Steven Gerrard admits he ‘hated’ going on England duty in a way that never happened for him when playing for Liverpool.
That was a common sentiment among players in the poorly-named ‘Golden Generation’, which featured the likes of Liverpool’s Gerrard and Michael Owen; Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham and Gary Neville; and Chelsea stars John Terry, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard.
Speaking as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Gerrard had to agree with his eponymous host and former international teammate that the players’ outlook on international duty lacked maturity and was costly to their efforts at World Cups and Euros.
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‘Bitterness, a little bit of hate – looking back now, it was quite immature’
Steven Gerrard played under five permanent England managers, starting with Kevin Keegan in 2000
Gerrard said of England duty: “I hated it. I didn’t enjoy it. Hated the rooms. In my early days, I’d have days where I was down, like low down. Like I’m in this room for seven hours, what am I going to do?
“There was no social media, didn’t have a DVD player or anything, [just] channels 1-5 or whatever it was. I used to get low and down.
Club loyalties did get put aside from time to time on the pitch, but it was a different story in training
“I used to love the games. I used to love playing for England. Really proud. I used to enjoy the training sessions but it was 90 minutes a day.
“Then I was just on my own in London or in Romania or wherever. And I was thinking, I’m in this room from now till I have half an hour for dinner, then till the next day.
“I didn’t feel that with Liverpool. They were the best days of my life. When I used to go abroad to Liverpool or I used to go to an away game with Liverpool, I felt part of a team.
“I felt like the staff looked over me, like I felt special. I felt like I couldn’t wait to get there. With England, I just wanted the games and the training sessions and then to be away.”
Steven Gerrard celebrates a goal for Liverpool against Real Madrid (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ferdinand and Gerrard agree that club loyalties stood in the way of helping the players come together, with the different groups from Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea particularly prone to fragmenting into cliques who barely spoke to one another.
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Plenty of England players of that generation – Ferdinand and Gerrard included – now look back on that situation with bafflement and wonder why they didn’t make more of an effort to put that to one side while on international duty.
Gerrard, ranked no.4 FourFourTwo’s list of the best English midfielders ever, added: “I felt like the last one or two days of the 10 days, you could feel a connection coming, but then the games would be done.
“There was a little bit more of a connection during the tournament because you’d be living together a little bit more – but I think Gareth Southgate is underrated for how he connected with the England team.
Gareth Southgate is credited with breaking down club loyalties as England manager (Image credit: Getty Images)
“For me, the talent was there. The players were there. The level of games we were all playing at was there to go and do better than what we did. I think we had a little bit of bad luck with the penalties or whatever. We have to take responsibility.
“But I’ve got a big frustration when I look back at England that we never did better. I think it’s a combination of different things, but one of the big things for me was we weren’t a team. We were a group of individuals with talent and it never works like that.”
Ferdinand described the vibe around the squad as having ‘an underlying bitterness’ between the the different factions.
Gerrard nodded: “Bitterness, a little bit of hate, a little bit of hatred, a little bit of what do we want to use. But when you think about it now, looking back at the age I’m at and having gone through a bit of coaching, it’s quite…it’s a bit immature.
“But also, should there have been more emphasis on the staff to go to us, ‘listen, you need to forget that now. We need to connect from day one, more activities, more out of your rooms, more time together’.
“Because I think if we’d have been more of a team, more together and liked each other more, I think it would have come out in the performances more.”
Listen to the full Rio Meets Steven Gerrard interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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