1
[crowd cheering]
[cheering slowly grows louder]
[cheering continues]
[whistle blows]
STEVEN GERRARD:
It's the best thing
that can ever, ever happen
to a Liverpool kid.
Being that local boy
and everyone's looking to you.
I achieved things that I-I
didn't dream of achieving.
I had nights and experiences
that I didn't think
would ever happen to me.
I've also had some incredible,
cruel setbacks
along the way, as well.
And I didn't think I'd have
to live with the feelings
of them, moving forward.
But I just think
it's part of it.
I mean,
it's part of the game.
Football is not about
turning up and playing.
It's about dealing with
everything that comes with it.
[crowd cheering]
I just felt it was time
to come out
of not just the club,
but the city.
Go and have a break
from it all.
Me brain was still frying
from what happened.
Just try and find answers,
and try and find reasons,
and there was none.
There was none.
[muffled crowd cheering]
The big difference here:
I can escape from football.
I never played for fame.
It was in me before I knew
anything about all this.
I was brought up
in an environment
where I was ready
for the pressure
and I was ready
to be a footballer
for Liverpool, for my people.
I was born for it,
I know for a fact.
[crowd cheering]
NARRATOR:
In Liverpool,
football
is the consuming passion.
It's hard to persuade people
to talk about anything else.
[cheering]
MAN: You walk into the ground,
you go in on your own,
and you know you got
28,000 mates
with you there singing,
you know.
[indistinct chanting
and cheering]
NARRATOR:
Liverpool scored five goals
and could have scored more.
Their poor, sacrificial victims
were Arsenal.
Southerners.
COMMENTATOR:
And out comes the trophy,
which is awarded
to the League champions.
-Fairclough!
-[cheering]
BILL SHANKLY:
Since I come here to Liverpool,
I have drummed it
into our players
that they are privileged
to play for you.
[cheering]
NARRATOR: Four European cups
are proudly displayed
in the Anfield trophy room,
collected by Britain's
most successful football team.
COMMENTATOR: Liverpool
are European champions!
What joy!
NARRATOR:
Last Saturday, Liverpool
made sure of winning
the League title,
thanks to this goal
from Kenny Dalglish,
keeping up a record
of consistent success
for an area suffering
hard times
off the football field.
It's, uh, one of
the highest-unemployment areas
in Britain.
And I think, uh,
football is, like, uh,
a get-out for a lot of them
from disappointment.
[barks]
PAUL GERRARD:
Huyton is only a small place.
It's like a pinhead on the map.
And we lived
on a council estate
called the Bluebell Estate.
We were in a place where you
had to look after yourself.
You know, everyone was getting
finished up from work,
and, you know,
it wasn't a nice time.
But the people just got on
with it, you know.
And we'd go to the end of
the earth to watch Liverpool.
We breathed it.
Breathed football.
[kids chattering, cheering]
NARRATOR:
Merseyside has dominated
English football in the '80s.
Liverpool has won the
First Division championship
six times this decade.
The best-supported club
in the country.
They watch a side
which is often untouchable,
driven by ability, but also
enormous determination.
COMMENTATOR: What a goal!
A magnificent goal by Dalglish!
JULIE BYRNE: Their dad,
he went to all the games.
Wembley and the Cup Finals
and all that.
And then nearly everyone I know
was Liverpudlian.
Everyone was close.
Everyone would watch out
for each other.
Steven was a great kid.
Lovely temper.
Always laughing.
[children's laughter]
You know, they were our world.
We didn't want them
to ever come to any harm,
so we liked them
where we could see them.
And we were lucky there.
We never had to go hunting
for them, looking for them.
They didn't want to go anywhere
but to play football.
[indistinct chatter]
PAUL GERRARD:
He played junior football.
And I've took him
on a Saturday morning.
They've won 27-nil,
and he scored 12 of the goals.
Like nothing to him.
[indistinct chatter]
-[cheering and applause]
-[whistle blows]
PAUL:
They say it's a gift.
And he had it, he had the gift.
He was born with the gift.
[indistinct chatter]
PAUL: I used to go and have
a pint in the local pub,
and my mate who run
the football team said,
"He's gonna go all the way,
him, you know that, don't you?"
I used to go,
"You can't say that.
You can't guarantee nothing."
And he said,
"I'll guarantee it,
Steven will go all the way."
Think he was eight when he
first went to Liverpool.
NARRATOR: This is
Liverpool's training ground.
Like Fort Knox, the value of
what's in here is incalculable.
The most successful club
in England
for the past generation,
and there's no sign
of it letting up.
HUGH McAULEY:
He was very small.
Very small, very slight.
He was everywhere in the game.
He'd gone past one or two
players straightaway,
as if they weren't there.
You think, "My God."
-[indistinct chatter, cheering]
-[whistle blows]
McAULEY: At Liverpool,
the winning mentality
was the all-important thing.
And he was
fiercely competitive.
He looked at you and listened.
Eyes that were focused
all the time.
You were looking at him,
thinking,
"Yeah.
[chuckling]:
This kid's got a chance."
STEVEN:
I just loved playing football
and supporting Liverpool.
It was all just fun to me.
MAN: If you could lead
the squad forward.
That's Steven Gerrard,
Phil Thompson, Kevin Hannon...
STEVEN: I think they knew
from eight, nine years of age
I had a chance.
I didn't have a clue.
Maybe I was in me own
little world. I don't know.
I just loved it.
I just couldn't wait to play.
COMMENTATOR:
Liverpool going into the semi
on a run of good results,
and the confidence high.
People are saying it's-it's
a great season up to now,
but it's not over yet.
PAUL: That day,
I went to put a bet on.
And I called in
to see me dad in the pub.
REPORTER: Let's go now
to Hillsborough...
PAUL: Next minute,
I see it on the telly.
REPORTER:
A major incident there...
PAUL: He went,
"Oh, there's trouble there."
I looked again, and I went,
"Oh my God, that's... looks
heavy, that, whatever that is."
REPORTER:
There's total confusion there.
The police have brought in
as many reinforcements...
PAUL: Steven was only nine,
he was only a kid, and...
I was telling him, you know,
there's been people
killed here.
MARTYN LEWIS:
The worst disaster
in British sporting history
happened at the start
of the FA Cup semifinal
between Liverpool
and Nottingham Forest.
Casualty figures
now stand at 94 dead.
24 of them have now
been identified,
including a boy of ten.
JULIE: Paul's mum
knocked us up out of bed
at 7:00 the next morning
and said that Jon-Paul,
one of Steven's cousins,
had died at Hillsborough.
It was one of
the saddest days of our lives.
STEVEN: At that age,
you don't understand it.
You're still a baby.
I remember going to the ground
when all the flowers
and scarves
were all over the Kop.
Football gets parked up.
It becomes about people
and about families
and about emotions
and people grieving.
JULIE:
He'd ask questions like,
"What really happened
to Jon-Paul, Mum?
And how did he die?"
It was just a sad thing.
Everyone knew somebody
who'd died at Hillsborough.
MAN: I've stood on that Kop
for getting on 28 years now,
and I've just made him
throw me hat and scarf in,
'cause I'll never go again and
he certainly won't go again.
In a terrible way, we've fallen
off our bicycle, haven't we?
And for some of us,
we'd like to, perhaps,
walk away and never ride again.
Uh, others want
to get back on soon
because they-they...
because they love it.
REPORTER:
John Williams is a sociologist.
He, too, was at Hillsborough
and witnessed the disaster
with Rogan Taylor.
JOHN WILLIAMS: I think it
reaffirmed for a lot of people
that football was one
of those things
that really brings people
in the city together.
That helps us talk
to each other
and be emotional
with each other.
But the club
was in complete flux.
ANNOUNCER:
One minute to go.
McMahon has got the word
from the Kop, obviously.
WILLIAMS: We were playing
the last match of that season
against Arsenal.
And lost.
In the most dramatic possible
circumstances.
COMMENTATOR: And Thomas
charging through the midfield!
Thomas! It's up for grabs now!
-[cheering]
-Thomas!
Right at the end!
An unbelievable climax
to the League season.
Well into injury time,
the Liverpool players
are down, absolutely...
PAUL: After Hillsborough,
everything changed.
It was etched all over
people's faces
to do with
Liverpool Football Club.
It's like they'd had enough,
you know what I mean?
It was just horrible to watch.
Horrible.
DALGLISH: I've been in
the front line for 20 years.
And it's just really
a result of 20 years
active involvement in football
at a very high
and successful level...
that really, um,
Kenny Dalglish is a person
who has pushed himself
to the limit.
