Steven Gerrard (Liverpool - LA Galaxy - Youth Academy - Rangers - Aston Villa)

I was just thinking this morning how much I miss our captain. I spent the last four or five years of his time with us arguing with people who said such nonsense as "he's only good enough for the bench these days" and "he's way past it" (seriously, years and years before he actually was), and I always said we and they would only see how good he was when he'd gone. It's the here and now, and how many times over the years in games like the one against Watford did he just score a goal or two to drag everyone out of the sh!t?

What a player he was, and what a man. Stick him in his prime into this team now and we'd go close to winning the league. I mean it. 

I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a team of...

Masch
Alonso Hamann

Gerrard
Suarez Torres

... in their prime.

I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a team of...

Masch
Alonso Hamann

Gerrard
Suarez Torres

... in their prime.

Wonder no more mate. That team would p!ss the Premiership even with a central defensive partnership of Traore and Tanner.

I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a team of...

Masch
Alonso Hamann

Gerrard
Suarez Torres

... in their prime.

That too has kept me awake on many a night.
We were so close to having Luis and Fernando together for us.

We were so close to having Luis and Fernando together for us.

Torres was already well on his decline by the time Luis came.  He was wretched at Chelsea, wretched at Milan, and is useless at Atletico now.  Had he been in his prime, then yes, him and Luis would've been exciting to watch.

That being said, even a declining Torres would've been a better fit with Suarez than Carroll, what a waste of time it was trying to force them to be together.  I wonder what Suarez thinks about wasting two years of his career stuck with Andy Carroll, now that he plays with Messi and Neymar.

El Hadji Diouf has be on about Stevie and Carra again...'hates them', Stevie always put 'personal glory ahead of Liverpool' and (this is my favourite bit), has invited them to Senegal so they can see how he 'is like a king out there'!

 

News for you Dioufy boy, no one f**king cares!!

When he compared Joe Cole to Messi that time he was a confirmed thicko in my eyes.

The Samaratin's could use that line to cheer people up . "did you here the one about Joe Cole being compared to Lionel messi" , makes me smile every time I think about it.

El Hadji Diouf has be on about Stevie and Carra again...'hates them', Stevie always put 'personal glory ahead of Liverpool' and (this is my favourite bit), has invited them to Senegal so they can see how he 'is like a king out there'!

 

News for you Dioufy boy, no one f**king cares!!

I am minded of the old proverb. "In the land of the blind the one eyed man is King". It really is incredible how thick football players are

Steven Gerrard eyes Liverpool coaching role this year

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is planning a return to the club in a coaching role when his playing career ends, which could be this year.
The 35-year-old, who won 10 trophies at Liverpool, left at the end of last season to join Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I'm not 100% sure but I think it will probably be my last year as a player," Gerrard told the Daily Telegraph.
"I have had a chat with [Liverpool boss Jürgen] Klopp. The club have let me know they're keen for me to come back."

Gerrard, who made 710 appearances for Liverpool and won 114 England caps, added: "I am always going to be biased towards Liverpool and the FA and basically when I am back home I am going to carry on with my punditry work and try and move around clubs and gain more experience, going to watch managers and learning more.
"I am basically available from November, December 2016. Everyone in the football world will know I am available and hopefully I will be 75% into my coaching badges."

The former England captain admits he would have liked to have acquired the necessary coaching qualifications earlier, and has urged the Football Association to ensure leading players remain in the game after finishing their playing days.
"I have regrets I didn't start my coaching badges at 21-22," he said. "All that time wasted in hotels as an England player when I've been bored and was watching 'The Office' and 'The Sopranos'.

"I wish I'd done my CBA (coaching) licence then so I'd be doing my pro-licence now.
"I had a meeting with the FA and said these players that are earning a certain amount of caps - don't let them go away from the game, do more to keep them involved."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35213120


No doubt it will get some miserable buggers moaning again.

Steven Gerrard eyes Liverpool coaching role this year

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is planning a return to the club in a coaching role when his playing career ends, which could be this year.
The 35-year-old, who won 10 trophies at Liverpool, left at the end of last season to join Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I'm not 100% sure but I think it will probably be my last year as a player," Gerrard told the Daily Telegraph.
"I have had a chat with [Liverpool boss Jürgen] Klopp. The club have let me know they're keen for me to come back."

