Steven Gerrard: “I Was Too Intense” – The Reality Of Playing For Liverpool | CLASSIC CLIPS

0:01 [music] Right, here we are.

0:04 We got the main man,

0:06 Mr.

0:06 Steven Gerard.

0:08 Well, that come on.

0:10 Main man here.

0:11 The big draw.

0:12 The reason we sell out.

0:13 [laughter]

0:14 How's it going?

0:16 Good, mate.

0:16 Yeah, stressfree out of work

0:18 in terms of the coaching, the

0:19 management, which is obviously 24/7.

0:21 So,

0:22 back in Liverpool a couple of weeks.

0:25 Yeah.

0:24 Going to try and make the MY side derby.

0:26 See a few friends and family, mate.

0:27 So, I'm great.

0:27 I'm all done.

0:28 Yeah.

0:28 enjoying.

0:29 I know obviously you

0:30 want to be in work and things, but is it

0:31 nice to kind of sit back and go back to

0:33 your home city and do normal things

0:35 again?

0:36 I don't want to be back in work, mate.

0:37 Do you not?

0:38 No, not at the moment.

0:39 I've just come out, so I'm I'm happy with waking up and

0:42 being free and doing

0:43 doing the family stuff and um just just

0:46 being free away from stress.

0:48 And I will go back in at some point,

0:50 but when it's round the clock, I've been

0:52 doing it 18 19 months in terms of the

0:54 last job.

0:54 I just want to be free.

0:55 I want to go and have a game of golf.

0:56 want to go down the [clears throat] boo, have a

0:57 couple of

0:58 beers.

0:58 I want to do normal things that

1:00 you can't really do when you're

1:01 coaching.

1:01 So, I'm all good.

1:02 Yeah.

1:02 Good.

1:03 Well, um, how nice is it to

1:06 come and see when you This is my first

1:07 one I've done.

1:08 So, nice to see the lads

1:10 you've played with and shared so many

1:11 amazing memories with.

1:12 Listen, I think obviously the main priority is obviously

1:15 the the cause that we do for the

1:16 foundations, this foundation, the

1:18 Chelsea Foundation, but I know the next

1:21 big draw is to get back in the dressing

1:22 room with the lads and, you know,

1:24 run it back if you like.

1:26 Obviously, you can't run as fast and you can't think as

1:28 fast

1:29 and the intensity is not the same.

1:31 But

1:31 to have a game of footy with your ex

1:33 teammates is is a big draw for me.

1:35 I have to travel [clears throat] seven

1:36 hours to do this.

1:37 You know what I mean?

1:38 That's why I come back to play at

1:39 Anfield full house.

1:40 See the lads have a

1:41 game of footy.

1:42 Great crack.

1:43 And and you scored you scored a belt

1:44 last time, right?

1:46 It was actually a couple of games ago.

1:47 Yeah.

1:47 Couple of games.

1:48 I was desperate to score.

1:49 You know what I mean?

1:50 I'm dying to as well.

1:51 [laughter]

1:52 Well, listen, as soon as I get within

1:54 range, the back post

1:57 [laughter] I've been tapping everyone up like all

2:00 the service like first one I need to

2:03 talk to is you.

2:04 I love it, you know.

2:04 I love it.

2:05 I love um I miss it.

2:07 I miss it every day.

2:08 I speak to Karen a lot about it and he

2:10 goes, "I I made up.

2:12 I I hated it.

2:12 I hated the last few years.

2:14 I miss it every day."

2:15 Do you?

2:16 Every day.

2:17 I would love to go back and

2:18 run it all back again.

2:19 Really love it.

2:20 Love it.

2:21 Yeah.

2:21 I suppose when you had the career

2:22 you have, you know, I'd run it back as

2:23 well.

2:24 [laughter]

2:25 To be honest with you though, like you

2:26 go, I do coaching and management, you

2:28 know, it sort of it'll fill the void and

2:30 blah blah.

2:30 It doesn't.

2:31 No,

2:31 it's just not the same.

2:32 It just

2:33 it's it's don't get me wrong, it's it's

2:34 it's a um

2:37 it's a great job to still be around it

2:38 and stuff like that, but in terms of the

2:40 buzz of playing

2:42 um [clears throat] I didn't appreciate

2:43 it enough.

2:44 I didn't appreciate it

2:45 enough.

2:45 You know, I've mentioned on this podcast

2:46 many a time that like I felt like, you

2:48 know, I got to a great level, but I felt

2:50 like the real top players like yourself

2:53 kind of didn't enjoy it enough.

2:55 It was about the next game all the time,

2:57 whereas I'd go[ __] I did great there

2:59 and really enjoy it, you know?

3:00 Whereas I felt like you maybe I think with with a

3:02 bit of maturity and experience, I look

3:05 back and think, "Oh, you're a bit too

3:06 intense.

3:07 You're a bit stiff.

3:09 It's serious." You know what I mean?

3:10 I get I get all that.

3:13 But

3:13 that makes you the player he was.

3:14 Yeah.

3:14 Well, maybe, but in my shoes, like

3:16 in this city and stuff, you you do carry

3:19 it.

3:19 I've heard Jamie say a lot.

3:20 He carried it as well.

3:21 And

3:22 you probably feel slightly more

3:24 responsible.

3:24 I don't know whether you've

3:25 had that at previous clubs when you've

3:27 been at the

3:27 I moved around too much.

3:29 Yeah.

3:29 I I I didn't play for the club that I was

3:31 raised at all.

3:32 You know, QPR for like a

3:33 season and that was it.

3:34 It's difficult to get away from it when

3:36 you're from this city and you play for

3:37 the club, one of the biggest clubs in

3:38 the world.

3:39 It's intense.

3:40 Most of me family are Red's friends.

