Four months since he played his final game for Liverpool, Steven Gerrard has still not quite got over leaving the club he joined as a boy.
The former England captain has admitted he would would have stayed had he been offered the chance to join Brendan Rodgers’s backroom staff.
Gerrard left Liverpool for a new challenge in MLS with Los Angeles Galaxy. Yet the 35-year-old says he would have been content to play a bit-part role for another season has he been included in the Anfield coaching set-up.
“Ability-wise, I could still play but physically I couldn’t play every game at my age,” Gerrard told the Daily Mail. “I didn’t enjoy being sub last season. I didn’t enjoy not knowing if I would be in the XI or not.
“I might be contradicting myself here but what would have kept me at Liverpool into this season was the chance of shadowing Brendan Rodgers and his staff as well as playing. Those ideas were only mentioned to me after I had announced I was leaving.
“I don’t know if I am going to be good enough to be a manager, or a No1, No2, No3 or No4. Liverpool replaced coaches Colin Pascoe and Mike Marsh in the summer, so they were looking for a new No2 or No3, or No4. I would have been tailor-made to fill one of these roles as well as making myself available as a squad player.
“I could have been a good squad player, a good sub, as well as getting management experience that money can’t buy.”
The former England midfielder admitted that he still misses the thrill and intensity of playing in the Premier League.
“Yeah, I do miss it. I miss everything about it,” he added. “When I switch on the TV and see the stadiums, with 50, 60, 70,000 people – the aggression, the intensity, the tension; I am jealous. I miss the buildup, competing with better players, I miss being Steven Gerrard, Liverpool captain, and walking out in front of my people with that pressure and trying to get a result for them.
“As much I am enjoying it out here, with a fresh challenge, I’d like nothing better than being 25 again and with 10 years ahead of me in the Premier League, playing for Liverpool, but I’ve had my time.”