Gerrard, who made 710 appearances for Liverpool and won 114 England caps, added: "I am always going to be biased towards Liverpool and the FA and basically when I am back home I am going to carry on with my punditry work and try and move around clubs and gain more experience, going to watch managers and learning more.
"I am basically available from November, December 2016. Everyone in the football world will know I am available and hopefully I will be 75% into my coaching badges."

The former England captain admits he would have liked to have acquired the necessary coaching qualifications earlier, and has urged the Football Association to ensure leading players remain in the game after finishing their playing days.
"I have regrets I didn't start my coaching badges at 21-22," he said. "All that time wasted in hotels as an England player when I've been bored and was watching 'The Office' and 'The Sopranos'.

"I wish I'd done my CBA (coaching) licence then so I'd be doing my pro-licence now.
"I had a meeting with the FA and said these players that are earning a certain amount of caps - don't let them go away from the game, do more to keep them involved."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35213120


No doubt it will get some miserable buggers moaning again.

In the hope of not sounding pedantic, I think that BBC article is an edited version of this Express one s@int:

https://twitter.com/pjoyceexpress/status/683197864735051776

Steven Gerrard Interview: Liverpool legend opens up on Jürgen Klopp and his next move

STEVEN GERRARD'S first inclination was to write it all down.
By PAUL JOYCE
04:30, Sat, Jan 2, 2016 | UPDATED: 08:38,

Steven Gerrard is excited about Liverpool's future under Jürgen Klopp

One of his initial sessions back at Liverpool had finished and for all his desire to show Jürgen Klopp he could “still do a bit,” the biggest impression would be left on the former captain himself.

“I found myself straight away after training wanting to keep what he said, why he did it and the point he made to individuals,” said Gerrard, over breakfast at his restaurant, The Vincent, in Liverpool city centre this week.

“I just couldn’t get enough.

“I was a big fan of Klopp before he came but having been around him for a couple of weeks and seeing how he is with individual players, his tactics and how he goes about the job, I think with a bit of patience and time to add to the XI, and the squad, you can get excited.

“I was a bit wary about whether to take the invitation or not because I didn’t want to take any attention away from players or the newness of Klopp. But I’m absolutely delighted I did it now. I enjoyed it.

“It was a big learning experience for me. I was training as a fan and an ex-player, but also looking to get a few little tips for my own future.”

It is a year to the day since an emotional Gerrard confirmed the leaving of Liverpool and he has the next 11 months all mapped out.

There is a run-out for a Liverpool Legends team in Australia next Thursday before he heads back to LA Galaxy for pre-season training ahead of what is likely to be the last campaign of an illustrious playing career.

Then comes the intrigue.

Beyond next November he is “available” for offers, as he puts it, and depending upon what comes his way football could see one of its icons return to the game’s coal face.

Gerrard has his tie up with BT Sport, but seems keen to test himself as a coach when it is not de rigueur to do so.

He wants to reverse the brain drain prevalent in the modern game, accepting it is a loss if close friend Jamie Carragher is not enticed back to the fold or John Terry disappears into the sunset, but is trenchant in his views on the obstacles that lie ahead.

“Some of the names you mentioned if they sort of stop and go play golf it would be a shame because as a football fan you want as many characters, big players, coaches and names involved in the game,” said Gerrard.

“Seeing Gary Neville going into the England job was great, seeing him take on the challenge at Valencia is great.

“I hope the big names stay involved. Like (Patrick) Vieira now. He has gone to New York. I was a big fan of Vieira as a player so you sort of want to keep an eye on him to see how he does. It is good.

“I had a meeting with the FA and said these players that are earning a certain amount of caps don’t let them go away from the game, do more to keep them involved. Put these coaching badges on offer at a younger age.

“I have regrets now that I didn’t start my coaching badges at 21-22. All that time I have wasted in hotels being an England player in the afternoon when I have been bored and I’ve been watching The Office and The Sopranos. I wish I had done my C, B and A licence, so I would be doing my Pro Licence now.

