Should it now be King Stevie of Anfield?
Behind the headlines
THE announcement that Steven Gerrard was hanging up his boots was no real surprise.
After 710 appearances for Liverpool, 114 for England and 38 for LA Galaxy, that was it. Done.
Leaving aside the obvious question of what happens next – will he go back to Liverpool, will he settle for the TV studio, or will he take up the FA’s long-standing interest in involving him in the England set-up? The opportunity to examine his career has sparked a passionate debate.
Is Kenny Dalglish still Liverpool’s greatest-ever player? Or does Gerrard now have claim to that title.
For me it’s always been King Kenny. The clue’s in the name. Few of us who witnessed his 502 games, his 179 goals, his 16 major trophies ever had a doubt.
But examine the facts more closely and it’s not so cut and dried.
Stevie won only half Kenny’s trophies. But when he won one he was the stand-out player by a distance.
When Gerrard turned around the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul among his team-mates were Djimi Traore, Steve Finnan, Harry Kewell, Milan Baros and Luis Garcia. On the bench were Josemi, Antonio Nunez, Igor Biscan, Djibril Cisse and Scott Carson.
When Kenny was winning his three European Cups, he got a bit of help from Ian Rush, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson, Phil Neal, Ray Clemence, Phil Thompson, Ronnie Whelan and many others who were club legends in their own right.
Kenny looked great in great teams. Stevie looked great in mediocre teams.
Sure, Gerrard had top-quality assistance at various times during his Liverpool career.
Ferndando Torres was the best striker in Europe for a season, Luis Suarez the same. Michael Owen was brilliant in his pomp.
But Gerrard never had the numerical support that Kenny had. Ultimately, he always ended up shouldering the lion’s share of the burden himself.
The team was so strong when Kenny was playing that they could have won many of those 16 trophies without him. Without Stevie, Liverpool would have probably won nothing.
Factor in that Gerrard was local, came through the ranks, scored more goals even though he was a midfielder and served as a player for longer and you can make a case for him being the club’s greatest.
I’m old enough to have seen the start and end of both players’ Liverpool careers and I thought Kenny would always be No.1. Now I’m not so sure.