When Steven Gerrard was recently named Liverpool’s greatest player of all time, he was the only player in the top 10 not to have a league title to his name.
That his legacy is preserved despite lacking that honour to his name underlines how his performances across 710 appearances for the club, and eight other trophies won, are revered by supporters.
Ask any Liverpool supporter who the one player is who deserved to have won the league; it’s Gerrard, unquestionably. But that shouldn’t be just from a Liverpool perspective, either: Gerrard is simply the best player to have never won the Premier League.
The two chances
There were two occasions when Gerrard did almost get his hands on the Premier League trophy, 2008/09 and 2013/14.
The first was, at the time, Liverpool’s highest league points total, having suffered just two defeats all season as Gerrard combined with Fernando Torres in blistering fashion under Rafa Benitez.
The second was, of course, as Gerrard and Luis Suarez inspired Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool to a completely unexpected title run, pushing Man City all the way thanks to a run of 11 consecutive victories - something that gets forgotten when revisiting the infamous Gerrard slip against Chelsea.
If a Liverpool supporter could have a magic genie lamp to change the result of any match in their history, the defeat to Chelsea in that April of 2014 would be right among the list, if not the top one.
That was meant to be the year that Gerrard got his deserved title, inspiring his team from a new position deeper in midfield, with the virtuoso duo of Suarez and Daniel Sturridge feeding off his ball-playing from deep.
It was a season when the then-34-year-old delivered his second-highest league goals tally and his highest league assists tally.
“This does not f**king slip now,” Gerrard infamously bellowed, his passion and emotion so clearly on display after a dramatic and emotional 3-2 win over City in April that put the Reds top of the table with four games remaining, but with City having two games in hand.
This was his destiny. The perfect end to his Liverpool career. What he'd earned and what he deserved.
That Gerrard came so close to inspiring a Liverpool side that had Jon Flanagan and Aly Cissokho as regular full-backs tells the story of his career.
Alas, Liverpool’s greatest player was denied the title, and the following season the shock from that title loss enveloped the club. It felt like the fans and players were emotionally shot by how it had ended. People within the club admitted as much, and Gerrard announced his departure in January the following season. It wasn’t how it was meant to end.
No wonder Jurgen Klopp spoke of the need to turn doubters to believers and the weight of history upon his arrival 16 months later.
Even two years later, watching Leicester City win the title, taking nothing away from them, you couldn’t help think how Wes Morgan was a title-winning captain, but Gerrard wasn’t. The hurt lingered.
The 2014 asterisk title
Of course, the 2014 title is one of the asterisk titles now, following City being found guilty of 114 charges relating to the period from 2009 to 2018.
Such findings have led to speculation over what will happen when punishment is finally delivered. Whether City will be stripped of their titles, nobody yet knows. But there is precedent from Italy when Juventus were stripped of their 2004 title following the Calciopoli scandal. Officially, no team is recognised as champions of Serie A consequently.
That would likely be the case if the Premier League were to make a similar verdict, but it doesn’t and won’t stop the supporters, players and all involved in trophy challenges with City from feeling aggrieved.
“I still feel cheated,” was Tony Pulis’ reaction to the news - he was Stoke manager when City beat them in the FA Cup final in 2011. He added: “I am sure people connected with the other clubs affected by City’s successes in the same period, between 2009 and 2018, do too.”
Klopp’s Liverpool legacy
Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright accurately assessed the situation, although highlighting Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool - whose title battles with City currently sit outside of the investigation - with Klopp’s team having finished second in 2019 and 2022.
“When you look at the teams who were trying to chase them and were doing it right, it's not right,” says Wright. "What have we taken from Liverpool's legacy, [Jurgen] Klopp and that team? What could they have experienced?
"They [City] cheated to get it done, and people have missed out on that. Players have missed out on unbelievable opportunities for themselves, so I'm glad that we've finally got there.”
While the two second-place finishes, with 97 points and 92 points, aren’t part of the current investigation, they were clearly indirectly affected also. It is the equivalent of getting rich through illicit means, then going straight but reaping the rewards of the illegally acquired finances.
So yes, Klopp was directly denied two more titles. His legacy would be entirely different. He was fighting against a club that had been put into a superior position via illegal methods.
In an interview in 2019, Klopp was discussing legacy, winning trophies, and how life is judged, astutely surmising that “all the other guys who won with ignoring all the rules, all the laws, I think they have to use another door.”
Thankfully, Liverpool supporters recognise what Klopp achieved and what he was up against, and his legacy is and will always be remembered as much more than delivering just one league title.
Just as Gerrard’s legacy is much more than his honours list shows, too.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel cheated. Every team and supporter involved in the Premier League over the past almost two decades should be sincerely aggrieved.
“It's not so important what people think when you come in, it's much more important what people think when you leave,” said Klopp in his first Liverpool press conference.
His team will be remembered differently, as will City’s era of success.