“I know many, many players who get to the end of their careers and get handed a ‘C’ licence pack, which is about four inches thick, and say, ‘Nah, I’m not doing that.’ And he could have 70/80 caps and 600 career appearances.

“They should be getting offers they cannot refuse. How can a club and the FA just let them go?

“A lot of clubs don’t let it happen. They don’t let players like that go. They keep them in. You see Ryan Giggs at United, Barcelona with Enrique and Guardiola. They say, ‘When you finish here, that is happening’.”

Gerrard wrote in his autobiography, which was released in September, that he felt Liverpool could have done more to keep him last season, offering a career path that broached the transition from player to coach rather than simply presenting a standard one-year extension and the unappealing prospect of reduced playing time.

Clearly, the onus is on his boyhood club to tap into his drive, passion and commitment when his sojourn in the States ends and given all the midfielder’s experience has been accumulated in the first team, it would appear to make sense from the outside at least that it is at that level.

Nothing is set in stone.

“I have had a chat with Klopp,” said Gerrard. “The club have let me know they are keen for me to come back but there hasn’t been a conversation or an offer as such where they have said, ‘We want you to do this, we want you to do that’.

“I’m always going to be biased towards Liverpool and the FA.

“What’s interesting for me is I know what is going to happen until November but beyond that I don’t know. I have my BT work, but I am basically available for whatever is out there.

“Everyone in the football world will know I am available and hopefully I will be 75pc into my coaching badges.”

Could he see himself at another club?

“I’m available, available,” he says.

Gerrard is relaxed as he tucks into scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast, the first Christmas of his professional career spent with his family and friends rather than juggling the demands of a punishing Premier League schedule.

He was at the Stadium of Light for the win over Sunderland on Wednesday night, but this time as a fan, rather than midfield hub, having driven up that afternoon.

That sense of freedom appeals and is one of the reasons why he opted to broaden his horizons a year ago and try something new.

Gerrard takes a split-second to consider the question of whether he could still play in the Premier League. “Yes,” he answers back.

But the decision to step out of the bubble after 18-years during which he carried the hopes of every Liverpool supporter – the fears were often etched across his brow – has been liberating.

“When you come out of playing for Liverpool every week and you’re the captain and have been playing for England, of course there is a big weight been lifted off your shoulders,” he said.

“It is about enjoyment now and enjoying the remainder of my playing contract. You can’t describe that pressure you’re under when you’re playing for Liverpool every week, you’re the local lad and you’re the captain.

“There was a huge, huge responsibility on my shoulders and I felt that release as soon as I came out of it.

“It was different going back to Melwood this time because I’m not a player there anymore. I wasn’t getting judged like I used to get judged. There wasn’t a game at the weekend for me to be worried about, preparing for or to get focused on. I was going in to train and stay fit.

“I was just trying to be myself around the players and hopefully they enjoyed having me around as well.

“I did feel I had something to prove, yes. To the coaches but also to my mates who had been my teammates for years and years. I wanted to impress them and show them I could still do a bit.

“Most of the sessions I did were warm-up sessions and then going into 6 v 6 games which were trying to give players who weren’t in the 11 some fitness and stuff.

“I just enjoyed being in Melwood again and around the staff and my teammates. If I didn’t have that I would have been at home training alone, so it was great for me to go back in, see everyone and see that.”

Though Gerrard is not “100 per cent sure,” he thinks 2016 will be his last as a player. Does that scare him?

“It does a bit, yeah, because I love playing,” he said. “If I didn’t still love it I would probably call it a day now. I’m actually quite excited looking forward to this next season.

“I enjoyed the last two weeks training with Liverpool, I loved it. I actually felt in them two weeks that I was new and young. That tells me to carry on playing and just assess it as the season goes on.”

It will be to Galaxy’s gain. Bruce Arena’s side fell short last term with Gerrard admitting the challenges in the MLS surprised him after he joined in July.

One week he could play at altitude, the next on a plastic pitch or in searing heat.

“I’m looking forward to it because of the experience I’ve had before,” he said. “I’ll be less shocked and surprised because there were quite a few hurdles, shocks and surprises in the first three or four months, just because it’s a lot different to what I’m used to.

