Ayre: Door always open for Gerrard

The captain bid a fond farewell to the Kop last Saturday on an emotional afternoon against Crystal Palace, as he brought the curtain down on a 17-year first-team spell with his boyhood club.

Now, as he prepares to make a final appearance for the Reds at Stoke City in the last game of 2014-15 on Sunday, tributes are continuing to pour in for Gerrard.

In this exclusive interview, taken from the new documentary 'Gerrard: My Liverpool', which airs for the first time on LFCTV on Saturday night at 7.30pm BST, Ayre tells us why the midfielder's one-club association may never be repeated.

He also reveals his favourite Gerrard moment, which to this day, is one probably not many people are aware of...

Ian, as Steven Gerrard prepares to leave Liverpool, how would you sum up his contribution to the club?

I think it's difficult to sum it up in only a few words or a few moments. He's been such an integral part of the club for so many years and a lot has been said about him and what he's contributed to the team and the club. I think the thing we will miss the most is his presence. People often talk about different types of leaders, but one of the things with Steven is he led on the pitch by example and led off the pitch by his manner. That's the thing we will miss the most. You talk to players who've played here with him and they talk about his influence on them, even day-to-day, and the way he conducts himself - and they are often the things people don't write about. Brendan's talked about having leaders and that type of people in the squad and Stevie leaves a big hole in that sense. That's the biggest contribution he's made - that all-round captain and contributor to the club and he will be sorely missed.

Everyone is sad to see him go, but what sort of legacy does he leave behind?

In this day and age, and in modern football as people call it, to have one player that has contributed his whole career to his home club is almost unique. There are a couple of examples, but certainly to have captained his country as well and gone through all of that, he leaves as somebody who has been completely committed as a footballer to this football club. We've got examples of other people who have done that like Jamie Carragher not so long ago, but to do it at the level Stevie was at, to be captain of Liverpool and England, is a fantastic legacy. People will always talk about him, he will always be part of this club, he will always have a place here when he wants to be here. He committed his entire career to Liverpool and it will be interesting to see whether we ever see that either at Liverpool or in football again.

Watch the video here »

In terms of the greatest players you have seen in a Liverpool shirt, where does he rank?

That's a tough one. As a fan, I've been watching Liverpool since the late 1960s and watched Kenny Dalglish and others. I absolutely believe Steven is certainly the greatest midfielder of all time for Liverpool, but it's very difficult to choose between him and Kenny as to who is the greatest. As I see Kenny every day, I will reserve my judgement, but Steven is clearly in the top two!

If you had to pick out one outstanding Steven Gerrard moment, what would it be and why?

It wouldn't be perhaps what other people would say or think. It was in 2013 when we were out on tour with the team in south-east Asia. We had been in and out of the hotel all day and there were fans waiting outside. The team came back one evening from training and Steven spoke to one of the staff. He said 'can you get me a table set up in the hotel?' He went and had his dinner, had a shower and come back down and literally sat there signing every autograph and posing for every photograph. That for me says it all. You don't see that across football every day from big players particularly, and it's a great testament to Steven that he cares about the fans. He cares about giving back and I just thought it was a fantastic gesture from one of the biggest footballers in the world. To take that time after a long training session, and literally sit there for an hour with the supporters, that says everything about Steven for me.

Can you envisage him returning to the club in some capacity one day?

Yes. I would hope so definitely, and it's certainly something we touched on during the process with Steven and his representatives. What we said was it's not the right time for him or us to decide or suggest what that might be, but certainly the door is very wide open for him. The owners said very recently that's the case as well. He's an integral part of this football club forever, just like he's part of the Liverpool family. He can come in whenever he wants.