England’s golden generation were egotistical losers, says St...

Steven Gerrard has described himself and the other stars of England’s so-called golden generation as “egotistical losers” who could not see beyond club-level rivalries and did not deliver on their potential because of an unfriendly environment.

The former Liverpool captain, speaking as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, also admitted that he hated being away with the England squad. Gerrard won 114 caps, the first of them coming in 2000, and he appeared at six major tournaments. Yet success eluded him, with one of the major issues being the cliques from Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Gerrard had Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher with him from Liverpool while the United set featured Ferdinand, Gary Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney. From Chelsea there was Ashley Cole, John Terry and Frank Lampard.

Gerrard struggled to dovetail in midfield with Lampard, while Scholes also failed to fit in. There was a problem with the system, Gerrard said, with a central midfield two not working. But the problems ran deeper than that.

“I think we were all egotistical losers,” Gerrard said. “Because I watch the telly now and I see Carragher sitting next to Scholes on this fan debate and they look like they’ve been best mates for 20 years. And I see Carragher’s relationship with Neville and they look like they’ve been mates for 20 years.

“I’m probably more close and friendly with you [Ferdinand] now than I ever was when I played with you for 15 years. So why didn’t we connect when we were 20, 21, 22, 23? Was it ego? Was it rivalry?

“Why are we all mature enough now and at stages in our life where we’re closer and more connected? Why couldn’t we connect as England teammates back then? I think it was down to the culture within England that we were all never connected. All in our rooms too much. We weren’t friendly or connected. We weren’t a team. We never at any stage became a real good strong team.”

Gerrard was asked by Ferdinand whether he enjoyed being in the England squad. “I hated it,” he said. “I hated the rooms. In my early days, I’d have days where I was down, like low down. ‘I’m in this room for seven hours, what am I going to do?’ I used to love the games. I used to love playing for England. Really proud. I used to enjoy the training sessions but it was 90 minutes a day. And then I was just on my own in London or Romania or wherever.

“It was like I didn’t feel part of a team. I didn’t feel connected with my teammates with England. I just wanted the games and the training sessions and then to be away.”

Ferdinand put it to Gerrard that there was an “underlying bitterness” between the players. “Yeah, bitterness, a little bit of hatred,” Gerrard said. “It’s a bit immature. But also there should have been more emphasis on the staff to go to us: ‘Listen, you need to forget that now. We need to connect from day one – more activities, more out of your rooms, more time together.’ Because I think if we’d have been more of a team, more together and liked each other more, it would have come out in the performances more.”

Gerrard also discussed his career as a manager, lamenting how his time at Aston Villa ended in 2022 when he could not “pull it back because you know that the dressing room is maybe not going to help you pull it back … That was tough.” He said he had “unfinished business” as a manager, having left Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq in January, and that he would jump at the right opportunity. He is under strong consideration for a return to Rangers, where he started out in management, after the sacking of Russell Martin.

“There’s a part of me that still feels that there’s a bit of unfinished business in terms of wanting to go in and face another couple of exciting challenges,” Gerrard said. “But I want a certain type of challenge. If, in an ideal world, they come available, I’ll jump at them. If they don’t, I won’t go back in.”