A great article in Liverpool Echo. It's really amazed to hear Jamie was quiet...
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From the bobbling school pitch to Portugal for Gerrard
Mark Hookham meets the teacher who helped launch Liverpool's Steven Gerrard on the road to stardom
THE slight, fragile-looking 10-year-old was towered over by the older boys and seemingly not the natural choice for captain of his primary school's football team.
But when Steven Gerrard was passed the ball on the bobbling pitch at the back of St Michael's Primary School in Huyton he looked more assured than players twice his age.
And under the watchful gaze of his form tutor, Mike Tilling, "Stevie" started on a road which would lead to today's must-win Euro 2004 match at the Estadio Cidade in Coimbra, Portugal.
The Daily Post's exclusive picture shows Gerrard holding the ball in his first football team in
1990.
Mr Tilling, who coached the team at St Michael's, now renamed Huyton-with-Roby Primary School, said he was amazed at the skills and composure of his star pupil.
He said: "I just couldn't believe he was so good because he was one of the smallest boys in the class.
"I started him off as a striker and it honestly seemed as if he had been playing for years.
"Once he joined the team he was amazing - he was so good with the ball at his feet.
"I remember one game against St Dominic's School in Huyton.
"He was still very small for his age, but he picked up the ball in midfield and started on a dead-straight run towards the goal, weaving past all of the opposition players.
"Just as he was about to shoot, the ball got away from him, but it was amazing to see everyone on the side-line willing him on."
Steven was a well-liked pupil, whose enthusiasm had to only be occasionally be held in check.
Mike added: "He was very well liked in the class and quite a lot of the pupils looked up to him, primarily because he was such a good football player.
"We used to run a little business in the class. It was owned by the children and Steven would always win hands down when we voted for who the manager would be.
"Academically he was all right as well. I have records showing that he always did very well at multiplication tests.
"He did occasionally have a few airs and graces - I sometimes saw that in him - but I always did my best to quash it and bring him back to earth."
At the age of 11 Gerrard moved to Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in West Derby where he was taught by PE teacher Eric Chadwick.
But even at that young age, Steven became injury prone and repeatedly sprained and pulled muscles.
His continual injuries prevented him from being selected for the national football school in Lilleshall, Shropshire, where fellow future England stars Michael Owen and Alan Smith had their talents nurtured.
Mr Chadwick said: "He was having all kinds of problems with injuries. Basically his muscles were outgrowing his bones and it meant he kept getting all kinds of strains and pulls.
"He was still very slim and small - totally different to how he is today.
"Steven's skill came in his speed of thought and the fact that he was a yard quicker than every other boy on the pitch. He was just naturally gifted.
"I remember the final game he played for the school was a Royal Mail Trophy final.
"He was amazing and won the game for us."
Gerrard was picked a year early - at the age of 13 - for the Liverpool Schools team.
The selection gave him his first opportunity to play against some of his future Liverpool FC team-mates - including Jamie Carragher, who played for Sefton Boys.
Liverpool Schools coach Tim Johnson said: "He made the under 14s team 12 months early.
"At that time he was being looked at by all the club scouts.
"However, he wasn't an England Schoolboy, which seems to be the main route for youngsters today. I remember the first round of the English Trophy, which was the school-age equivalent of the FA Cup. Steven scored the winner against West Lancs. It was at the time of (German striker) Jurgen Klinsmann, so when he scored he dived into the corner on his stomach.
"There was a lot of tut-tutting on the sidelines but he really played his heart out."
Three years later, Gerrard signed for Liverpool FC - the club he had supported since his days in Mr Tilling's Year 2 class at St Michael's.
Mr Johnson added: "I went to Melwood about 12 months after he started there. I bumped into Steven as he came out of the weights room. The transformation was remarkable - he was a lot stockier and bigger."
For Mr Tilling, now a teacher at a primary school in Stockport, teaching the 10-year-old Steven Gerrard football is the pinnacle of his career.
He said: "I've still got a card which all the children signed to thank me when I left the school. "I found it the other day and saw that Steven had written his name in huge letters right in the middle of the card. I now tell pupils who misbehave: 'I taught an England captain and he never behaved that badly.'"
Michael Owen
MICHAEL OWEN was one of those rare youngsters who grew up an Everton fan but switched sides to join Liverpool FC.
In his autobiography he explains: "I was determined to choose the best football opportunities available to me.
"On my visits to Anfield as a schoolboy recruit, I soon recognised what a magnificent club Liverpool were."
Owen attended Hawarden High School in Flintshire, North Wales, where Liverpool scouts first noticed his speed and shooting abilities.
The school has a rare claim to fame that as well as Owen, who has deputised as England captain, Welsh captain Gary Speed is a former pupil as well.
Although now a passionate Red and England international, Owen still lives in Ewloe, Wales.
His parents Janet and Terry, brother Terry Jnr and elder sister Karen all live in the same exclusive cul-de-sac.
In his autobiography he recalls his first taste of international fame came after the 1998 World Cup finals in France.
He said: "My first inkling that I had suddenly become public property came when I called home soon after touching down on English soil again.
"My mum answered the phone and joked: 'I wouldn't come home if I were you. There is an army of television crews, press photographers and reporters camped outside the front door.'"
Jamie Carragher
JAMIE CARRAGHER'S former head-of-year remembers the England defender as one of the "most polite boys in the year".
Carragher attended Savio RC High School in Netherton Road, Bootle, between the ages of 11 and 13.
Teacher Mary Treanrar is still in contact with the Liverpool FC star who often returns to his former school.
She said: "He was very quiet and was very focused on succeeding with his football.
"He is fantastic - he often comes back and sees the children and still calls me Miss.
"He seems to be someone who really has a sense of his community and where he comes from.
"James is a real Bootle lad. He knows a lot of people here and you can still bump into him shopping in the Strand Shopping Centre."
At the age of 13, Carragher left Savio and joined Michael Owen and Alan Smith at the national football school in Lilleshall, Shropshire, and from there he was was propelled into the Liverpool FC side.
Shortly before the defender's call-up to the Euro 2004 squad, his girlfriend Nicky gave birth to daughter, Mia.
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