“In the Premier League and playing over here you know what you’re going to get. Even if you go on the road in the Premier League and Europe, you know what you’re in for. You’ve got a good idea of the atmosphere, temperature, the pitch.

“Over there everything is a shock and surprise. With the experience before I think I’m in better shape going for the second season.

“I think with every Premier League player who goes to the MLS, they assume they’re going to smash it and its going to be easy, a walk in the park.

“But it’s not, especially when you go somewhere when you’re 35 and the challenges are heat, humidity and plastic pitches.

“The hurdles that would be a big challenge when you’re 25 are a bigger challenge at 35.”

Back Gerrard to clear them – and those he hopes will confront him in the future.

Sometimes brevity is the better option

In the hope of not sounding pedantic, I think that BBC article is an edited version of this Express one s@int:

https://twitter.com/pjoyceexpress/status/683197864735051776

Steven Gerrard Interview: Liverpool legend opens up on Jürgen Klopp and his next move

STEVEN GERRARD'S first inclination was to write it all down.
By PAUL JOYCE
04:30, Sat, Jan 2, 2016 | UPDATED: 08:38,

Steven Gerrard is excited about Liverpool's future under Jürgen Klopp

One of his initial sessions back at Liverpool had finished and for all his desire to show Jürgen Klopp he could “still do a bit,” the biggest impression would be left on the former captain himself.

“I found myself straight away after training wanting to keep what he said, why he did it and the point he made to individuals,” said Gerrard, over breakfast at his restaurant, The Vincent, in Liverpool city centre this week.

“I just couldn’t get enough.

“I was a big fan of Klopp before he came but having been around him for a couple of weeks and seeing how he is with individual players, his tactics and how he goes about the job, I think with a bit of patience and time to add to the XI, and the squad, you can get excited.

“I was a bit wary about whether to take the invitation or not because I didn’t want to take any attention away from players or the newness of Klopp. But I’m absolutely delighted I did it now. I enjoyed it.

“It was a big learning experience for me. I was training as a fan and an ex-player, but also looking to get a few little tips for my own future.”

It is a year to the day since an emotional Gerrard confirmed the leaving of Liverpool and he has the next 11 months all mapped out.

There is a run-out for a Liverpool Legends team in Australia next Thursday before he heads back to LA Galaxy for pre-season training ahead of what is likely to be the last campaign of an illustrious playing career.

Then comes the intrigue.

Beyond next November he is “available” for offers, as he puts it, and depending upon what comes his way football could see one of its icons return to the game’s coal face.

Gerrard has his tie up with BT Sport, but seems keen to test himself as a coach when it is not de rigueur to do so.

He wants to reverse the brain drain prevalent in the modern game, accepting it is a loss if close friend Jamie Carragher is not enticed back to the fold or John Terry disappears into the sunset, but is trenchant in his views on the obstacles that lie ahead.

“Some of the names you mentioned if they sort of stop and go play golf it would be a shame because as a football fan you want as many characters, big players, coaches and names involved in the game,” said Gerrard.

“Seeing Gary Neville going into the England job was great, seeing him take on the challenge at Valencia is great.

“I hope the big names stay involved. Like (Patrick) Vieira now. He has gone to New York. I was a big fan of Vieira as a player so you sort of want to keep an eye on him to see how he does. It is good.

“I had a meeting with the FA and said these players that are earning a certain amount of caps don’t let them go away from the game, do more to keep them involved. Put these coaching badges on offer at a younger age.

“I have regrets now that I didn’t start my coaching badges at 21-22. All that time I have wasted in hotels being an England player in the afternoon when I have been bored and I’ve been watching The Office and The Sopranos. I wish I had done my C, B and A licence, so I would be doing my Pro Licence now.

“I know many, many players who get to the end of their careers and get handed a ‘C’ licence pack, which is about four inches thick, and say, ‘Nah, I’m not doing that.’ And he could have 70/80 caps and 600 career appearances.

“They should be getting offers they cannot refuse. How can a club and the FA just let them go?

