Gerrard: How the press saw him

Some of the best writers in the game have covered Gerrard's whole career at Anfield from the moment he stepped out onto the Anfield pitch for the very first time as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers on November 29, 1998.

Before the Liverpool captain prepares to make his farewell for the club against Stoke City in the final game of the 2014-15 season on Sunday, LFCTV will premiere a special new documentary - 'Gerrard: My Liverpool' - on Saturday evening at 7.30pm BST, to celebrate the career of a true talisman.

Current teammates, former colleagues, managers, staff and opponents have all lined up to pay their own tribute to a man who has given so much to Liverpool Football Club.

Here the journalists' give their views on how a young Scouser from Huyton made the grade to be recognised amongst the footballing greats worldwide, and what makes him stand out off the pitch.

Paul Joyce, The Express: He's a role model in so many ways. For a young Liverpool player coming through and trying to forge a career as a professional there is probably no better player than Steven Gerrard to look to. His career has had highs but many lows and the drive and determination to get back up and push the team forward again probably defines him. He's also a role model for an experienced player joining Liverpool. How he conducts himself every day. He wants to be the best in training every day still at the age of 34 and 35, he didn't want to settle for second best. That drive - and fear of not succeeding - has made the player who has scaled the heights.

Henry Winter, Telegraph: I got to know Steven very well because I was honoured to write his book. It was on the back of the 2006 World Cup and I just said to him and his advisors 'listen there's a lot of football books coming out at the moment, but I'll only do it if it will be totally honest', and you know what he was absolutely brilliant. That's one of the reasons it sat at the top of the Sunday Times best sellers list for so long. I didn't really need to ask that question because Gerrard has got such integrity, he's got such honesty and he wanted to get a message through to the fans. He just wanted to be honest because that's the nature of the man. He's got what I would call morale substance and he is a really strong and impressive individual.

Whenever people criticise football I say think of Gerrard. He does a lot of private work for charities and goes to hospitals and things like that. I talked to a lot of the young England players coming through before he retired from international football and they just couldn't believe how much he gave in every training session. He was just a fantastic role model for them. You talked to his manager's and they had only the best things to say about him. On a personal note during Euro 2012 one of our colleagues was very ill. Steven went out of his way to get a message to him and his family. In a desperate time for the family Gerrard was a source of great comfort. When journalists write their tributes to him there's always that moment in the back of our minds when he stood strong for one of our most beloved colleagues who sadly passed away.

Andy Hunter, Independent: Steven Gerrard's absence will be acutely felt off the pitch. Even with the legs tiring, he retains a status at Liverpool that no one around the first team can rival. After 17 years and a lifelong allegiance to the club, he knows the standards required. He sets them. It is when he walks into the changing room that the jokes stop and the jokers listen. It is not only at Melwood where Gerrard's captaincy carries weight. Once, on a flight to a Champions League away game, he overheard a stewardess telling a colleague she had had little time to attract sponsorship for a charity mountain trek she had committed to. Gerrard asked how to use the PA system on the plane, stood up and asked everyone on board to put their hands in their pockets for the stewardess's chosen charity. We all complied. A few months earlier he had walked up and down the aisle of the same plane placing the European Cup on passengers' heads. The phrase "a symbol of Liverpool" has been used frequently. Gerrard has never been comfortable in the spotlight, dating back to his breakthrough season at Liverpool when he thanked a journalist for naming him man of the match in the Daily Post newspaper. "But you don't have to do it every week," he added. "It's getting embarrassing."

Brian Reade, Daily Mirror: Everyone talks about that game against West Ham in the FA Cup final, but I think what defined him and the shine early on that this lad was something special was that goal at the Anfield Road end against Manchester United, past Fabien Barthez in 2001. It was his overall presence and performance. You judge players against the big teams, you always do, and you saw him coming through and I remember that goal and I thought this lad is going to be something special. The lack of fear he had he carried that through. The West Ham goal probably typifies everything about him, carrying the team and carrying the fans on his shoulders. It was also the skill to do that under pressure, that was Gerrard. He did it in lots of other games, there's so many games you forget about. 'There's Gerrard again, right at the end, a free-kick, penalty, under pressure, you knew he was going to do it'. He kind of defines all of the greatest players we have ever had. That's Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes, you rely on all of them and you can put your life on them, and that's Gerrard.

Chris Bascombe, Telegraph: One of the things I can remember is the first time I saw Stevie was at the Academy. There was a guy who used to work there called Steve Cavanagh and he told me there was a game going on and there's two players who will definitely make it by the name of Steven Gerrard and Stephen Wright. You could just see how good he was. There were so many kids though that coaches would tell you about that were good prospects who would come through, but what's been amazing with Stevie is he actually fulfilled that promise. Everything that was said about him he did. Another thing that sticks in my mind was when Gerard Houllier first called him up and I was with him in his office in the old Melwood. I asked him how good can he can be? Looking at publication for me it wasn't a quote that Gerard particularly wanted using at the time, but he told me he had worked with all of the famous French players at the Clairefontaine Academy that had gone on to win a World Cup with France. He said Gerrard would fit into that group, no problem at all. I was left thinking my word this is a kid who has good prospects and could get into the first team into somebody who is being compared to the greats of the France World Cup winning team.

Everybody around him, people like Michael Owen were saying this kid was going to be one of the greatest players to play for Liverpool. At the time you get excited about it but they can be hollow words because then you used to hear it said about a lot of players coming through. With Stevie he has fulfilled everything and he's been as brilliant as everyone said he would be. That's some achievement when you think about what he's done throughout his career and how he's lifted this club in some dark moments and continued to do so. Every major trophy Liverpool won since he came into the team Stevie left his mark in some way on Liverpool winning, and in some cases Liverpool wouldn't have won those trophies without him. Stevie delivered in the big moments and that's the mark of the man.

Tony Barrett, The Times: The most telling indication of Steven Gerrard's qualities as a human being is provided by his team mates past and present who, to a man, hold him in the highest esteem. Everyone knows about how good he was and is as a footballer, one of the very best in Liverpool's history, but less is known about what he is like as a person with those who've shared a dressing room with him among the best placed to assess that. In my experience, I've never heard a teammate have anything negative to say about Gerrard. If anything the opposite is true, there is a genuine reverence towards him spanning players over the last 20 years. I wouldn't say it's unique for a player to be so universally respected but it is certainly rare. Dressing rooms can be difficult, competitive places and it isn't always easy for people to show the best of themselves but clearly Gerrard has been able to do that. 

James Pearce, Liverpool Echo: I've worked at the Liverpool Echo for 10 years now and what has always struck me about Steven is his honesty and his integrity. This is in an age where you are so used to footballers coming out with cliches, or you are waiting for quotes in mixed zones and players come out with headphones on and pretend they are on their mobile phone and ignore you, Steven has always fronted up and he's never hid behind excuses. He's always been blatantly honest in his assessment of matches, both good times and bad, and as a journalist it's hugely refreshing when someone tells it like it is. A couple of minutes with Gerrard has always been worth 10 or 15 minutes with anyone else.

Dominic King, Daily Mail: As a player he's been inspirational. His record as a player, his stats and everything speak for themselves as well as his CV. As a man I couldn't speak highly enough of him for the way that he's been an ambassador for Liverpool wearing a pair of boots. He's dealt with so many things and it's never been too much trouble for him to do things. He helps out with newcomers to the dressing room, there's no airs or graces about him and if someone needs any help he will be there. He's just an all-round good man who's done so much to help the city in terms of charity work. I can't speak highly enough of the man.