England’s “golden generation” of footballers, a squad bursting with individual talent, often left fans scratching their heads. They promised so much, yet delivered so little on the international stage. Now, one of their most iconic figures, Steven Gerrard, has offered a strikingly honest look back. He recently confessed in a chat with fellow legend Rio Ferdinand that he “hated” the atmosphere surrounding the national team.
Gerrard, a former Liverpool captain, didn’t pull any punches. He explained why that star-studded team never lifted any major trophies. According to him, players carried an “immature hatred” from their fierce club rivalries right into the national team camps. This baggage, he believes, directly impacted the team’s performance on the pitch.
“I think we were all a group of defeated egoists,” Gerrard stated, reflecting on those days. He then painted a vivid picture of the irony. “Today, I watch Carragher sitting next to Paul Scholes on TV, debating, and they look like best friends for 20 years. I see Carragher with Gary Neville, and they also seem like old pals.” Gerrard even noted his own current friendship with Ferdinand. “I’m probably closer to you now than we were 15 years ago when we played together.”
This made him wonder out loud about their past. “So, why didn’t we connect with each other 20 years ago? Was it ego? Was it rivalry? Why are we all more mature now?” He believes the answer lay in the very culture of the national team setup back then. “We weren’t a team. We were just a bunch of talented individuals. When you have that, things simply don’t work out.”
The environment was clearly far from ideal for Gerrard. “I hated it. I didn’t enjoy it,” he admitted. There were days, he recalled, when he felt incredibly low. “I’d be thinking, ‘I’ve been in this room for seven hours, what am I going to do?'” This feeling of isolation was a heavy burden.
It wasn’t that Gerrard disliked representing his country, quite the opposite. “I loved the games. I enjoyed playing for England. I felt proud. I loved the training sessions, but that was only 90 minutes a day.” He then emphasized the problem: “After that, I was alone. I didn’t feel part of the team; I didn’t feel connected to my teammates.”
The root of the issue, he concluded, was bringing those intense club rivalries into the national team setting. “There was bitterness, a bit of hatred.” Looking back now, with the wisdom of age and his experience as a coach, he calls it “a bit immature.” Gerrard also feels the coaching staff should have intervened more. “There should have been more emphasis from the staff to tell us, ‘Listen, you need to forget that for now.'”
He believes they needed a different approach right from the start. “We needed to connect from day one. We needed more activities, more time outside our rooms, more time together.” Gerrard is convinced this shift would have made a huge difference. “Because if we had been more of a team, more together, if we liked each other more, I think that would have shown up more clearly in our performances.” His words offer a poignant reflection on what could have been.