3:42 You go out the door, it's Red,

3:44 you know, and it's gone even bigger now

3:47 with social media.

3:48 You know, the club's

3:49 grown.

3:49 I think the current owners have

3:50 done an unbelievable job.

3:52 But even at the time, I lived there and breathed it

3:54 and it was round the clock.

3:57 So, I was intense.

3:58 I was serious.

3:59 I get all that and people's opinions of me

4:01 from from afar or whatever it is is

4:03 right.

4:03 I was too intense.

4:04 But

4:06 um

4:06 it is what it is.

4:07 It is.

4:07 Yeah, of course.

4:08 And what uh it's

4:10 so hard because I've asked everyone else

4:11 their favorite memories of of of being a

4:14 Liverpool player

4:15 and I I feel like it's a Do we need

4:17 another two hours for yours?

4:19 But [laughter] what obviously Eastan Ball

4:21 must have been right up there, but I

4:23 mean is there any other moments

4:25 alongside that uh that you remember so

4:28 fondly?

4:28 Yeah, lots lots highs and lows.

4:31 You know, I I often um reflect and go

4:33 over some bad moments again and go,

4:35 "Well, you know, that didn't happen.

4:36 We don't have to go down that road." But

4:39 make me debut was the big one

4:40 because I'd been at Liverpool from seven

4:42 or eight years of age.

4:44 I'd chased a dream for so long.

4:45 Um I remember being on the bench and around

4:47 the first team and I was so close

4:50 and I was fearing not getting me debut

4:52 at the time.

4:53 So when I actually got

4:54 called to play the last two, three

4:55 minutes against Blackburn, it was at

4:57 Anfield Wow, what a moment.

4:59 I just felt on top

5:01 of the world.

5:01 And it was the same

5:02 feeling when I had Istanbul, the FA Cup

5:05 final, and whatever else that people

5:07 want to talk about.

5:08 But that first call

5:11 back from Phil Thompson.

5:13 Yeah.

5:13 To actually come on to Anfield.

5:15 I'd watched so many games as a fan

5:17 and I chased the dream for so long.

5:18 That was the moment where I just felt like I

5:20 was floating.

5:21 You know, in that moment, obviously,

5:22 because you're a local lad and all that,

5:23 and you're thinking, are you thinking

5:25 about your family and friends?

5:26 Are you thinking or you just thinking I want to

5:28 make an impact in this game?

5:30 I just want a first touch of the ball.

5:31 I want to feel what it feels like to play

5:33 for Liverpool's first team.

5:35 It it was a pinch me moment because for

5:38 the six months prior to it when I'd

5:40 moved in and around the first team, I'm

5:42 around I'm on the bush with Robbie

5:44 Fowler, Jimmy Rednap, Steve McMman.

5:46 Uh these are people that I waited outside

5:49 the training ground.

5:50 I clean the boots.

5:52 I they're role models, inspirations to

5:54 me.

5:54 So for me to

5:57 play in front of 40 two 42,000 at the

6:00 time with my heroes that was that a

6:03 proper pinch me moment when I had all

6:05 the other highs after that I felt like I

6:07 belonged in the first team

6:09 but that was like a surreal moment where

6:11 you're like what is going on here what

6:13 is happening to me here

6:14 I've talked about on this podcast before

6:16 I think some of my early sessions at

6:18 Liverpool when I first arrived and I

6:21 found myself kind of trying to impress

6:22 you and Karen more than Rafa

6:26 [laughter]

6:25 And I've said about it before.

6:27 Did you feel that?

6:28 And did you like go out to

6:30 try and achieve that for other players

6:31 and set standards?

6:33 Cuz I felt your

6:34 standards were so they were so high and

6:35 they were I just wanted to kind of meet

6:38 those standards.

6:38 Did you see that with

6:39 players?

6:39 I definitely wanted to set a standard.

6:43 Yeah, you're definitely right with that.

6:44 I think, you know, as the captain of the

6:47 team or vice captain of the team, myself

6:48 and Jamie, I think we had a

6:50 responsibility to try and hold that

6:51 standard because that had been obviously

6:53 put into us for many years growing up

6:56 the Liverpool way.

6:57 But I was never out to intentionally

6:59 make feel anyone feel uncomfortable or

7:02 put any more pressure on anyone if

7:04 anything.

7:04 And it was the opposite.

7:06 um always wanted to try and help people

7:08 settle as much as I can but also from a

7:10 football point of view also set the

7:12 standard like this is a different club

7:15 to most

7:16 you know we you need to be at a certain

7:18 standard because

7:20 at the end of the day every 3 4 days

7:21 this football club you get judged to win

7:24 so it wasn't to make anyone feel

7:25 uncomfortable but yeah it was to

7:27 certainly

7:28 yeah yeah

7:29 get them standards

7:30 well listen my little lad's here today

7:31 and he's a big Liverpool fan and uh he's

7:33 never saw me play he's only five and

7:35 he's obviously really enjoy.

7:36 So, if you can put one on the plate for me at some

7:39 stage

7:39 as soon as I get soon as I get into the

7:41 final third, I swear I'll be either to

7:44 be looking to play off yet or I'll be

7:45 looking for that little clip to the back

7:46 post or if it comes first time, it's

7:48 getting with me.

7:48 So, you just run

7:49 through the goals.

7:50 I really appreciate it, mate.

7:51 I'll [laughter] come for middle every day and

7:53 I think if you just do the same again

7:55 today, please.

7:55 No problem.

7:56 [laughter]

7:56 You bringing him into possession.

7:58 Yeah.

7:58 Yeah.

7:58 Yeah.

7:59 Only five.

8:00 He loves it.

8:01 I will do.

8:02 Yeah.

8:02 Tom.

8:02 Cheers, fellas.

8:03 Thank you.

8:07 [music]