England’s Golden Generation were ‘egotistical losers’ – Gerrard

Former England captain Steven Gerrard says he sometimes “hated” being on international duty and blames a lack of success with the Three Lions on key players being “egotistical losers”.

Gerrard, 45, won 114 caps and played at six major tournaments as part of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ without reaching a semi-final.

The ex-Liverpool skipper believes an England manager should have been able to play him with Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and Manchester United’s Paul Scholes in a successful midfield.

Gerrard, who played his full career in England with Liverpool before a final season at LA Galaxy, says players at the time were too reluctant to mix with team-mates who played for rival clubs.

Speaking as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Gerrard said: “We were all egotistical losers.

“I watch the telly now and I see Jamie Carragher sitting next to Paul Scholes and they look like they’ve been best mates for 20 years.

“And I see Carragher’s relationship with Gary 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 [for England].

“So why didn’t we connect when we were 20, 21, 22, 23? Was it ego? Was it rivalry?

Gerrard played for England for 14 years under five full-time managers, beginning with Kevin Keegan and ending with Roy Hodgson at the 2014 World Cup.

He captained England 38 times – the sixth-most – and while he loved playing for his country, says no manager got the culture around the squad correct.

“I hated it. I didn’t enjoy it. Hated the [hotel] rooms,” he said.

“In my early days, I’d have days where I was down, like low down. Like I’m in this room for seven hours, what am I going to do?

“There was no social media, we didn’t have a DVD player or anything. Channel 1 to 5 or whatever it was on TV. I used to get low and down.

“I used to love the games. I used to love playing for England. I was really proud. I used to enjoy the training sessions but it was 90 minutes a day. And then I was just on my own.

“I didn’t feel part of a team. I didn’t feel connected with my team-mates with England.

After years of international disappointments, England reached the World Cup semi-final in 2018 before back-to-back Euros finals under Gareth Southgate.

Southgate has been widely lauded for fostering a better culture and atmosphere inside the squad, with players seeming to get on better no matter who they play for.

His replacement Thomas Tuchel leads his current squad against Wales and Latvia this week, with the German saying he wants strong team spirit in his squad.

Gerrard said: “Gareth Southgate is underrated for how he connected with the England team.

“Because for me, the talent was there [in my time]. The players were there. The level of games we were all playing at was there to go and do better than what we did.

“We had a little bit of bad luck with penalties or whatever. We have to take responsibility, but I’ve got a big frustration when I look back at England that we never did better.