quite shy. On it, I became someone else. Someone I didn’t like. I am not proud of that. In fact, I am embarrassed when I think back to how I used to be and how I used to act when I stepped onto a football pitch. Too often in my younger days, around the time I was 14, I crossed the line. Away from football, I was well-behaved: mischievous at times like all teenaged schoolboys, but nothing more sinister. Put a pair of boots on me and a kit and there was a time when I didn’t know whether I would score a goal, and be named Man of the Match, or get sent off. I was a liability.

I didn’t go out to try and deliberately hurt opponents, but it was just a case of wanting to be a success so much that my temperament boiled over at times.

The staff at Liverpool recognised early in my development that this side of my game needed to be smoothed out. My aggressive approach became an issue because there were occasions when I had fall-outs with Hughie McAuley, and later on Sammy Lee, in training. They were just trying to help me, but sometimes you don’t want, or don’t feel you have, to listen.

It wasn’t just Steve Heighway, Dave Shannon and Hughie who recognised this.