Yesterday was Steven Gerrard's last game at Anfield, and a week today comes his last opportunity to pull on the Liverbird upon his chest before he leaves for pastures new. To celebrate the career of one of our greatest ever players, and probably the greatest English player of a generation, RAWK's Scribes have contributed articles to celebrate our captain. 8 favourite memories. 8 days.
Farewell, our Number 8.
#GERRARD8
“Steven Gerrard is our captain, Steven Gerrard is a red, Steven Gerrard plays for Liverpool, a Scouser born and bred...”
Gerrard steps out as captain for the first time.At the start of the 2003/04 season, Liverpool’s form was, at best, patchy.
Gerard Houllier’s side were showing real inconsistency in the Premier League.
Of their first 8 games, Liverpool had won 3, drawn 2 and lost 3 and already trailed leaders Arsenal by 12 points.
Back-to-back league defeats against Charlton Athletic and Portsmouth in October left some fans wondering if Houllier was the right man to take Liverpool forward.
That was compounded by a 1-1 draw away at Slovenian minnows Olimpija Ljubljana in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
Houllier had to do something to put the fight and fire back in to a Liverpool side that was turning in lackluster performances on a frequent basis...
There was no doubt that the talent was there – Liverpool had some good players, with the likes of Owen, Hyypia, Kewell, Riise, Hamann, Gerrard, Murphy and Baros in the team. Despite Sami Hyypia being a man-mountain in defence, Houllier felt the team lacked a natural leader.
On
Wednesday 15 October 2003, Liverpool welcomed Olimpija Ljubljana to Anfield for the second leg of the UEFA Cup First Round tie.
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/NEG0m_a_lmM?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/NEG0m_a_lmM?fs=1</a>]]>Shortly before 2pm that afternoon, news broke that 23 year-old Steven Gerrard would captain the side that evening. Most thought that club captain Sami Hyypia would be rested, and that Steven Gerrard would step up to lead the team on that occasion, but Houllier confirmed that the switch was permanent.
"Stevie will lead the team against Ljubliana and in the future” said the Liverpool manager.
"I have thought long and hard about this. This is not something which should be seen as against Sami. He has been a good captain for us. He has lifted six trophies as captain.
"But I have considered a number of issues. Firstly, I think Stevie has certain leadership qualities which I spotted very early in his career.
"When he was young, all he needed was time to mature. Now he is 23 and he is ready. There has been a maturing in his game and his personality."
Houllier admitted the captaincy may have been starting to weigh on Hyypia's shoulders after the defender suffered a loss of form this season.
He said: "The second thing is I think this decision will help Sami's game too. I think he was ready to take on too much responsibility at times.
"Obviously I spoke to Sami and his response was typically first-class. He respected the decision.
"There was no bitterness or resentment and I know Sami will recognise this is a decision I've taken for the team.
"I have three leaders in Stevie, Sami and Michael Owen, who are all inspirational in their own way."
Steven Gerrard’s natural leadership didn’t come as a surprise to Houllier. When he first saw Gerrard playing, he was 17 years old, playing in the Liverpool U19’s team.
"I went to watch the Under-19s and Steven, who was part of the Under-17 team at the time, was playing to help them out in terms of numbers. He was running from box to box, he was tackling and shouting at his team-mates. He was already behaving like a leader. The next day I asked him to come and join the pros."
Gerrard, though was surprised at the decision, saying at the time "The manager has always said that I would captain Liverpool Football Club one day but it was a bit of a shock yesterday when Gerard (Houllier) told me I was to be captain from now on.
I have to say I'm absolutely thrilled. I was captain of my school side and I used to go along to Anfield to watch the team and I always looked up to people like John Barnes who captained the team during the 90s. I used to watch Barnes with the captains armband and dream that one day it would be me captaining the team I love.
I want to blossom into a world class player, something I'm not yet - and hopefully captaining Liverpool will help me achieve that ambition.
I'd just like to say that I'm delighted to be captain of Liverpool Football Club and I'm thrilled to be representing the fans on the pitch. Hopefully I can lift a trophy this season to say thanks for all the support from fans everywhere."
Sadly, Gerrard didn't get his wish to lift a trophy as Liverpool captain that season, as Liverpool finished 4th in the Premier League and exited the cups in the early rounds.
He didn't have long to wait before he did get his hands on some silverware though as at the end of his first full season as Liverpool captain, Gerrard lifted #5...
On Wednesday 15 October 2003, Steven Gerrard proudly lead his team out as club captain of Liverpool Football Club for the first time...
On Sunday 24 May 2015, Gerrard will proudly wear that armband one last time.
Farewell my Captain. 