“A lot of clubs don’t let it happen. They don’t let players like that go. They keep them in. You see Ryan Giggs at United, Barcelona with Enrique and Guardiola. They say, ‘When you finish here, that is happening’.”

Gerrard wrote in his autobiography, which was released in September, that he felt Liverpool could have done more to keep him last season, offering a career path that broached the transition from player to coach rather than simply presenting a standard one-year extension and the unappealing prospect of reduced playing time.

Clearly, the onus is on his boyhood club to tap into his drive, passion and commitment when his sojourn in the States ends and given all the midfielder’s experience has been accumulated in the first team, it would appear to make sense from the outside at least that it is at that level.

Nothing is set in stone.

“I have had a chat with Klopp,” said Gerrard. “The club have let me know they are keen for me to come back but there hasn’t been a conversation or an offer as such where they have said, ‘We want you to do this, we want you to do that’.

“I’m always going to be biased towards Liverpool and the FA.

“What’s interesting for me is I know what is going to happen until November but beyond that I don’t know. I have my BT work, but I am basically available for whatever is out there.

“Everyone in the football world will know I am available and hopefully I will be 75pc into my coaching badges.”

Could he see himself at another club?

“I’m available, available,” he says.

Gerrard is relaxed as he tucks into scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast, the first Christmas of his professional career spent with his family and friends rather than juggling the demands of a punishing Premier League schedule.

He was at the Stadium of Light for the win over Sunderland on Wednesday night, but this time as a fan, rather than midfield hub, having driven up that afternoon.

That sense of freedom appeals and is one of the reasons why he opted to broaden his horizons a year ago and try something new.

Gerrard takes a split-second to consider the question of whether he could still play in the Premier League. “Yes,” he answers back.

But the decision to step out of the bubble after 18-years during which he carried the hopes of every Liverpool supporter – the fears were often etched across his brow – has been liberating.

“When you come out of playing for Liverpool every week and you’re the captain and have been playing for England, of course there is a big weight been lifted off your shoulders,” he said.

“It is about enjoyment now and enjoying the remainder of my playing contract. You can’t describe that pressure you’re under when you’re playing for Liverpool every week, you’re the local lad and you’re the captain.

“There was a huge, huge responsibility on my shoulders and I felt that release as soon as I came out of it.

“It was different going back to Melwood this time because I’m not a player there anymore. I wasn’t getting judged like I used to get judged. There wasn’t a game at the weekend for me to be worried about, preparing for or to get focused on. I was going in to train and stay fit.

“I was just trying to be myself around the players and hopefully they enjoyed having me around as well.

“I did feel I had something to prove, yes. To the coaches but also to my mates who had been my teammates for years and years. I wanted to impress them and show them I could still do a bit.

“Most of the sessions I did were warm-up sessions and then going into 6 v 6 games which were trying to give players who weren’t in the 11 some fitness and stuff.

“I just enjoyed being in Melwood again and around the staff and my teammates. If I didn’t have that I would have been at home training alone, so it was great for me to go back in, see everyone and see that.”

Though Gerrard is not “100 per cent sure,” he thinks 2016 will be his last as a player. Does that scare him?

“It does a bit, yeah, because I love playing,” he said. “If I didn’t still love it I would probably call it a day now. I’m actually quite excited looking forward to this next season.

“I enjoyed the last two weeks training with Liverpool, I loved it. I actually felt in them two weeks that I was new and young. That tells me to carry on playing and just assess it as the season goes on.”

It will be to Galaxy’s gain. Bruce Arena’s side fell short last term with Gerrard admitting the challenges in the MLS surprised him after he joined in July.

One week he could play at altitude, the next on a plastic pitch or in searing heat.

“I’m looking forward to it because of the experience I’ve had before,” he said. “I’ll be less shocked and surprised because there were quite a few hurdles, shocks and surprises in the first three or four months, just because it’s a lot different to what I’m used to.

“In the Premier League and playing over here you know what you’re going to get. Even if you go on the road in the Premier League and Europe, you know what you’re in for. You’ve got a good idea of the atmosphere, temperature, the pitch.

“Over there everything is a shock and surprise. With the experience before I think I’m in better shape going for the second season.