WILLIAMS: Hillsborough produced
that convulsive change.
Changed the stadiums.
Contributed to the remarketing
and re-promotion of the game.
Sky Television came in
and pumped money into football,
and football was gonna be
completely different.
REPORTER: As football
has changed through the 1990s
and money has become
more important,
one club has been at
the vanguard of those changes
both off and on the pitch:
Manchester United.
WILLIAMS:
The most obvious signal for us
that things were changing
was we couldn't win
the League title.
We'd lost that vicelike hold.
COMMENTATOR: And Steve Bruce
lifts the Premier League trophy
for Manchester United.
The third time they've won it
in four seasons.
McAULEY:
It was the start, really, of...
different times for Liverpool.
Different times.
Even in the times
of transformation
with Liverpool teams,
the expectation level
was always there,
the supporters there
every time they play.
Play it again!
[voice-over]:
We needed that hope again.
Next one in.
[indistinct chatter]
[voice-over]:
And here was a little lad
who just kept on
going, going, going.
And he lifted you
every time you went to coach.
JULIE: Steve Heighway
came to the house,
and he started talking
about Steven to me and his dad,
saying he shines on the pitch.
"We'd like to nurture him."
They were his words:
"We'd like to nurture him."
He said, "Don't ever push him
into anything,
"because they can rebel.
Just be there, and he'll choose
the right road to go."
And I'll never forget him
saying that.
PAUL: Steven and football
became my life.
I wouldn't miss it.
If he was playing somewhere,
I would be there watching him.
I used to tell him, I'd say,
"You've got it.
"But you've got to want
to use it.
You don't get given something
unless you work hard at it."
That was my motto to him.
"You get out of it
what you put into it."
McAULEY: From day one,
he's always been acutely aware
of what people expect of him.
And he was hungry
for that information
that was going to help him
improve.
But he's very sensitive.
He's a very sensitive lad.
And he kept a lot
of his feelings to himself.
[indistinct chatter]
What he had to do then is learn
the game at that level,
and you only learn the game by
playing with the best players.
So your work is about
dealing with the whole group,
but you've got your eye
on the one or two.
The ones who you know
got a better chance
of getting to the next level.
MICHAEL OWEN: There's an
intelligence with a footballer
that you're either on
that wavelength or you're not.
We had an understanding
between us.
You go onto a pitch,
and it's where you belong.
When I saw somebody
passing the ball to Stevie,
you come alive.
I know what he was thinking.
He knows what I'm thinking.
You're like, "I can score here.
I can make a run."
Stevie literally created
goal after goal after goal.
[cheering]
PAUL:
Steven would pick a ball up.
First player he'd look for
was him.
'Cause he knows, you know what
I mean? It's, like, psychic.
The two of them
could run like the wind.
It was just fantastic.
STEVEN:
I used to go out, and I'd see
a big lad
in the opposition team.
I'd want to nail him first.
I'd think,
if I flatten him early,
the rest of his teammates
will know what I'm about.
PAUL: One day,
the coach pulled me over.
He said, "He's tackling people,
and he wants to kill them.
He just smashes them
to pieces."
I said, "Well, isn't that
what you're looking for?"
He said, "No, not when he's
doing it to us and the staff."
JULIE: On that pitch,
you've got to be tough.
But away from football,
he was quite shy.
And he was very quiet
if they got beat.
Very quiet.
Steven always punished himself.
And he was always honest
with himself.
The only thing I could ever
say to him was:
"Don't be too hard
on yourself, Steven."
But it was his world.
[quiet chatter]
McAULEY: When you come across
exciting young prospects,
as a coach, that is your life.
But you never know
until you put them there
and you give them a go.
'Cause that is the big test.
Can you handle that stress when
you step over that white line?
Can you handle it?
And that's the magic of it.
That's the wonder of it.
That's the heartbreak of it.
That's what makes football
what it is.
[cheering]
STEVEN:
The buzz was hard to describe.
When you actually get on the
bench and you're warming up,
there's just a sea of people.
Your heart pumping.
-Butterflies.
-COMMENTATOR: To Davidson.
His control allows Heggem in.
And, uh, Heggem...
STEVEN:
You see the nod.
The feeling
that you get's surreal.
And it's fucking scary.
COMMENTATOR: ...featured
on the team sheet before.
And he's going to
be given his opportunity
for Liverpool,
promoted from the youth side.
Fresh-faced...
PAUL: I've had to
pinch meself and go,
you know, "Is this real?
This is my lad
this is happening to."
Don't make no mistakes.
Don't make no mistakes.
COMMENTATOR:
To Owen. Teenagers combine.
STEVEN: We only played three,
four minutes of actual action,
but I remember me dad
saying to me
straight after the game,
going home,
"No one can take that away
from you now.
You've played
for Liverpool's first team."
So you almost feel like
the journey's ended then.
But then, when reality
kicks in, it's only the start.
Me life changed.
From that debut,
it changed very, very quickly.
The door opened
to the real game.
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
When you're out there
and you're on that grass level,
you've got to be ready,
or you get found out.
You can't hide there.
OWEN: Everything is happening
at such split seconds.
No situation
will ever be the same.
You are making decisions.
Tiny, little things.
Somehow understanding
what's gonna happen
in five seconds time.
STEVEN: This is not a dream.
This is it.
ANNOUNCER: And Redknapp
finds a way through.
Great effort by Fowler.
And Owen...
And still...
STEVEN:
You get blown away
by the standard
of football around you.
They can move.
They're skillful.
They're big. They're strong.
-It's real game. It's men.
-[whistle blows]
The opposition hate you.
There's hatred there.
And you can feel it
in the challenges.
[whistles blowing]
ANNOUNCER: And he and
Westerveld have an angry clash.
And they're both going to be
in trouble here.
JAMIE CARRAGHER: You have to
perform as a young player
in the first Liverpool team.
Otherwise,
you won't be seen again.
You've got to make an impact.
You can't expect
ten or 20 chances.
It's not going to happen.
I was very aggressive,
and Stevie was
exactly the same.
ANNOUNCER: Barmby did well
then for Everton.
Campbell takes
a clattering challenge
from young Gerrard,
and it's a red card for him!
And the Merseyside derby
explodes again here.
STRUAN MARSHALL:
Much as it was a bad tackle,
it stood out
in a good way for me,
in that I thought,
"This guy's not scared,
"this guy is up for it,
and this guy is prepared
to put himself out there."
REPORTER: We're talking about
footballers' wages.
In the late 1990s,
it's a big money business.
With me, agent Struan Marshall.
MARSHALL:
I started representing players
when I was about 20 years old.
Football was just
commercializing.
Players were turning into
genuine celebrities
at that point.
There's a massive shift
at the moment from the...
from the club to the player.
David, how difficult has it
been, from your point of view?
Well, absolutely,
there's been a power change.
I mean, the players
are the people
that everybody comes
to watch and what sells...
[voice-over]: I saw that there
was an opportunity,
but an agent is only as good
as the client he represents.
You need someone
with a massive talent
to take you to the next level.
There was a big buzz about him
behind the scenes.
People I knew
whose opinion mattered
had made it clear
this guy was the real deal.
Met in the living room.
Spoke to his mum and dad.
His dad took the piss
out of us. [laughs]
You know, but Stevie
controlled the meeting,
and he asked
the questions of me
more than the other way around.
So that got me going a bit,
you know?
"This guy's gonna make it
happen, whoever's beside him.
I hope it's me." [laughs]
COMMENTATOR:
Attack might be the best
form of defense here
for Liverpool.
Gerrard.
Oh, it's a wonderful run!
-[crowd cheering]
-Oh, what a screaming goal
by Steven Gerrard!
His first ever goal
for Liverpool.
COMMENTATOR 2: Talk about
taking the bull by the horns.
19 years of age.
COMMENTATOR 1:
What a splendid solo goal.
It's Liverpool three,
Sheffield Wednesday one.
And what about that
from Steven Gerrard?
WILLIAMS:
When he came into the team,
he was so unbelievably raw
and wholehearted.
You could see that he was
emotionally driven.
Even though he was very young,
we thought,
"My God, he could be
the whole package.
He could do anything."
-[crowd cheering]
-COMMENTATOR: Gerrard!
It threw it for Liverpool
from Steven Gerrard.
This is absolute perfection.
Here's Gerrard,
on the ball again.
Oh, he's tried from distance.
What a goal by Steven Gerrard.
The lay-off by Murphy,
into the path
of Steven Gerrard.
What a wonderful goal that is.
Oh, bit of nastiness here.
