Steven Gerrard: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:04, 18 May 2006

Revision as of 21:47, 18 May 2006

Line 58:

To the delight of Liverpool fans, Gerrard changed his mind the next day and pledged his future to the club [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/4654837.stm]. He also apologised to the club's supporters and insisted that there were no get-out clauses in the new contract that he would be signing. He also offered to give up his captaincy, but was told by Rafael Benitez that it was not necessary. On the morning of [[8 July]], Gerrard signed a new four-year deal with Liverpool alongside teammate, [[Jamie Carragher]].

To cap Gerrard's great year in the Champions' League he was named as [[UEFA]]'s Most Valuable Player for the 2004/05 Champions' League season. He was also in the running for [[France|French]] sport newspaper [[L'Equipe|L'Equipe's]] prestigious [[Ballon D'Or]] award. He finished second behind Barcelona's [[Ronaldinho]] and ahead of England team-mate [[Frank Lampard]] who finished third. Rounding out 2005, Gerrard came third in the [[BBC Sports Personality of the Year]] behind [[Ellen MacArthur]] (second) and [[Andrew Flintoff|Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff]] (first).

At the end of the 2005/06 season Gerrard received his greatest personal accolade to date, when he was voted [[PFA Player of the Year]] by his fellow players. He was the first Liverpool player to win the award since [[John Barnes (football player)|John Barnes]] in 1988.