“I think with every Premier League player who goes to the MLS, they assume they’re going to smash it and its going to be easy, a walk in the park.

“But it’s not, especially when you go somewhere when you’re 35 and the challenges are heat, humidity and plastic pitches.

“The hurdles that would be a big challenge when you’re 25 are a bigger challenge at 35.”

Back Gerrard to clear them – and those he hopes will confront him in the future.

Posted it in the NY one this morning. Its the Telegraph that the BBC lifted it from

Going to be great to see Stevie next season in the coaching set up.

What's all this about Gerrard "writing" a column in the Telegraph?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/steven-gerrard/12173243/Steven-Gerrard-becomes-football-columnist-at-The-Telegraph.html

Steven posted this:

"When Alex told me Liverpool won against Manchester United.
GOOD JOB MATES 👌👊"




Not sure I believe it though, wouldn't he have been watching? 

Steven Gerrard open to offers in December

   
Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admits he will be open to offers both as a player and a coach in December.

The 35-year-old’s contract with LA Galaxy expires in eight months and he has thought “a lot” about a Reds reunion with friend and ex-team-mate Jamie Carragher in some sort of coaching capacity.

However, he does not yet know if he will be asked to stay on in California, whether there is one last hurrah somewhere else or whether he should hang up his boots and join the backroom staff.

“Physically I could play in the MLS for this season and next, 100 per cent for sure,” he told men’s fashion brand MR PORTER.

“Am I going to do that? Do I want to do that? Am I going to be offered the chance to do that? I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.

“I’m at a little bit at a crossroads at the moment, what to do, whether to call it a day at the end of the season, or whether maybe to do one more, but we’ll have to wait and see.

“The season finishes here in November; maybe some football offers might come my way, maybe some coaching roles will come my way.

“I’m doing my coaching badges and I’m on my A licence as we speak.

“Hopefully I’m going to be in a position to consider some offers very seriously come Christmas.”

Both Gerrard and Carragher have taken up jobs as television pundits after leaving Liverpool, the midfielder combining his with playing for Galaxy.

However, having shared 16 years in the Reds’ first team together and several years before that at the club’s academy, Gerrard remains hopeful of a reunion back at their spiritual home.

“I’ve imagined it a lot. Jamie’s knowledge of the game is superb. I know the amount of time and effort he puts into to the work that he does now, also how much he loved the game when I played with him,” he added.

“I think we’ll both work for the club again at some point during the rest of our lives. When that will be, I don’t know. Will that be together? I’m not sure.

“Would I work with Jamie Carragher again for Liverpool? Of course I would, without a doubt, but it’s for other people to make that decision.

“It goes without saying that the club’s in our hearts and it’s difficult if the club come calling but we’ve other things going on at the moment – it’s not as if we’re begging for it or desperate for it – but they know where we are.

“When I retire from football I am going to be available for people to offer me roles if they feel I’m one of the candidates.

“Would I go for another role in the game if any offers (from Liverpool) didn’t come my way? Yeah I would.

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2016/03/steven-gerrard-open-offers-december/

No doubt he will finish up at Newcastle with Rafa

Not heard much about Gerrard,is he a free agent this summer?..

Not heard much about Gerrard,is he a free agent this summer?..

He's injured at the moment.

He's injured at the moment.

Thanks Pete, we may see Gerrard back at Liverpool as a coach in some capacity.

Not heard much about Gerrard,is he a free agent this summer?..

Got another year on his contract yet I think.

Got another year on his contract yet I think.

I think till this December.

I am an LA Galaxy season ticket holder ever since Steven join the team.
The chance to see him every fortnight was too good of an opportunity to miss so the wife and I bought the season tix
It's a weird thing. It's lovely to see him but he is no where near the player he was. Not even remotely.
Wearing their white shirt is odd also.
He seems to be enjoying it at times though. Playing with Keene, de Jong and Cole seems to please him and he is out and about in LA when off the pitch and seems happy
BUT You just know that he is seeing out his career, would rather have stayed at LFC in one capacity or another and is waiting to go back to liverpool` and serve a role for a club.

Got a cracking assist last week didn't he?