Darbs is one of the most genuine pros I’ve shared a dressing room with … we’re all here for him

IT was Tuesday afternoon when I was told the horrible news. For those moments, as I tried to digest what had been said, nothing else mattered.

as soon as I heard the words ‘stephen Darby has retired’ and the explanation that followed, I went cold. Even now, as I’m putting my thoughts together, I still find it difficult to understand that something so devastating could happen to someone as young as 29.

There is a reason so many people have come out in the days since to speak with such warmth and emotion about stephen, who is trying to comprehend that his career is over due to the dreadful diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

stephen is one of the most genuine young professionals with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a dressing room. I’m not for a minute attempting to suggest we are best friends, but what I want to do is give an insight into why he is held in such high regard.

The first time I met him was not long after I joined Liverpool in 2005. stephen was captain of the youth team — he would go on to lead them to back-to-back wins in the Fa Youth Cup in 2006 and 2007 — and, off the pitch, he was quite quiet.

when some kids get a sniff of the first team at a big club, you see them change. They can become big-time, especially so if they happen to be captain of the youth team. stephen, though, was a diamond. He was humble and unassuming and never a moment’s bother.

Perhaps the best way to describe him would be to say he was a born leader. Others had more talent, but nobody could beat him in terms of commitment and that’s why he had the respect of the older professionals immediately. we could all see how much he wanted it.

He was 18 when he first joined in training with us at Melwood — you knew he was around with the full-blooded tackles he made — and he took it in his stride.

Darbs was steady and had an old head on young shoulders. He was always keen to get advice and ultra- professional in his approach.

If you wanted to compare him to someone, a good example would be James Milner. what sticks with me most from our time together was his desperation to play for Liverpool.

He was on the edge while I was at anfield, but he finally got the chance in December 2009 in the Champions League.

I know he only made another handful of appearances, but let’s be straight — you do not play for Liverpool just because you work hard. You need talent — and stephen had it.

He forged a fine career for himself at Bradford — playing for them in the 2013 League Cup final — and, latterly, Bolton.

It doesn’t seem right writing about his career in the past tense. I’m 37 and intend to play for as long as I possibly can. The thought of having to pack in one day is not something I want to consider, so for stephen to be

forced into finishing at 29 is something i find difficult to get my head around.

What is even more difficult to comprehend is the explanation.

at 29, you are in the peak years of your performance but you are also really at the beginning of your life and stephen only recently married his fiancee, the england women’s captain steph houghton. nobody will be able to appreciate what he and those closest to him are experiencing at this moment.

i honestly don’t know how you take something like this on board and i can only hope going forward that stephen has the best quality of life possible.

in this age of social media, it is easy to punch out a phrase ‘thoughts are with the family’ when something bad occurs, and at times it is insincere. What i have seen since tuesday, however, leaves me in no doubt about the way people think of stephen.

i hope he knows that lots of people, particularly those who have worked alongside him, are fully behind him and ready to offer support. if, for instance, a game is staged for him at anfield in the future, all the boys would get together. You would only have to say the word and i’d be there. THE story of the season so far in the Championship has come from Elland Road. Leeds are unbeaten after eight games and favourites to get back into the Premier League. It’s been fascinating to watch the early days of their play under Marcelo Bielsa. I knew he was idolised by Mauricio Pochettino, among others, but when we played them on the opening day, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Since beating us 3-1, they haven’t looked back. The way he has got them playing is class and the level of intensity they showed in our game was remarkable. If they can maintain that level for the rest of the season, they really will be difficult to stop. My concern, though, would be