It's 3.30 in the morning. It's my wife's birthday. I am sitting in the living room with her and a bunch of her friends who had travelled a great deal to be with her on her day. It's an absolutely wonderful atmosphere filled with love and laughter. I log in to facebook to see updates that her friends had posted for her and yet I coudn't but notice that my newsfeed is filled with one name, Steven Gerrard. I had a few rounds of my favorite Scotch Whiskey on the rocks, I am a little high but I coudn't help but pen this piece on my captain. Honestly I don't want to be left out when all my friends supporting the great Liverpool Football Club is writing their tributes for their recently retired talisman even though he hung up his boots some thousand miles away from his home at Anfield. That's what my captain means to me. No matter the situation my captain makes me to write about him. My captain, the great Steven Gerrard. The laughter in my living room is not a distraction, not even close. I am in my own world now. My wife is in her own world and she doesn't mind either.
Growing up in a country in an era that idolises individuals rather than the team, it was academic for me to follow a superstar when I first started following football. To be frank, it wasn't Steven Gerrard of Liverpool that captivated me, but that smiling assasin and the coolest and the greatest striker to have ever played, Alan Shearer. The knack for goal even with his back turned and that raised hand celebration simply captivated me. My first hero in Liverpool wasn't the all action midfielder either, it was another smiling albeit a bit selfish assasin, Michael Owen. How can a player be so cool when surrounded by 5 other opposition players in the box, I asked myself. Yet beyond all the fascination rose a man who did something to me that even those two greats couldn't do! He made me follow the beautiful game for the rest of my life. That you Steven Geroge Gerrard. He is my hero, my captain, my leader, my inspiration and he epitomized everything that I come to love about Football.
Enough was said about THAT Champions League campaign which included the oh so repeated Olymiakos goal, HIS FA Cup final at Cardiff and his loyalty to his boyhood club. But beyond all this I have come to love a man whose earliest memory of him that I had was a celebration after scoring a goal against that had him ignore his teammates and point towards himself as if to make a point that he is the man. I asked myself, who is this arrogant and selfish guy? Little did I know!!!
I was fortunate enough to see Tendulkar play, bailing India out of a situation day in and day out. I had never imagined another sports person who was as dedicated to the sport and team he played for and that too in a sport as team oriented as football. It just so happened that he played in a team like Liverpool, that most family like club that you would ever see. It just fits. A club like family and a homegrown player to lead them out of the tunnel. Looking back now and there is only one fitting explanation for his brief flirtation with Chelsea, that he is human after all. Perhaps England would have benefitted from the two icons forming a formidable partnership both at Stamford Bridge and Wembley. But the legend was well and truly born when he told Rick Parry to remove the release clause from his contract after much media speculation that put an ever so small dent on that glorious return from Istanbul.
He was there you know, pretty much everywhere. He was there with that spectacular goal against Manchester United. He was there with THAT celebration against Everton so early in his career that put them in their place. He didn't want to wake up in the Europa League, so he was there with "Gerraaaaard! What the hit son, What a hit!". "European Champions and this time it's for keeps" happened because he rose against everybody to head in that captain's goal. He had no energy but still conjured a "Gerrard Oh! Ohhhhhh!" to pull an absolute rabbit out of the hat and a celebration that made us say "We know the name Son!" Steven Gerrard and Andy Gray (An Evertonian of all people!) are football's version of Sachin Tendulkar and Tony Grieg. They made each other's carrers in more ways than one.
That he managed to do all this for 19 years with only three years of world class teams around him in the treble winning season, the title chasing teams lead by the brilliance of Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez makes his that more special. Not to reign on his parade but I wonder how much Frank Lampard would have dragged and achieved with an underachieving Chelsea team. Perhaps Zizu was right after all! He must just be up there with those two aliens who are playing in Spain right now.
It is heartening to see that despite giving his life for the club, there is more he wants to offer for the club in a managerial role. Some people just don't know when to stop, do they! I really can't put a finger to why I support this great club. But I am greatful I did because I got to follow a man who continues to inspire me as a leader, even in my obscure job officiating a bank branch in a small town in northern Tamilnadu. The lives he can touch! Purely on a footballing perspective we may never find another Gerrard, Carragher. Totti, Maldini, Terry, Scholes, Giggs and the likes. Perhaps Harry Kane if Tottenham can keep up. It was a pleasure to have watched football during their times. The time of Men rather than the "brace my hair and I will fall down holding my knee and crying like a baby" footballers of today.
When I used to frequent a self-order cafe, I used to always pick token no 8 whenever it is available because it is his jersey number. Then for a birthday, a friend of mine made a puzzle that answer for which the answer is No 8 and the gift was with the cafe manager who was holding the token. That's how I rememeber my captain. By talking about him even to non football loving people. I will remember him everytime I type in my password. I will remember Steven Gerrard, for the rest of my life as the best footballer I have ever witnessed. And I will make sure that in all the footballing conversations that I will ever have, I will hold that thought. That will be my tribute to him.
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