Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story by Steven Gerrard Read Free Book Online

table. As always Gerard’s professionalism shone through and he guided us over the line.
    When you consider how important Gerard was to Liverpool, then for him to suffer a life-threatening illness just three months into the new season was upsetting and worrying for everyone. We came in at half-time of a game against Leeds United at Anfield in October 2001 expecting him to be there as always and impart some more words of wisdom. Even when we were told he had been taken ill, I, for one, thought he’ll just get it checked and then he’ll be fine. It wasn’t until we spoke to the club doctor, Mark Waller, that we grasped just how serious the heart problem he had was.
    I was worried about what would happen to Gerard and then I worried about what would happen to us as a team. We had all been on an upward curve, winning trophies and making giant strides, and I did wonder if his illness would derail us and lead to us caving in. But his battle for health was the most important thing. I don’t know how all the players felt, but I missed him enormously. He had been there for me every day since I broke into the first team set-up and I missed his reassuring presence, asking how I was, giving me little tips, telling me what I was doing both right and wrong.
    It was typical of Gerard that he was sending text messages to the team as soon as possible and sooner than the doctors would have allowed had they known. ‘Keep playing well. I’m OK, I’ll be back soon’, were the sort of messages he sent. Again, it was typical of Gerard that he thought of others before assuring you that he would be OK. He was more interested in the team than himself, which is amazing really when you consider how his life was in danger. That is impressive.
    My concerns about whether our season would unravel without Gerard were unfounded and did not factor in Phil Thompson’s capabilities as coach.
    We had a lot of foreign players in the squad – Sami Hyypia, Markus Babbel, Vladimir Smicer – and I suppose I wondered whether Thomo would be able to maintain the atmosphere and harmony that had built up between us all.
    We had just won the Treble, but already that season we had added the Charity Shield, beating Manchester United, and the European Super Cup, beating Bayern Munich, to our expanding silverware collection. It was a big challenge for Thomo to come in and take the reins alone, but he was brilliant and did an unbelievable job.
    You couldn’t challenge him because he had lifted the European Cup as captain in Paris in 1981 and won so many other trophies and titles that it was ingrained in him exactly what the club stood for. Anyone looking to pinch an inch and cut some corners in Gerard’s absence didn’t stand a chance and so we continued making strides.
    There were set-backs, however. Barcelona came to Anfield in the second group phase of the Champions League and played us off the park, winning 3–1 despite Michael opening the scoring. It was mind blowing how they moved the ball and how different their style was to our own. Xavi played, but it was Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars who did the damage.
    After matches like that you start doubting yourself and the team. I thought to myself leaving Anfield that night, ‘What level can I get to because these players seem to be on a different one from me?’
    But you dig in and recover and as the season progressed we were still in the hunt to win the league and the Champions League.
    Gerard had returned to the dug-out on an emotional night against AS Roma when we needed to win by two clear goals to remain in Europe. He would admit now that he came back too soon, but that he did so showed the strength of the bond he had with the club. He wanted to be in the dug-out, helping, guiding his team. Still, his presence helped us that night with Jari Litmanen scoring a penalty and then Emile Heskey sealing our progress and leading Gerard to proclaim later we were ‘ten games from greatness’. We came up