Dennis Wise
involved with Gerrard.
PAUL: I would be so engrossed
with what he was doing
that you tend to slip away from
what other players are doing.
Changes your whole
outlook on it.
But I couldn't believe it,
couldn't wrap my head
round it, you know.
Some of the things
that he's done.
[cheering]
OWEN:
There's something inside you,
when you're coming through,
that's got such belief
in yourself
that you just think
you're almost indestructible
and you're gonna play
and be the best.
We used to look up to all
these players and think, "Wow."
And then, all of a sudden,
me and Stevie were doing it.
COMMENTATOR:
Babbel trying to reach it.
-Owen!
-[crowd cheering]
And Liverpool are back
in business,
thanks to Michael Owen.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
Liverpool!
COMMENTATOR:
Hamann... to Owen.
Gerrard is in space
ahead of him.
A real chance
for Steven Gerrard.
Two-nil, Liverpool.
STEVEN:
To make so many people happy
with what you can do,
it's unbelievable.
You almost don't know
what you've done
until you get home
and you see it on the TV.
-[crowd chanting]
-[whooping]
I was starting to get stronger.
I was starting to become a man.
And in first place,
and the winner...
STEVEN: Then getting
the Young Player of the Year,
it just almost seemed to be
going up and up and up.
...2001 is Steven Gerrard.
[applause]
MARSHALL: It wasn't about
what he was getting that night.
It was about the door it was
opening to the next stage.
His plan was:
Let's take on the world.
You know, let's get
to the very, very top.
Well, I can't say I'm going
abroad here, can I?
MARSHALL:
Drag Liverpool Football Club
-with him to success.
-[applause]
It was an ambition
to play for Liverpool.
And now that it's here,
I appreciate it very much.
And hopefully I can win
a lot of trophies with them
and stay there
as long as possible.
[crowd chanting]
[cheering]
McAULEY:
The crowd love a local lad
who gives everything
for that shirt.
He is their blood in many ways.
-[shouting]
-[crowd exclaiming]
[whistle blowing repeatedly]
Steven was a shining example
of what they wanted to see
week in, week out.
Here's somebody who's going
to run through a brick wall
for your football club.
[crowd singing]
COMMENTATOR:
Headed away by Stubbs.
It's gone back
to Steven Gerrard.
-Brilliant goal!
-[cheering]
McAULEY:
But with Liverpool supporters,
they would never rest
until Liverpool
won the Premier League.
And that's it.
[crowd chanting]
They're continually hungry.
Hungry for Liverpool
to do well.
[siren wailing]
[helicopter blades whirring]
REPORTER: He bought Chelsea
for a pound in 1982.
Now Ken Bates has sold
his majority stake
for 30 million to Russian
billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea has never been able
to rival the financial muscle
of rivals
like Manchester United.
Now, though,
that could all change.
MARSHALL: There's always
been talk of owners coming in,
and they're going to
spend a few quid,
and they're gonna do this,
and they're gonna do that,
and then they rarely do it.
COMMENTATOR: We are
at Anfield, where Chelsea
have won only once in
the League in almost 70 years.
It's an instant test
of the new power behind them.
MARSHALL:
Yeah. Yeah, it was different.
-It was for real.
-[crowd cheering]
WILLIAMS: It was
unimaginable that someone
could come in with huge money,
buy a club and say, "We're
gonna be bigger than you are."
It was Chelsea, for God's sake.
Now, Chelsea had not won
a League title
since the mid-1950s,
and suddenly
they were transformed.
It's amazing how quickly
history can be forgotten
in a sport like football.
[indistinct chatter]
MAN:
I'm delighted this morning
to formally announce
Jos Mourinho
as the new manager and coach of
Chelsea with immediate effect.
Look, football change.
Society change.
World change.
And, um,
I think football clubs,
they want success
in relation to their potential.
But more important
is to find, uh, players
who think as I think.
We should not be afraid to say,
"We want to win."
[dog barking]
STEVEN: When Chelsea come in
and start buying players
for 30 million
in every position,
it's a game changer
for someone like me
who's striving
to win the League.
And that's tough to take
when you've got
that burning ambition,
that desire inside.
COMMENTATOR: It seems
absolutely incredible now
that their last
championship win
was 12 years ago.
That's a whole generation
of fans here growing up
not knowing what it's like
to have Liverpool
as League champions.
STEVEN: My natural instinct
is to always defend the club,
but there was
a part inside me that knew
that we weren't good enough.
So, how am I gonna win these
Leagues and Champions Leagues?
Used to kill me.
It was even more hurtful
when you were in the company
of them players.
You'd have conversations,
and they're saying,
"Are Liverpool going to compete
over the next three,
four years?"
You start questioning
your own ambition.
But it can be a complex word,
"ambition,"
when you're a footballer.
MARSHALL:
Chelsea were buying up talent.
Jos Mourinho,
this exciting young coach,
was coming in
and was desperate to sign him.
I'm not a Liverpool fan,
do you know?
I'm not a Liverpool fan.
I'm the business of Steven
Gerrard's football career.
So what's the right thing for
the business of Steven Gerrard?
For trophies, for medals,
for achievement?
REPORTER: A huge sigh of relief
on Merseyside as the arrival
of new coach, Rafael Benitez,
appears to have convinced
Gerrard that Liverpool
can once again challenge
for the game's top honors.
Gerrard's decision to stay
is sure to upset Chelsea,
who were desperate to sign him
for a reported 36 million.
Michael Owen said it
would be a catastrophe
if Gerrard left Anfield.
That's been avoided.
The big question now
is whether Owen
will also stay at Liverpool.
CARRAGHER: I was in the room
with Mike when he got the call.
And my first words were,
"I wouldn't go."
I was always
a big-picture person, like,
"How will people see you
at the end?"
I can get it.
If I was in your position,
you may want to play with the
greatest players in the world,
but it'll create a divide
that may not be able
to be ever healed.
Is it worth it for that?
[applause]
OWEN: I'd like to say
a special thank-you
to Seor President
for giving me
the opportunity to play
for the best team in the world.
Thank you very much.
Muchas gracias.
It's the lure of going
and winning,
being what you've always
wanted to be, growing up.
I thought to myself,
"If I say no,
"I'll probably think
what would that have been like
"for the rest of my life.
I've just got to try it."
McAULEY: It was
a difficult time, emotionally.
We were dealing
with these people
when they were very young.
Michael was
an absolute superstar.
And at that point, what's he
going to win with Liverpool?
It's about success
at the end of the day.
-[hollering indistinctly]
-Even though you think they're
gonna play for Liverpool
forever, you say, "Well...
well, why should we
think that?"
They don't owe Liverpool
anything, really.
STEVEN:
I just assumed we were going
all the way to the top
together.
It was always me and him.
Shit, this is going
to affect me.
It's going to affect us.
But when that whistle goes,
you gotta park them feelings.
[crowd groans, applauds]
McAULEY: We've lost a player
who Steven, on the pitch,
had his best relationship with.
Now he was by far
the best player.
If Liverpool
aren't playing well,
it's down to Stevie to fix it.
COMMENTATOR:
Tokic.
Makes room to shoot.
-[whistle blows]
-Oh, what a goal that is.
MAN: Steven Gerrard.
We know how powerful
and how important he is
to this Liverpool team.
But they cannot rely
totally on him,
'cause that's how
it's starting to look.
WILLIAMS:
We didn't have a great team.
And Benitez felt distant.
He didn't have that kind
of emotional pull.
REPORTER:
Was it a mistake not to field
more senior players
in there tonight?
I don't think so.
-You were happy with them?
-With the players?
Sure. They tried.
WILLIAMS:
And so we had, in Steven,
this weird combination
of utter belief
and trust and hope
on the one hand,
but a desperation that we'd win
something on the other
so that he wouldn't
be seduced away.
ROB McCAFFREY:
Lee in Spain says,
"That was the most embarrassing
night as a Liverpool fan
I've had in 30 years
of supporting them."
CALLER: We've got no chance
of winning the League.
-Mmm. -We're not going to win
the Champions League.
CALLER 2: Well, I think that
was one of the worst displays
of a Liverpool team
I've ever seen.
Uh, it's-it's-it's difficult
to remember
another one like it, Andrew.
MARSHALL:
That season, the emotion
was a roller coaster--
day to day, week to week--
when everything started
to center around him.
Liverpool captain,
Steven Gerrard,
is calling on the fans
as the Reds seek the win
they need to ensure
Champions League progress.
REPORTER: It's 20 years
since Liverpool last scaled
the heights of Europe's
premier club competition.
