By 5pm on Sunday, Liverpool's travelling fans will have stood to applaud, give thanks and sing the name of 'possibly' the greatest player to ever pull on a Liverpool shirt after 26 illustrious years at the club as man and boy. Steven George Gerrard.
A man who for the last 12 years has been a homegrown captain who has led from the front. A man that on many occasions has won us trophies and many games, single handedly. There are so many occasions but you can mention some memorable matches where he's pulled those strings. AC Milan in Istanbul, West Ham in Cardiff, Inter Milan, Napoli, Everton (quite a few times), Manchester United. These are just a few - the list could go on.
Back in the 1980's and 1970's we had talent all over the pitch (and off it) that played and worked as a team - they were a well-oiled winning machine. The team was world class and was filled with class players who really were unbeatable. Dalglish, Rush, Barnes, Beardsley, Souness, Hansen, Thompson, Neal, Kennedy, McMahon, Aldridge, Case, McDermott, Keegan....
Fast forward some years later and maybe there were only a handful of players that pulled on a red shirt to play alongside Gerrard, that could be regarded as truly outstanding. For me - this man has stood out above them all.
A quiz on the BBC Sport website appeared recently called 'Steven Gerrard quiz - name the team-mates'. It states he's had 160 team mates in those 17 years and it gave you photos of 17 players to guess who played with him during his career at Liverpool. All of them are multiple choice answers, but when you see the names and photos of the players you can possibly choose from, you have to wonder how some of them were ever allowed near a red shirt, let alone play in one!
It's no surprise then with these mediocre players surrounding him on the pitch, that it was often left to Gerrard to grab games by the horns and get us the right result as much as he possibly could. For that reason all reds will salute and wish the very best to a Liverpool legend for the rest of his career in the USA.
My view is that he will be back at Anfield within the year on loan but of course, won't be captain, but we shall see.
"Steven Gerrard is our captain, Steven Gerrard is a red. Steven Gerrard plays for Liverpool, a Scouser born and bred!"
You'll Never Walk Alone
