In the final minute of the Reds’ 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Anfield a fresh-faced Steven Gerrard stepped towards the touchline to make his first appearance for the club.
His first of 710, over the course of the next 17 years.
Across those near-two decades, Gerrard lived out every Liverpool fan’s dreams, becoming the team’s talismanic heartbeat, a Scouser known – and respected – around the world.
Each Reds supporter will have a favourite memory of the midfielder, a treasured recollection chief among a catalogue of long-range strikes, passionate celebrations and trophy lifts.
To mark the 20th anniversary of Gerrard’s debut, six Liverpoolfc.com writers past and present shared theirs…
Picking a singular favourite Steven Gerrard memory is a near-impossible task. It was a special feeling heading into a game knowing he was on our team – with him, he made you feel anything was possible in a game. And so he proved time and time again. He was the epitome of the never-say-die attitude; countless times he dragged us over the finish line by sheer desire and will to win. And so that, for me, is how I remember Steven Gerrard as a Liverpool footballer. Later, once I began working for the club I’ve adored since childhood, it was a genuine privilege to witness the manner in which he carried himself around Melwood and beyond, and interacted with those around him. The old adage of ‘never meet your heroes’ certainly didn’t apply. World-class footballer, world-class man.
James Carroll
For a local Scouse lad there can be no better feeling than scoring in the Merseyside derby. It’s what we all dreamt of as kids but very few of us actually get to do it. Steven Gerrard did – 10 glorious times, more than any other Liverpool player apart from Ian Rush. For 13 years, he was the scourge of Everton and therefore the subject of unmerciful barracking from the Goodison faithful. No surprise then that for a Liverpudlian as staunch as Gerrard was, getting one over on the Blues always seemed to mean that little bit more. You could see that in how he celebrated those goals. From the ear-cupped, tongue out, celebratory sprint in front of the Bullens Road in 2001, to that almost demonic-looking, wide-eyed, arms stretched run towards the pitchside camera at Anfield in 2014. To witness him silence the taunting Evertonians was always source of immense satisfaction. There are so many memorable Gerrard moments against our nearest and dearest rivals but nothing beats that night in March 2012. Scoring against Everton is one thing. To score a hat-trick – the first in a Merseyside derby for 30 years – is beyond the stuff dreams are made of. Steven Gerrard: Scouser. Derby-day hero. Liverpool legend.
Mark Platt
For me, it has to be the 2006 FA Cup final. We’re on the verge of defeat to West Ham United, and there is only one man on the pitch capable of producing something very special. Capable of rescuing his Reds yet again. As soon as the ball left Gerrard’s boot, you knew it was in and from then on there would be only one winner. That goal at the Millennium Stadium was something very special and we will never forget it. In many people’s eyes, the FA Cup may not be as special as it once was, but our very first one in 1965 was the equivalent of winning the Champions League in modern football. And for a Scouser representing his boyhood club, to score one of the most-talked-about FA Cup final goals of all-time is the kind of stuff dreams are made of. It just doesn’t get much better than that.
Steve Hunter
It was the celebration that did it. It was a celebration that made me think: ‘Maybe, just maybe...’ Even now, almost five years on and knowing how that story ends, it’s a celebration that stirs me. Steven Gerrard has buried his last-minute penalty against Fulham. Steven Gerrard is whirling his shirt around his head. Steven Gerrard believes in that moment that it is possible. And if Steven Gerrard believed, then who was I to disagree?
Sam Williams
I thought at the time it was the most moving thing I’d witnessed on a football pitch. And despite everything that unfolded in the weeks that followed, its power has in no way diminished. Anfield was bedlam. All around, limbs were flailing in the din. Down on the pitch, Steven Gerrard threw his head back like he’d been gripped by searing pain. “He’s crying,” I gasped, grabbing the arm of the lad next to me. “Gerrard’s crying there...” When the euphoria of that magical 3-2 win over Manchester City subsided and TV replays confirmed what I’d spotted from way back in the Main Stand, my heart began to bang. The man who had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders on our behalf for so long had just let it all out on the pitch. The captain who smashed screamers past ‘keepers and yet scrutinised himself with the severity of his harshest critic had let it all out. Nearly 25 years to the day of a disaster that floored his family, he’d edged us closer to our holy grail, and then let the tears come streaming out. He’d been engulfed by it all for so long that he simply couldn’t hold it in anymore. His goal against Real Madrid in 2009 hit the back of the net before I had time to marvel at it; heavy arms engulfed me as his half-volley whistled past Shaka Hislop in 2006. Istanbul still feels like a dream. But on April 13, 2014 at Anfield, when the best player I’ve ever seen let it all out in front of the Kop because he just couldn’t hold in all the strain and tension and relief any longer, I took in the moment and marvelled. And it reinforced to me why Steven Gerrard is the ultimate symbol of Liverpool FC. And he always will be.
Phil Reade
A goal that often springs to mind when I think of Steven Gerrard is one you would probably find a fair way down most people’s lists of his greatest in a Liverpool shirt. He loved a screamer, after all. But the first-time, angled, looping thump up and over Steve Mandanda to put the Reds on course for a 2-1 win at Marseille in their Champions League tie of September 2008 felt like a shining example of the player Gerrard had become: calm ambition, unerring technique, knowing confidence, sheer overwhelming quality. It was a strike destined for the back of the net before boot had even connected with ball. And while Liverpool were not destined to once again seize the trophy he’d lifted three years earlier to make our dreams come true, in that moment few, if any, around the world could match the Scouser at the heart of our team. Our No.8. Our captain. Our Gerrard.
Chris Shaw