But tonight, they must win
to ensure their fans
can carry on dreaming
of glory in May.
Olympiakos are the visitors
to Anfield...
COMMENTATOR: Rivaldo
getting his shirt pulled
by Xabi Alonso.
Still Rivaldo. Still Rivaldo!
And then Sami Hyypia.
19 minutes to halftime.
Nil-nil at Anfield.
A chance for
Olympiakos now, though.
There it goes. Played in low!
And Kirkland was nowhere.
It was hit low
and into the net.
COMMENTATOR 2:
Liverpool nil, Olympiakos one.
CARRAGHER:
And it wasn't going well.
I think that's when he felt
the responsibility more.
And I think they probably all
think the same,
the other ten players.
Let Stevie have it.
Let him take the penalty.
Or pass it to Stevie.
He'll shoot.
And then that was timesed
by 40,000 in the ground.
Stevie, it's down to you.
COMMENTATOR: Olympiakos are
going through at the moment,
unless Liverpool score
another goal.
Mellor.
Lovely cushioned header.
-Gerrard!
-[crowd cheering]
[commentators shouting
indistinctly]
Steven Gerrard!
STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
Scoring Liverpool's third goal
of the night, Steven Gerrard.
[crowd singing]
ALEX GERRARD:
When I first met him,
he was just a young lad
playing football,
living his dream.
Don't think he realized
what was ahead of him.
[indistinct chatter]
He obviously grew up a lot
because of
the responsibility he had.
But we were both still
really young at that time.
[laughing]
On the pitch,
he always looked aggressive.
I'm like, "Oh, God."
But at home, he's...
you know, he's just different.
[laughing]
He wasn't scared
of showing his emotions.
He probably looked forward
to just coming home
and just being himself.
STEVEN:
I was Liverpool captain.
Liverpool captains
always deliver.
They have to.
The history, the tradition,
the success.
Am I worthy?
Am I good enough?
Am I going to be one
of these captains
where they go,
"Well, he never won anything"?
The weight and how heavy
the expectation was...
[crowd roaring]
...it was just
a constant thing in me head.
[cameras clicking]
[indistinct chatter]
McAULEY:
He took so much pressure
on his shoulders,
playing for Liverpool.
He needed an arm
round his shoulder.
Just that little bit
of care shown
could make all the difference.
But Rafa was
a different personality.
He's colder in that respect.
I was there, and I see
the frustration with Steven.
STEVEN:
I craved success,
and I wanted everything
that comes with the game.
And Rafa's coldness
just added fuel to the fire.
If I'm not loved here
and respected,
and he doesn't rate me as much
as I think he should rate me,
the thought of leaving
Liverpool starts creeping in.
[crowd cheering]
Mourinho liked me as a player,
and everyone knew that he was
a serial winner in the making.
That was what started
to grip me thoughts
and grip me ambition.
MOURINHO:
Which team plays
better than... than Chelsea?
Arsenal?
INTERVIEWER:
They might get more
-critical acclaim sometimes.
-Better than us, huh?
-Yeah. -They might get
more critical acclaim.
Ten points behind.
Ten points behind.
[crowd singing]
CARRAGHER:
The whole Chelsea scenario
was very big in the press
in the build-up to that game.
COMMENTATOR: Now, it's hard
to resist the notion, isn't it,
that Steven Gerrard's future
is interlinked
with what happens here today.
Lose, and another approach
from Chelsea
might prove hard to resist.
Win, and if Chelsea's season
disintegrates,
the move to Stamford Bridge
suddenly looks less attractive.
CARRAGHER:
The scrutiny on Steven Gerrard,
because of who he is,
he-he can't hide.
And because of who he is,
he's always getting watched.
There's cameras always
on him in the game.
COMMENTATOR: ...for the last
12 minutes of the game.
Paulo Ferreira playing it in.
Oh, it's got a deflection
and gone in!
Oh, what an unlucky break.
And of all people.
Stevie Gerrard
has equalized for Chelsea.
And there is so much irony
in that goal.
Gerrard, many believe,
has just scored
his first of many goals
for Chelsea.
-[whistle blowing]
-There is the final whistle!
And Chelsea enter a new era
under Jos Mourinho
and Roman Abramovich.
They've beaten Liverpool.
And Steven Gerrard
is beyond consolation.
-[beep] -CALLER: Steven Gerrard
was an absolute disgrace today.
Every tackle he throws in,
their hands out picking 'em up,
shaking hands with Makll
and the rest of them.
-He's an absolute disgrace.
-[beep]
CALLER 2: I do think he's got
his mind on other things.
I don't think he's got his mind
on Liverpool Football Club.
-[beep] -CALLER 3: Gerrard's
supposed to be the motivator
to drive the-the team on.
-He was an absolute disgrace.
-[beep]
PAUL: He was getting slated
by the supporters
for having this nightmare
of a game.
You want to jump up and go,
"Have you got a short memory
or something?
He loves Liverpool.
He's doing it for the club."
I knew that would affect him,
but what could you say to him?
STEVEN: That's the first time
as a player I'd felt lonely.
And that smacked me
right bang in the face.
You feel the responsibility
for all them people.
It's your fault,
you're telling yourself.
And you feel like
you're on your own.
I realized at that moment
that the highs are gonna be
the best days of me life
and the lows
are gonna be the worst.
[crowd singing]
WILLIAMS: You know, Liverpool
is an incredibly enriching,
wonderful place
to have a connection to,
but it can also be suffocating.
[crowd groans]
It can also be a place
that strangles you.
Because people want it so much
and want you to feel
what they feel.
That must be an incredibly
emotionally troubled thing
to have to be responsible for.
He understood why it mattered
so much to people
that he'd played for this club,
but he always had,
at the same time,
this real problem of,
"Am I gonna be a great player
who's not gonna win enough?"
[crowd cheering]
So, that incredible run
in the Champions League
that season
was really important.
It gave us something
to hold on to.
REPORTER: Liverpool's
Champions League semifinal
against Chelsea is now
just over an hour away,
with a place in the final
in Istanbul next month
beckoning for the winner.
[helicopter blades whirring]
WILLIAMS:
You couldn't write the fact
that we would meet Chelsea
in the semifinal.
You couldn't write it,
could you?
MOURINHO:
So, I arrive here
with my ego...
[makes whooshing sound]
-...big.
-[laughter]
[laughs] You know?
Now is even higher.
[laughter]
BENITEZ:
They have the most
expensive team in the world.
Good manager, good players.
But we have our supporters,
and we have the-the...
the balance now.
[crowd singing]
WILLIAMS:
The crowd got the message
that we were gonna have
to help with this.
The whole stadium was in
an utter state of madness.
And it did feel we were doing
something that was impossible.
[whistle blows]
[crowd cheering]
How was this gonna work out?
[cheering slowly grows louder]
[whistle blows]
COMMENTATOR:
Riise.
To Gerrard with space.
Pumped in towards Baros.
He's beaten Terry to it.
The goalkeeper made contact
with Luis Garca.
Was it over the line?
Gallas hooked it away.
Goal!
[cheering]
The first goal
of this semifinal
is a Liverpool goal.
[cheering continues]
[cheering]
COMMENTATOR:
Time has come for Liverpool
to play in yet another
European Cup Final.
Rafa Benitez and his team
have rolled back the years.
It's just like the old days.
STEVEN:
There was a massive part of me
going into that final
of wanting to win it so much,
just to lift that burden
and add to the history
and take the weight.
REPORTER:
Everyone's asking if Liverpool
really can win
a fifth European Cup.
Whether successful or not,
will Steven Gerrard stay
at Anfield next season?
STEVEN: The media wouldn't
let go of the rumors.
They were constantly asking.
If they win this tomorrow,
you know, it-it could
change everything.
But I think,
if they lose tomorrow night,
I still wouldn't be surprised
to see Steven Gerrard leave.
WILLIAMS: What greater stage
could Steven have?
The entire world
would be watching this.
Isn't this what you
and we all want?
PAUL:
There was a gang of us went.
One of the lads turned round,
he said, "Look at that."
And you looked over,
it was, like,
just sheets of red
walking over the hills.
I've never seen nothing
like it.
Nothing like it.
The support.
[crowd singing]
COMMENTATOR:
The 21 years since Liverpool
last lifted this trophy
have dragged.
Tonight is the chance
to make up for lost time.
But against
a star-studded Milan team,
many of whose individuals
have been here before.
And Steven Gerrard stands
on the threshold
of legendary status at Anfield.
STEVEN:
The attention and the build-up,
the magnitude of it,
it was a new level.
