Steven Gerrard exclusive interview: The full transcript

“The city is amazing. You know there are a lot of things to do. Myself and my family are really enjoying that time. It is a new experience. I have been in Liverpool the majority of my life but the last three-four months have been new and fresh and we are certainly enjoying ourselves, but thanks to the club and LA Galaxy for helping us settle so quickly.”

“The supporters have made me feel very welcome and the staff and the players have made me feel very welcome. It’s a great little club; it’s a club that’s moving forward and growing all the time and they gave me a very special welcome. I’ve settled in really well.”

“It was simple: I didn’t want to compete against Liverpool. Liverpool is my team, the team that I love, the team that I will always support for the rest of my life. And I was at that stage at that age where the manager, Brendan Rodgers, was playing me less and less; I was missing big games on the bench. That’s not what I enjoy – it’s not the Steven Gerrard I want to be – so I thought the time was right to try something new, something different.”

“He said to me, make sure you come here and enjoy the experience. The club is very good. He spoke really well about the level in the team, in the staff. He said to me it will be a very good experience for myself and my family and he was right.”

“I don’t compare myself to David Beckham. We are two different people. Of course I played with him and I am a big fan of him as a player – I am also a big friend of him – but we are different players so I won’t compare my time to David’s. He helped the MLS grow an awful lot more than I will because he is much more famous than me. Her is more of an A-list celebrity. I am not.”

“Bruce is another great manager. You know I have been very lucky and fortunate in my career to work with some world-class managers. I’m certainly enjoying my time with Bruce and I am still learning at 35 years each day and I have got a good strong relationship with him and he has helped me a lot. Hopefully that relationship is going to keep getting stronger and stronger. All the managers I have played with, you know I always had a good relationship on the pitch with. And I had other managers I had a good relationship off the pitch with as well; one or two maybe not so strong but that is life.”

“My responsibility here in the dressing room is to help the younger players. It is one of the reasons why Bruce was keen for me to come with my experience, I’ve got the responsibility to try to help the young players to grow and improve and I am trying to do that.”

“It’s a lot better than I initially thought. A lot of people talk about the MLS, about the level, but for me a lot of them are wrong. Until you come here and sample it yourself, you see how strong it is and how fit and professional the players are. Every single game is a different challenge, certainly on the road you come up against places and teams where it is very hot and very humid; some teams play on astroturf. So each game is very tricky and very difficult. The games at home, we’ve had a very strong team and we’ve enjoyed some really strong performances.”

“I think it is trying to improve in every area, and that’s the reason why I have confidence and belief that it can keep continuing to grow. It is a great brand and a lot people put in great time and effort to improve the brand and improve the league. You know a lot of TV channels all around the world have started to follow the MLS. A lot of big players from Europe have come over to try and strengthen the league. I am sure with time it will be continuing to grow and become a lot stronger.”

“I think you can only judge it with the national team. I think that in the last tournaments the US national team have done fantastically well. Certainly the males, and certainly the females who are flying at the moment. I think the idea that is to keep trying to grow the brand and to grow the League, so that they can keep attracting young players as well as experienced players. But if people think they can come here just to have a holiday and retire, they are going to have a mistake because they won’t perform well and they won’t do their team justice because I have had to come here and work hard and get fit, make sure that I keep performing to play well.”

“I think short term is to win the MLS Cup and it is to come back next season and to have another crack at the MLS Cup. I judge myself on what the team achieves. If I have a fantastic season and we don’t win any trophies, for me, it is a disaster. I’d rather play for the team. If we win the trophy then I can go home happy.”

“I’ve retired from the national team so I don’t have to go and prove myself in Europe. I need to get some rest because I’ve got a very long season ahead next year, so it’s very important I come back strong, rested and ready to go again.”

“I think it’d be fantastic to win the league over here but it certainly wouldn’t make amends for finishing second three times. They were very frustrating and disappointing moments and experiences I’ll never forget. But certainly the plan and the target for me, and the dream, is to try and become champion in the USA.”

“I have to look at myself and the team and take responsibility for not being a champion in England, but of course the Premier League is very difficult, because every year two people – Mr Abramovich and the Sheikh at Manchester City – they pile in fortunes of money every single year so for clubs like Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal it becomes much more difficult. I think it is more level here, and more balanced. I’m not complaining, it’s the rules. It’s just the way it is.”

“Yes, I miss being Steven Gerrard, the captain of Liverpool, the captain of England, being 25 and in the prime of my career, when I was really feeling strong and powerful, wishing I could play a game every single day because I have tonnes and tonnes of energy. With age and the way life is, with experience, of course you move on and you come to the end and things change. But of course I miss Liverpool football club. You know, I been there since eight years of age, but I am certainly enjoying this new challenge over in LA and I am happy.”

“I want to stay involved in the game and maybe do some media work. I also have aspirations to get involved in coaching and the management side of it, but that is all ifs and buts – nothing is concrete so I will have to wait and see. I have already started to get the badges, the licences to be qualified to become a coach. But we’ll have to wait and see. There are a lot of things to happen and change before I become a coach. At the moment I am a player. The main focus is the next 12 months and that is to carrying on playing football.”