Insider Sport’s Matchday Programme offers a personal look at what sporting moments and figures have inspired industry stakeholders. Through candid reflections, the programme delves into the stories behind the inspirations that have shaped their perspectives and fuelled their passion for sports.
In this edition, sports writer Andy Davies reflects on his childhood sports hero, Steven Gerrard. As a lifelong Liverpool fan, Davies highlights Gerrard’s ability to inspire the team in difficult moments, particularly recalling his unforgettable performance in the 2006 FA Cup Final, known as “The Gerrard Final.”
Which athlete do you think demonstrated the best winning mentality throughout their career?
I think it has to be Tom Brady. To keep going until his mid-40s and win Super Bowls still being an integral cog to his team is unheard of in sports.
The amount of care he took for his body in order to win is unmatched by anyone besides perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo.
Who was your childhood sports hero and why? Which of their sporting achievements had the biggest impact on you?
Steven Gerrard. As a lifelong Liverpool fan who was born in 1995, I got to see 90% of his playing career in front of my eyes. He is Mr Liverpool. Whenever we were down and out, he would always find a way to bring us back into a game at a time when we did not win as many trophies as years gone by.
Whilst he never won the Premier League, he won everything else there was to win. There is no sports personality that I look back on with more memories than the ones Gerrard gave me.
I would say the FA Cup final win over West Ham in 2006 had the biggest impact on me. I was 10 when we won the Champions League a year earlier and some memories are a bit foggy, whereas I remember the whole day of that final.
It was nicknamed “The Gerrard Final” for a reason. It is easily the best game of his career, assisting once and scoring twice. This includes what still stands as my favourite goal of all time (Apologies Hal Robson-Kanu). Losing 3-2 as the added time is announced at 90 minutes. A second or two later, he unleashed an absolute thunderbolt. Some goal!
What sports team do you follow the closest? Is this a family team or local side etc, and what has been the biggest moment in your history of supporting this club?
It would have to be Liverpool. The Miami Dolphins run them close, but it will always be Liverpool Football Club that remains closest to my heart.
I always get a lot of stick for being from South Wales and being a Liverpool fan but I always counteract it with the fact my dad forced them on me when I was seven years old and I had no concept of “Support your local” or the word glory hunter, despite only seeing four trophies for the first 17 years of being a fan of the team.
The biggest moment in my time as a fan was the 2005 Champions League comeback win against AC Milan. However, my favourite moment was finally seeing us lift the Premier League trophy.
After seeing my brother, who is a Manchester United fan, watch his team win league title after league title, the idea of seeing Liverpool win a Premier League title was always an obsession to me. I am still not over the Gerrard slip in 2014 and after earning 97 points in 2019 and not winning the league, I thought I may never see the team win the league.
It seemed finally like it was time for the drought to end, and even though we were 20 points or more clear, I never felt it was ours to lose, arguably a result of many heartbreaks to both Manchester clubs.
Covid then struck and after it seemed all but done, there was extreme panic that we were not going to win the league because of a global pandemic. The word “Null and Void” was a constant Google search for me from March 2020 to the moment that the government announced football was back.
When Chelsea beat Manchester City to secure us the title, it didn’t sink in. That soon changed when we played Chelsea in our final game and got to lift the Premier League trophy.
Seeing Jordan Henderson lift the trophy was a moment I look back on with the fondest of memories. Whilst there may have been no fans in the stadium, that did not bother me one bit. To be able to watch it at home, with my Dad by my side, the sole person responsible for me being a fan, is a memory that will live with me for the rest of my life.
Is there a team manager from any sport, whether that be football, rugby, NFL, NBA etc, who you think demonstrated the best leadership qualities?
I hate to say it as a Liverpool fan, but Sir Alex Ferguson.
He knew exactly what buttons to press for each player, what each individual required to perform at the top level. It shows your leadership skills when players who are not getting any games are happy to be on the bench. He had a way of making every player feel important and his trophy haul is living proof of his success.
What sports tournament do you think consistently provides the biggest thrills? Which moment from this league stood out to you the most in recent memory?
The World Cup. The NFL playoffs deserve an honourable mention but the World Cup is the World Cup. Nothing beats it.
It has to be the World Cup final in 2022 between France and Argentina as Lionel Messi finally won the World Cup. It was such a topsy-turvy game. I have not had a thrill as a neutral as big as when Kylian Mbappe scored the equaliser to make it 2-2. It was bone-tingling.
If you could travel back in time to any historic sporting moment to watch it then and now, which would it be and why?
The New York Giants’ Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42. I love an underdog story and this is right up there. I was not an NFL fan back in the 2007 season and as a Dolphins fan, I would have loved to have watched this one live.
Not only was it a division rival losing as the heavy favourite, but it also stopped them going the whole season unbeaten, which would have meant that the Dolphins would have no longer been the only team with an undefeated record.
I can just picture what it would have been like to witness the David Tyree helmet catch in a sports bar.
If you could go out for dinner with any sporting figure, current or historical, who would it be and what would you want to learn from them?
You may have guessed it, Steven Gerrard. I would like to learn about the experiences he felt in those big moments, whether this is West Ham, AC Milan or Olympiacos.
To read the last edition of the Matchday Programme, featuring Chris Newbold, Director at Vision4Sport, who shared his admiration for Tiger Woods, praising his unmatched winning mentality, click here.