COMMENTATOR:
On this day, the 50th final
of Europe's most prestigious
club competition is underway.
STEVEN: We'd punched way above
our weight in what we'd done.
We'd punched well above
our weight to get there.
But don't get this far
and fuck it up.
[commentator speaking Italian]
STEVEN: If we win this,
it's going to be
the best night of me career.
If we lose it, could struggle
to recover from it.
And Liverpool are facing
some very talented players
tonight, Andy.
ANDY:
Yeah, they certainly are.
Switch on immediately.
COMMENTATOR:
Free kick to Milan.
And Pirlo lining this one up
down this nearside.
[commentator speaking Italian]
[Italian and English
commentary overlapping]
It goes up.
It's in and it's in!
A goal in 50 seconds
from Paolo Maldini.
-And would you believe it?
-The Milan captain
strikes first
in the first minute.
ANDY: The worst possible start
for Liverpool.
COMMENTATOR:
What a body blow to Liverpool.
How do they come back out
of this one?
Liverpool are gonna need
their supporters.
STEVEN: It was
panic stations in my head.
I felt like the occasion
was too big for me.
I was struggling to cope.
I felt lost.
[commentator speaking Italian]
Here's Kak.
And here's the trouble.
It's Shevchenko.
It's Crespo!
It's two-nil Milan!
And it just gets worse
for Liverpool
-before halftime. -It's the
second goal for the Italians.
ANDY:
AC Milan feel the game is over.
Absolutely certain.
The dugout's out.
They all know.
They just cannot believe it.
[commentators speaking Italian]
[crowd cheering]
COMMENTATOR: Crespo has
scored twice in five minutes.
It's AC Milan three,
Liverpool nil.
And this final is over.
CARRAGHER:
Okay, they go one-nil up.
That happens in a game.
But when it went three-nil,
it was almost someone
had ripped your insides out.
You've had all these dreams
and thoughts
of how the game's gonna go.
Is Stevie gonna lift the cup?
That's what he's dreaming of.
We're all dreaming of that.
And you're just there, and it's
like the realization of:
"This is not happening."
People all over the world
watching.
And you're involved
in something
that's this embarrassing.
-[whistle blowing]
-And it could get worse.
It's only halftime.
WILLIAMS:
Three-nil.
Against these assassins
who played for Milan,
it was... it was over.
[crowd singing]
"You'll Never Walk Alone"
that people sang at halftime,
it was just a message to say,
"Look, we haven't
done ourselves proud,
"but we're still here.
"We can still bring
40,000 people
"to the middle
of a plowed field in Turkey.
We're still somebody."
But no one believed we were
gonna get back into this match.
[singing continues]
STEVEN: We had 45 minutes
to try and get some pride back.
And I think the fans,
at least, deserved that.
COMMENTATOR:
Gattuso.
STEVEN:
So I felt that responsibility.
-It's up to me.
-Stopped by Traor.
COMMENTATOR: I wonder
how many Liverpool players
in this squad are appearing
for the last time tonight.
I wonder if Steven Gerrard is.
On to Luis Garca...
STEVEN: I felt like I had
to take more risk.
If these risks don't work out,
who gives a fuck?
I'll take the moans
from Carragher.
I'll take the shit on the chin.
COMMENTATOR:
Xabi Alonso.
Hamann.
ITALIAN COMMENTATOR:
Hamann. Xabi Alonso.
Alonso turns to his left.
-Riise. -Plays it through
to Riise on the left side.
Riise hits it against Kak,
and it comes back to him.
Riise puts it back
into the box! Header a goal!
-Goal!
-Lifeline for Liverpool!
-Who else but Captain
Steven Gerrard? -Captain!
Steven Gerrard with a header
breathes new life
into Liverpool.
And he waves to the fans
over on the far side.
Come on, believe.
Milan three, Liverpool one.
And maybe a route back
through Steven Gerrard.
WILLIAMS: Somehow, you know,
guess who scores a goal.
And he does the hand gestures
to the crowd.
[cheering]
It makes us realize that he
thinks this is no consolation.
It starts to make us think,
"Actually, you never know."
COMMENTATOR:
Hit by Smicer.
It's in! It's in!
Vladimir Smicer!
Two goals in two minutes
for Liverpool.
[commentator speaking Italian]
Miracles are possible.
[commentator speaking Italian]
Start of another attack here.
Baros leaves it in the path
of Steven Gerrard!
-Penalty! Penalty!
-Penalty is given!
[cheering]
ANDY:
I don't believe this.
I have not seen anything like
this in a major final, ever.
-[commentator speaking Italian]
-[whistle blows]
Xabi Alonso's the man
who has to keep his cool here.
Oh, it's saved!
It's going for the rebound!
[cheering]
This is unreal!
Liverpool,
three goals down at halftime,
have pulled level
within a quarter of an hour
of the restart.
And this score line
is absolutely staggering.
AC Milan three,
Liverpool three.
There has never been
a Champions League Final
anything like this.
ANDY: You know, he epitomizes
the difference, because...
there's a spring in his step,
there's an urgency in his play.
Skippers have to influence.
Skippers have to inspire.
And I think he's done that
second half.
COMMENTATOR:
Now, these are nervous times.
Fingernails being bitten
right down to the edge.
Can they find it
within themselves
to try and encourage
their team on?
But there's danger here!
Good save!
Wonderful double save
from Dudek.
ANDY:
Less than three minutes to go.
That's outstanding.
-[commentator speaking Italian]
-[whistle blows]
And the last chance passes.
We are going
to a penalty shootout.
For the eighth time
in the 50-year history,
it will be decided by Russian
roulette, the penalty shootout.
Somebody is gonna be a hero,
and somebody is gonna be
a villain
in the next five minutes.
[commentator speaking Italian]
He misses!
Best possible start
for Liverpool.
Hamann to give Liverpool
the advantage.
-Oh, that'll do.
-[cheering]
-Get in.
-That'll do nicely.
[commentator speaking Italian]
STEVEN: From the halfway line,
the goal was shrinking.
-[crowd cheering]
-[whistle blows]
If it doesn't go right,
people won't remember
the goal you scored
or your performance in
the second half and extra time.
They'll only remember it
if you and your team
get over the line.
COMMENTATOR:
They're so close now.
STEVEN: I was terrified
of losing it again.
-COMMENTATOR: Riise.
-[commentators speak Italian]
Turned round.
But has the contest
turned around?
STEVEN: I'm thinking, "This is
gonna come down to my penalty."
You can't be under
any more pressure, ever.
COMMENTATOR:
If Milan miss this,
then Liverpool win the trophy.
Andriy Shevchenko knows now
that there is no margin
for error.
[commentator speaking Italian]
of the world on his shoulders.
There will be no second chances
if Shevchenko misses.
He saved it!
The European Cup
is returning to England
and to Anfield!
Liverpool are champions
of Europe again!
[cheering]
The most extraordinary night
of football,
the most extraordinary
finish...
STEVEN: This weight
of responsibility and pressure
that lifted off me,
it was frightening.
Frightening.
[indistinct shouting]
I love you!
I fucking love you, boys!
I fucking love you, boys!
Fucking hell!
[indistinct chatter]
STEVEN: I don't think anyone
on this planet
has ever felt what I felt
when that happened.
I see pictures of me leaning
into the fans
at the end of the game.
You-you're gone.
You're gone.
PAUL:
It was just bedlam in there.
Bedlam.
People were just
hugging each other.
[laughing]:
Kissing each other.
But I-I just couldn't speak.
I stood up,
trying to get to him.
I never had a chance.
I just sat down.
And I was just numb.
WILLIAMS:
When we won, you know...
I'm thinking about it now.
Crying.
Being there.
Just the joy
of seeing that happen.
Seeing Steven
at the heart of it, saying,
"We can still do this,"
when no one believed we could.
No one believed we could.
And he's saying to all of us,
"I believe."
This felt a kind of pure thing.
This felt like
a victory for spirit.
And Steven as the central
character in all of this
is why he was
so important to us.
STEVEN: What you've got to
understand is this is my life.
When you've got the armband on
and you're in them boots
and you're that person,
it's real.
INTERVIEWER: You wanted nights
like this, with this club.
Surely, this means
you stay at this club.
You'll be committed
to this club.
STEVEN:
For me, at that time,
I'm thinking
all the speculation.
Surely, now Rafa will be in
a different place with me,
and I'll sign a long-term deal
and we're done.
I'm sure the manager
and Rick Parry
will want to sit down
really soon
and a decision
will be made, but...
how can I leave
after a night like this?
