Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard

Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English professional football manager and former player who manages Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool, with most of that time spent as club captain. Gerrard won two FA Cups, three League Cups, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup in his 17 seasons at Anfield. He made his international debut in 2000, and represented his country at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 UEFA European Football Championships. After retiring from international football in 2014, Gerrard became a coach in the Liverpool youth academy and managed their under-18 team during the 2017–18 season.

About Steven Gerrard in brief

Summary Steven GerrardSteven George Gerrard MBE is an English professional football manager and former player who manages Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool, with most of that time spent as club captain, as well as captaining the England national team. Gerrard won two FA Cups, three League Cups, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup in his 17 seasons at Anfield. He made his international debut in 2000, and represented his country at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 UEFA European Football Championships. He was named as the permanent England captain shortly before UEFA Euro 2012, where he was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament. After retiring from international football in 2014, Gerrard became a coach in the Liverpool youth academy and managed their under-18 team during the 2017–18 season. He joined Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy in 2015 where he spent one-and-a-half seasons before his retirement in 2016. Gerrard is the only footballer to score in an FA Cup Final, a League Cupfinal, a UEFA Cup Final and a UEFA Champions league Final, winning on each occasion. He is the fourth-most capped player in the history of England national football team with 114 caps, scoring 21 goals. Gerrard was awarded the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award in 2005, and the Ballon d’Or Bronze Award in 2005. He also won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. He has been awarded the MBE for his services to football in 2012 and 2013.

Gerrard has also been awarded a knighthood by the Queen for his contribution to the sport of football. His father, Paul Gerrard, is a former Liverpool player and a former England international footballer. He grew up in Whiston, Merseyside, and has an older brother, Paul, who also plays for the club. Gerrard’s childhood footballing heroes were John Barnes and Ian Rush at Liverpool and Paul Gascoigne for England. He almost never played football. When Gerrard was young a garden fork was imbedded in the big toe of his right foot. In his autobiography, Gerrard: my autobiography, he credited Liverpool’s academy director Steve Heighway and his father for preventing a operation to amputate his toe. Gerrard had trials with various clubs at 14, but his success was not immediate—Gerrard never made it into the England schoolboys’ team. His trials included Manchester United, which he claimed in his 2006 autobiography was to pressure Liverpool into giving him a YTS contract. Gerrard made his Liverpool first-team debut on 29 November 1998 in a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers as a last-minute substitute for injured captain-midfielder Heggard. In 2000–01, Gerrard helped Liverpool secure an unpredicted treble of cups, and after further cup success the next season, Gerrard was given the captaincy in 2003. Despite collective and individual success, Gerrard never won the Premier League, finishing runner-up with Liverpool on three occasions.