Gerrard receives latest accolade as he prepares to lead his country

Feb 6 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL captain Steven Gerrard, who will lead his country out at Wembley tonight for new coach Fabio Capello’s first game, has been named Nationwide England Player of the Year.

The 27-year-old midfielder, who has been handed the armband for the friendly match against Switzerland, was delighted to receive the award, which is voted for by supporters of the national team.

He said: “It’s a fantastic honour, coming from the fans makes it very special to me – I’m really proud.

“The fans pay their money and come and watch us play around the world, so to get their support is great.

“There were a number of players who did really well last year.

“Gareth Barry came back into the team and had some great games.

“Micah Richards was really consistent for someone so young particularly playing in defence.

“I know the fans appreciate how well those guys have done so to come out on top is a tremendous feeling.”

Gerrard topped the poll that saw fans voting in their thousands to choose from the 42 eligible candidates.

The Manchester City defender Richards was his closest rival as Gerrard took 22% of the votes.

The Liverpool skipper began the year as captain of his country with Spain the opponents at Old Trafford and played in 11 games for the Three Lions.

Gerrard would captain the side on five occasions during the year, playing in all but one of the matches in 2007 – five of them at the newly-opened Wembley Stadium.

“Being back at Wembley was fantastic, it’s a terrific stadium and a great place to play football.

“I was lucky enough to have made my debut for England at Wembley, so it had been a long wait to play their again.

“The old ground had a lot of history and growing up it was always a place you wanted to play, now we have a modern stadium that a new generation can grow up with and in time there will be a whole new history.”