But from my point of view,
there was just no urgency.
I felt like it was real.
I felt like Rafa wanted
to cash in on me.
I felt like I was getting
pulled from pillar to post,
and there was just so much shit
that was going through me head.
What I was giving to the club,
it was me life.
I gave everything.
But maybe I deserved to play
in a better team
for a manager that loves me.
Maybe it might be better
for me to move on.
My head was spinning,
and I was lost.
I was lost in that spin.
GEORGE ALAGIAH: Now, he says
it's the hardest decision
he's ever had to make.
The Liverpool captain,
Steven Gerrard,
has told the club
he wants to leave
just weeks after he led
the team to European Cup glory.
REPORTER: Six weeks ago,
he woke up on top of Europe
and seemingly staying put.
This morning,
he woke to back pages
apparently paving his way out
of Anfield and into Chelsea.
His agent says contract talks
have broken down.
The papers say,
so has Gerrard's relationship
with his manager.
-WOMAN: Devastated. Devastated.
-INTERVIEWER: Why?
MAN: He's the backbone of
the team. That's what it is.
If the engine goes,
the car cuts out.
-That's true. -And that's
about the Liverpool team.
-Steve Gerrard moves...
-That's true.
...that's when our team
falls apart.
CALLER: It wasn't about
winning trophies.
-It's all about money.
-[beep]
CALLER 2: He's shown
his true colors by the fact
-that he's even considered
leaving Liverpool. -[beep]
CALLER 3: Tell you what,
the little scab can go.
-The little scab can go.
-[beep]
CALLER 4: Good riddance
to Judas himself.
MARSHALL: It brought to life
how people feel
about the football club,
and people made it clear
how they felt.
Notes posted up on the gate
at the end of the road.
Phone calls, text messages.
"You're not going." "Fuck off."
"You're one of us."
"You better not fucking go."
Direct threats made.
[birds screeching]
I'd been around him enough
in Liverpool
to realize what a bizarre
hotbed of pressure that is
to be him in that city.
I wouldn't change places
with him.
He's held the Champions League
trophy above his head.
I'd love to do that,
but I wouldn't
change places with him.
And that's what I've thought
as I've sat with him
and watched his shirt getting
burnt on a television screen.
WILLIAMS:
Players like him come around
maybe every 40 or 50 years.
You get them in a lifetime.
If he goes, all of us can go.
All of us can find a more
successful club to support.
Why not?
The game just dissolves then.
STEVEN: I was a young lad
who was a bit lost.
There was so much going on,
it was difficult
to think straight
and try and make
a huge decision
that you're not sure whether
it's gonna be right or wrong.
So it takes someone close
to maybe remind you
what you've got.
PAUL:
He didn't know where he was.
I could see it in him.
I remember watching him.
He just said, "You know, Dad,
I've had these offers."
And I did say to him,
"At the end of the day,
"it's gonna be your decision.
"But them people won't love you
"the way these people
love you here.
"You can't change what you are,
the way you've been brought up.
You're a Scouser."
That's what I said to him.
STEVEN: He was saying to me,
"These fans adore you.
"You're everything to them.
"You're their hope,
you're their dreams
"every single day.
"Liverpool is in your heart.
Forget what's in your head.
"If Chelsea are in your head,
that's just a noise.
"That's just a noise.
"Remember where you're from.
"Remember who made you.
Liverpool's your team."
-[beep]
-REPORTER: It's 9:38,
and Johnny Sanderson
with the sports.
SANDERSON: Steven Gerrard
is going to stay at Liverpool.
REPORTER 2: Gerrard's set
to put pen to paper
on a new four-year contract
on Friday.
And it was clear the last
few days had taken their toll.
STEVEN: I think they've been
the most difficult days of...
of me life, really.
I'm not proud of them.
I've been really confused.
It's been difficult.
I wouldn't wish it on any other
player or any other person...
[voice fades]
The best thing that happened
to me was that conversation.
If I didn't have me dad
and me brother,
I could have made a mistake.
Now, I think there's a lot
of people in the game
that believe I made
the wrong decision,
but they don't know
my feelings.
Nine times out of ten,
maybe the right thing
might have been to go.
But I'm not one of the nine.
I'm the one.
[crowd singing]
McAULEY:
Steven showed that he was human
and he was devoted
to his club and his city.
He put the shirt on
the next game
and said, "Whatever I have
to do to carry this team
as far as I can,
then I'm going to do it."
[cheering]
He was Liverpool.
He was Liverpool.
That year,
the West Ham FA Cup Final,
one man was gonna score
that goal.
COMMENTATOR: To Gerrard.
Gerrard's driving shot!
[commentators shouting
indistinctly]
What a fantastic goal.
[commentators continue
indistinctly]
...for Steven Gerrard.
Well, just when you think
that he can't produce
anything...
STEVEN: The FA Cup was one
of the best days of me life,
because I know what I did
for my own people.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER: FA Cup
Final winners, Liverpool!
STEVEN: I'd committed
the best years to the club,
and it was nice to get
the relationship back strong.
Me head felt free.
I felt awesome.
You know, it was,
"Bring it on, anyone."
[crowd cheering]
WILLIAMS:
He really belonged to us now.
But for most supporters,
it's not the end of the story.
It's just the beginning of what
it is we really need to do.
Because the thing
we really need to do
is to win the Premier League,
and he has to take us there.
SHANKLY: Well, we really
would like to win the League,
because I think that's the
ultimate in English football,
to win the First Division
championship.
STEVEN:
I was one trophy away.
But the Premier League
was getting better
and faster and stronger.
COMMENTATOR:
Drogba on the turn.
-Oh, what a goal!
-STEVEN: If you wanted
to play for the top six,
eight teams,
you've got to be world-class.
COMMENTATOR:
And Manchester United
get their noses in front.
-Henry!
-[cheering]
STEVEN:
Every single club was spending
absolute fortunes,
just craving that glory.
REPORTER:
Manchester City Football Club
has been bought
by billionaire Arabs
who say they'll make the club
the biggest in England.
REPORTER 2: We don't know
exactly how much money
is behind the Abu Dhabi
royal family.
We know it's billions
of pounds,
which would dwarf
the wealth of the owners
of Liverpool,
Manchester United,
even of Chelsea.
STEVEN:
So, that's what we had to do.
Try and make Liverpool capable
of competing with them sides.
REPORTER:
First tonight,
the American multimillionaire,
George Gillett Junior,
is poised to take over
Liverpool Football Club.
If Gillett's bid
were to come good,
he'd be the third American
to jump into the Premiership
of late.
We've already had
Malcolm Glazer
at Manchester United
and Randy Lerner
at Aston Villa,
all promising
swift returns to glory.
And glory is what people on the
Kop want more than anything.
TOM HICKS: I want to assure
the fans of Liverpool that...
we know what you want:
you want to win.
And I want to win.
CARRAGHER:
When them owners came in,
they did what
we wanted them to do,
which was to buy players
in a different market.
We signed Fernando Torres
for 25 million.
Mascherano comes along,
20 million.
This team is getting
better and growing.
2008, we have the best team
I've probably played in.
COMMENTATOR:
Vidic lets it bounce.
And Torres is all over him.
And Torres is in for Liverpool.
-Fernando Torres!
-[crowd cheering]
Wonderful!
And Steven Gerrard just about
squeezes it past
Edwin van der Sar.
It's a kiss for the badge.
It's a kiss for the camera.
-Liverpool...
-STEVEN: There's a force,
there's a power
that comes from the crowd,
and you feel it.
[shouting indistinctly]
-MAN: Steve.
-MAN 2:Stevie.
STEVEN: I needed to deliver
that trophy soon,
to give them what they wanted.
COMMENTATOR:
Alonso...
Gerrard towards it!
[cheering]
Steven Gerrard
scores his second.
Liverpool score four.
And the title race is on.
WILLIAMS:
We did really come
very, very close to winning
the title that season.
COMMENTATOR:
Manchester United.
WILLIAMS: And it felt it was
only a matter of time.
But, as it turns out,
we were all duped.
REPORTER:
The Hicks and Gillett era began
in 2007 when they bought
the club for 290 million.
In May, a pretax loss
of almost 55 million
was announced,
and Liverpool's overall debt
now lies at around
280 million.
WILLIAMS:
The owners turned out to be
the antithesis of what
this club is about.
It was an utter betrayal.
REPORTER:
Now, I think Liverpool fans
have to be realistic
at this time.
With the current state
the club is in financially...
CALLER: Football is not about
economics; it's about emotion.
I think things
have gone too far.
