Gerrard Tribute

So Gerrard has ended all speculation and announced that he will be leaving his lifelong club at the end of this season.

Where do you start in a tribute to Steven Gerrard?

The tributes are already pouring in from fans, players and pundits and over the next few days thousands upon thousands of words will be written about him by far more accomplished journalists and writers than myself. But I couldn't let this moment pass without penning a few words.

Terms like legend get bandied about far too much these days, but there is absolutely no doubt that Steven Gerrard is a legend, not just of Liverpool Football Club but the modern world game. You only need to look at some of the plaudits he has received from players like Kaka, Totti and Zidane to know that.

For me he is the greatest Liverpool player to have ever played for the club. Now I know that many will point towards Dalglish, Rush and Liddell and that is understandable but for me and my generation, no one comes close to Gerrard as being the best player I have ever seen at Anfield. He may not have won what Dalglish, Rush and others of that generation have won but at times he has single handedly dragged Liverpool Football Club through some of the worst periods in our recent history and won countless games for us on his own. The fact that he will never win a league medal for Liverpool is one of the most upsetting things to have to deal with as a Liverpool fan, but no one can ever take away what he has won... especially the European Cup, of which the story we all know so well. Add to that the FA Cup winners medal in 2006 with which he won with perhaps his greatest ever goal.

Trying to pick out his best moments is almost impossible... there are genuinely so many to mention, Olympiakos... Istanbul... the 4-1 at Utd... the West Ham Cup Final... scoring countless brilliant Derby goals.

Some of the talk around Gerrard being past it of late has been moronic, we have all known that he is nearing the end of the career but the modern game and support breeds such inane knee jerk opinion which makes you utterly depressed about not just football in the modern era but society itself. Gerrard has shown again this season that he is still a class above the majority of players in Europe. You only need to remind yourself of the Basle free kick or his inability to miss from the penalty spot to see that. He is still playing passes that most players could only dream of playing at 24, let alone 34, Gerard Houllier summed him up in one word - class. It is almost the perfect word for him. He is a class act on and off the pitch. Considering some of the horrific abuse and threats he has had to endure in the past and more recently, he has always remained 100% professional, calm and dignified. He is a true inspiration not only to young footballers today, but to all of us.

I am honest terrified at the prospect of Liverpool without him, forget what he does on the pitch I think his influence off it and in and around the dressing room will be missed just as keenly. We are now entering an era where loyalty means nothing in football, where no player is likely to ever play their whole career at one club again, where local, home grown talent is dying out.

It is virtually impossible to articulate what Steven Gerrard means to Liverpool and what he means to me. Quite simply there will never be a player or a man like him again in football.