CALLER 2: When football's
about football again,
then I'll be a happier man.
McAULEY:
The Hicks and Gillett thing,
that was a change
in the dynamics of the club
that was gonna change
people's lives forever.
It's a massive, massive
business enterprise now.
Okay, we all have to change
and be open-minded,
but for me, the heart of
the club was being ripped out.
We used to be unique.
Liverpool used to be
about the Liverpool way.
Well, it's not
the Liverpool way.
I knew the Liverpool way.
REPORTER: So, these are
the scenes this morning
around the ground as fans
make their way to Anfield.
But to be honest, today's game
feels like it is overshadowed
by the memories
of what happened
20 years ago at Hillsborough.
And there'll be a minute's
silence just before kickoff
to mark the anniversary
of the tragedy.
[whistle blows]
CARRAGHER: Liverpool's not just
a football club.
It's an institution.
But sometimes reality hits you
of how important it is.
This is our club,
this is our life.
[whistle blows]
[cheering and applause]
COMMENTATOR: It's a week
to stop and reflect.
Wednesday is
the 20th anniversary
of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Anfield will be home this week
for families, friends
and the wider Liverpool family
to come and remember,
to come and grieve
and, of course,
to celebrate lives.
CARRAGHER:
When you're a local lad,
it is completely different.
I love the fact that I play
for a club where it mattered.
I'd hate to play for a team
where it didn't.
But at times,
did it get on top of us
when things aren't going well,
how much you feel it
being a local player?
You feel like
you're letting people down.
And with Stevie being the
captain, that doubled for him.
STEVEN:
When the fans stick together
and they want something,
they're very, very powerful.
And I think that shows what
people from the city are about.
Forget footballers.
They're always gonna fight
till the end
to get what they want,
and that's what they did.
And to be part of that
makes you feel proud
of coming from this city.
I wanted to help
the people that I love.
My family, my supporters.
To try and make people happy.
But I knew I was
running out of time.
So, Torres,
when he left for Chelsea
was a big, big disappointment,
and it was a low.
-[reporters shouting]
-[cameras clicking]
CARRAGHER:
Top players left for big money.
You always put on a brave face,
but you've got to keep
those players
to win a Premier League.
And we had a major drop-off.
[chanting, cheering]
STEVEN:
30 years of age,
there's so many miles
on the clock at this point.
And I'd go through anything
to get out on that pitch.
Stress fractures in me back,
steroid injections
in every part of me body.
To keep pushing above
the limit, above the limit.
MARSHALL:
The club was stagnating
and unable to move forward.
And he'd spent a lot of energy
trying to keep the place
together.
He wanted to have
that responsibility,
but when it went on
month after month,
year after year,
it took its toll
physically and mentally on him,
and did a bit of damage.
When he walked
down a corridor after games,
you saw the weight of the world
on his shoulders.
PAUL: Every man out there who's
got a son who plays football,
they'd be the same.
You want them to win
every game,
you know, because you know
what it means to them.
But, unfortunately, you don't
win every game, do you?
Nobody.
You get beat
somewhere along the line.
REPORTER:
This picture features
in a number
of the sports sections.
It's a picture of, uh,
Steven Gerrard on crutches.
-The Liverpool talisman...
-STEVEN: Me body give up.
The groin just packed in
and snapped
and come off the bone.
There was an infection,
which made me pelvis split.
At that point, I thought
I might have been done.
ALEX: This infection just kept
coming in different places.
At the time, you just think,
"It's not right."
We were in the hospital,
and the surgeon said,
"We need to do an operation."
All he kept saying was,
"How long
until I can play again?
How long?"
And I just remember him
being on the floor.
STEVEN:
I was thinking to meself,
"This could be the end,"
and it was breaking me.
I wasn't sleeping at night.
I was no good to no one.
I needed help.
I wasn't in a good place
on the way up to that meeting.
Me foot's in a boot,
it's minus two,
I'm crutching it up a snowy
path to see a psychiatrist.
And I'm thinking, "How has
football brought me here?"
And the first two minutes
of our conversation,
I'm thinking,
"I'm out of here."
'Cause the first thing
he said to me was,
"Well, what if you are done?
"What if it is over?
What are you gonna do?
How are you gonna handle it?"
The crazy thing about it,
I didn't want to hear it,
but it actually helped.
He was just taking me
to a place
where probably no one around me
would take me to,
or that I'd never been to.
And I almost felt
like I was done
and actually thought,
"Well, if I am, I am."
[chuckles]
What-what can I do?
[crowd cheering]
It was a nice break
from driving meself insane.
And I remember
thinking to meself,
"Wow, you put yourself
under incredible pressure."
[indistinct shouting]
It definitely
made me appreciate
what I've got
away from football,
because it makes you think,
"Well...
"okay, football's important,
and it is your life,
"but it's not everything.
"Family is everything.
People that care about you
are everything."
But it's a drug.
Football's a drug.
You-you want more of it.
And that pressure,
you crave for it back.
The chance of getting
the one that eluded me,
it gripped me again.
COMMENTATOR:
The Blues are silenced.
The Reds are raucous.
One-nil.
MARSHALL:
He looked into the abyss,
saw how close he was
to the end,
which he wasn't ready for.
Of course he wanted to believe
they were going to compete,
but I think that was
more hoping
than genuinely believing,
you know.
He had Surez now
to help him do
what he wanted to do,
and he could be a leader
to his young team.
COMMENTATOR:
Can Liverpool topple Arsenal
and further strengthen their
hopes of a top-four finish?
And Liverpool load the box.
-Oh, and Liverpool lead!
-[cheering]
Celebrations for Martin Skrtel!
WILLIAMS: That season,
Arsenal came to Liverpool,
top of the table,
and we wiped them out.
COMMENTATOR:
Three-nil to Liverpool.
-It's Raheem Sterling.
-Raheem Sterling!
This is simply wonderful
from Liverpool.
WILLIAMS:
The League is a process.
It's a journey.
And that season,
the bits and pieces
kind of came together.
If we could wring out
from Steven the last dregs
of what he's been giving us
all of these years,
and if Surez can stay fit,
this might yet be possible.
We might have a miracle here.
STEVEN: I don't think
anyone believed it
around Christmas,
January, February time.
The journey sort of
gathered momentum.
You start thinking,
"Can we get in this?"
COMMENTATOR:
Gerrard.
Oh, what a pass that is.
Sturridge is in here
for Liverpool.
-And it's in off the post.
-[crowd cheering]
Steven Gerrard has been perfect
with these all season.
And it doesn't change here!
Manchester United nil,
Liverpool one.
Scenes of ecstasy
in the away end.
And Steven Gerrard mobbed
by all his teammates.
Sturridge brings it to the edge
of the penalty area.
Miskicks his shot.
-Surez...
-Goal!
That's three! And that's it!
And Surez seals a historic win
against Manchester United.
McAULEY: Steven always
had a relationship
with people on the same
wavelength as him.
Fantastic goal scorers.
And he had that relationship
with Surez.
COMMENTATOR:
That's from distance.
Oh, my word!
McAULEY:
This is our team again now.
The football was exciting.
COMMENTATOR:
Luis Surez creates history.
McAULEY: People were going
to the match now,
expecting Liverpool to win.
COMMENTATOR: Steven Gerrard
is there as well.
And it is Gerrard!
STEVEN: You get the best
feelings in the world.
You feel incredible.
But, like, become obsessed.
Watching TV around it,
reading about it,
talking about it.
Letting all the emotions
build up and build up.
It dominated me life.
COMMENTATOR:
The winners here today.
-Do they win the title?
-I think so.
I think, if City win,
100% certain
I'd say they'd win the title.
Liverpool, I think,
are almost there.
[voice-over]: It was
my first season as a pundit.
A lot of the time,
you're thinking
in the back of your head,
"Why did I retire?
"I've been waiting
me whole life
-to try and lift that trophy."
-[crowd singing]
But it was exciting.
And for Stevie to have that
moment, that coming together,
it just felt
it was meant to be.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER: Please now
join us in observing...
CARRAGHER: And to have the
Hillsborough 25th anniversary
that day, it was just
spine-tingling.
-[whistle blows]
-[cheering and applause]
But City were the title rivals.
We still had to win the game.
[indistinct commentary]
And this now is Liverpool in
with Raheem Sterling.
-Oh, what a goal!
-[crowd cheering]
That's astonishing!
The composure.
Steven Gerrard
with the corner this time.
Left-hand side towards Skrtel!
[cheering]
He scores against
Manchester City yet again.
Martin Skrtel has brought
the Anfield house down.
This is Milner.
It's a lovely ball
by Fernandinho.
It's a classy
Manchester City goal.
It's a wonderful goal
from a really good side.
It's David Silva who scores,
and it is...
Beats his man.
Gives to Milner.
Milner into the box for Silva.
They're just finding gaps
inside Liverpool here.
It's Silva. It's deflected.
-And it's in.
-Oh, it's in! It's in!
-Mignolet is beaten.
-Oh, my God!
-And Manchester City's comeback
is complete. -Unbelievable.
And it's the Manchester City
fans in ecstasy.
It looked like he was
falling backwards.
Well, they got a little bit
unfortunate, Liverpool,
but you have to say...
[commentary continues
indistinctly]
Critical moment of the game.
Critical moment of the season.
Oh, Kompany's miskicked.
Coutinho!
Would you believe it!
The little magician
has come up with something.
[crowd cheering]
It's ten out of ten
for Liverpool.
It has been a Sunday
to remember at Anfield.
Liverpool lengthen their lead
in the title race.
What celebrations here.
They have just cleared
a massive hurdle.
Hey. This does not
fucking slip now!
Listen to me!
This does not fucking slip now!
Listen! Listen!
This is gone!
We go to Norwich--
exactly the same!
We go again!
[indistinct shouting]
[crowd singing]
Yes!
McAULEY:
We were very, very close now.
I would get very emotional,
to be honest.
I get very tearful.
You know, here's a man
at the top of his career,
but I didn't see the man.
I see the boy.
I see Steven Gerrard,
nine, ten years of age.
He felt everything to do
with Liverpool Football Club.
STEVEN: I don't know,
it just had to come out.
It must have had
to come out, and it did.
Because I'd never got
that close.
But then, 48 hours
before this huge game
against Chelsea,
I was panicking,
thinking I wouldn't
be available.
I couldn't get in
and out me car.
I was so stiff and sore
and painful in me back.
You know, I'd basically been
like a pincushion that season
to get out and play in
the amount of games that I did.
Patch me up,
do whatever's needed.
How can you get me pain-free?
What do I need to do
to get pain-free?
'Cause I need to play
in this game.
I have to play in this game,
no matter what.
Realistically,
what I had at the time,
I shouldn't have played.
Shouldn't have played.
But the way I am, it's
everything to get out there.
So I had an epidural in me back
and took tons and tons
of painkillers.
That's what happened
in the build-up to that game.
[crowd cheering]
WILLIAMS:
Manchester City had
all God's gold
to build that team.
And when we beat them,
I think everybody
in the ground felt,
"My God, this is gonna happen."
But you-you daren't even
really think about it.
It was so close,
so tangibly there,
and we're gasping for air
in the city.
CROWD: We're gonna win
the League...
COMMENTATOR:
The time is now for Liverpool.
Destiny awaits the men in red
if they can see the job home.
But today, Chelsea and
Jos Mourinho roll into town.
-[crowd singing]
-What a reception.
What an atmosphere.
It already feels like
one of the big occasions
in this football club's
unique and illustrious history.
Anfield is electric.
Anfield expects.
Can Liverpool produce for them
like they have
-on so many occasions
this season? -[whistle blows]
It's Chelsea
who get us underway,
playing towards the Kop.
That's on for Sterling.
It's a lovely ball.
Johnson joining.
It's beat round the back.
It's Coutinho.
Well, he went first time,
and he just couldn't...
Salah. It's just run
too far ahead of him.
And then Jos Mourinho
picked it up.
And Steven Gerrard and Flanagan
both went running into him
and almost grappled it
out of the palms
-of Jos Mourinho.
-What an idiot. What an idiot.
We're in that three minutes
of added-on time
at the end of the first half.
To Coutinho
in the center circle,
halfway line for Liverpool.
On to Sakho.
Oh, Gerrard slips.
Demba Ba onto it.
Ba against Mignolet here
for Chelsea.
Demba scores!
Chelsea have the lead!
Liverpool nil, Chelsea one.
Steven Gerrard,
the captain, slips,
and Demba Ba has popped up with
another crucial Chelsea goal.
Chelsea lead at Anfield.
Great football in the first
half that they want to see.
-Steven Gerrard of all people.
-And it's Chelsea.
And Demba Ba slipped it
under the goalkeeper.
And it was Gerrard who made it
Liverpool nil, Chelsea one.
[commentary continues
indistinctly]
[crowd singing]
WILLIAMS: I can still
visualize that moment
and the end to that season.
COMMENTATOR: Fernando Torres
looking to score
against his former club.
Time's run out, and it's
a horrible day for Liverpool.
And it's Jos Mourinho...
WILLIAMS: And losing the title
to Manchester City.
It does hurt. It hurts now.
You know,
but that's what football is.
That's why you know
it's important.
But to think and remember that,
of all people,
he'll blame himself
for that moment,
that slip.
That's too cruel.
ALEX: When the goal went in,
I seen him look up,
and I just thought,
"Oh, my God, it's the end."
I just thought,
"He's gonna be broken."
And he was.
He just didn't speak.
And there was nothing
I could say
to make it any better,
because you can't.
McAULEY:
Everybody wants to dream.
But football is a cruel game.
And now, going to see
Liverpool play
was never, ever
going to be the same again,
because that number eight
wasn't going to be there.
INTERVIEWER: Have you read much
of the... the reaction?
STEVEN:
I can't at the moment.
I keep switching
the-the TV over, and...
um, I'm replying to messages
and stuff, but it's tough.
Uh, to be named
in the same company
as some of the legends
and some of the p-people
that I look up to--
I'm nearly going here--
um, it's-it's brilliant.
Especially for, you know,
me dad and...
and me brother and stuff.
You're allowed to be emotional
about it, though.
It's-it... this club has been
such a massive part of...
of your life,
but you've been
such a massive part of...
of all of our lives
and all the supporters' lives.
Yeah, I mean, it's-it's been
a... a fantastic relationship.
So strong, and, um...
I'm one of the luckiest people
in the world to have that.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
Raise your scarves now
to welcome your captain
onto the pitch
for his final game at Anfield.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the one and only
Steven Gerrard!
MOURINHO: I tried
to bring him to Chelsea.
I tried to bring him to Inter.
I tried to bring him
to Real Madrid.
And he was always a dear enemy,
so I-I want to honor him.
Because, in the end,
I think it's an amazing career
and an amazing feeling
with his people
that he refused to play
for other big clubs,
to play only for Liverpool.
And I think this is a feeling
that-that stays...
that stays forever.
CROWD:
Gerrard, Gerrard
He'll pass the ball
40 yard
He's big, red
and fucking hard
Steve Gerrard.
STEVEN:
That was the hardest thing
I've ever had to do, is...
is come away from the club.
Still now,
it hurts to step away from it.
I think it was only fair
on me family
that I come out
of that pressure situation.
Over here's given me
a chance to breathe,
to finish me career
with a smile on me face.
[indistinct shouting]
I played wanting people
to be proud of what I give.
And I think I achieved that.
PAUL: When he left Liverpool,
he just said to me,
"You know, Dad,
I've given it all I could."
I said, "You didn't have
to tell me that.
I've watched it
with me own eyes."
WILLIAMS:
I feel incredibly honored
to have been able
to see him play.
But there are lots of ways
in which people could say
Steven Gerrard's career,
it's not measured up
to what a player of his talent
ought to have had.
I think he'd have
to accept that.
But the thing that he has,
which very few players have,
is the deep love and respect
of people from the city
in which he was born.
And he is an emotional person,
like many people in the city
feel themselves to be.
And so he's part
of that order which says,
"How I feel is more important
than what I win
or what I can earn
somewhere else."
And that's a big message.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd singing]
[indistinct chatter]
[chatter continues]
[whistle blows]
STEVEN:
I've had an incredible journey.
I've had my time.
But I still think I've got
unfinished business,
and I want to give back.
[indistinct chatter]
[players and coaches
groaning and exclaiming]
[indistinct shouting]
I often say to meself,
"Why do you want to go back
into the pressure situation,
and why do you want to go
through all them emotions?"
But I don't feel
that my journey's complete.
We'll see.
["The Prize" by Michael Head
and the Strands playing]
I'm safe and submerged
in my submarine
And the bells from the town
strike three
And it's happening to me
And I grab the prize
The prize was a song
and a lullaby
And I think
that my voice agrees
And you're taking
the west from me
Like the other day
And you're taking
the east from me
Like the other day
Now the race to the dark
is a lonely one
But the things
that pertain to me
For the power
that you bring
Onto thee...
[song fades]