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There were moments where you started to wonder, like
when they ended the seasons in Belgium, Holland and
France. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there were moments
where you thought we might not finish this campaign.
But then you reminded yourself that people out there
were putting themselves in harm's way to protect and save
lives and you quickly found perspective again. It was out of
our control and the health of people had to come first, so
we were patient.
When we came back to training again, the enormity of it
all hit me because of the measures that were in place to
make it safe for us. But credit to everyone who’s played a
part in getting us back to playing. They gave us as players
a lot of information and I think we have acted responsibly
to make sure we didn’t take the chance to start again for
granted.
It was a great feeling when you saw the Premier League
back and I think that was a moment I realised we would
get our chance to finish the job.Was it a big a motivation to win the league this
year having come so close last year, 97 points and
finishing second?
Yes and no. I think we were as motivated as ever. We
knew we were good enough to win it, so we took belief
from the season that came before this one. But this is
the Premier League and Manchester City are one of the
greatest and most dominant champions it’s ever seen.
So you know to finish ahead of them you have to be close
to perfect.
The motivation for us was to kick on from winning the
Champions League in Madrid. The gaffer said to the boys
pre-season, “Let’s win so many things together that we
can’t remember which one was won when...like was that
the first trophy or the second, was that this year or that
year?” I heard that and thought: aye, I like the sound of
that.
So it wasn’t about just missing out, it was about having
that Madrid feeling again – winning again – making the
supporters happy and proud again. It’s an addictive feeling
and you’ve seen throughout the season, by winning the
Super Cup and the World Club Cup and now the league
title, that we took on board what the manager said.Because it'd been so long in the club's modern
history, did it feel like there was an extra pressure
on you to be champions?
You know that comes as part of the package when you
sign here. I come from a place where a lot of people
struggle to pay the bills and feed themselves and their
families through no fault of their own and that’s pressure.
What we have is opportunity. That’s how I always saw
it. I read some interviews James Milner did after the title
was confirmed and he said leaving Man City was so tough,
given they wanted him to stay, but what attracted him toLiverpool was the fact there
was that yearning to win
again and in particular win
the league title after such a
long gap.
A professional like James
Milner, who at that point in his
career had won a fair amount,
wanted that pressure – and
he’s right. If it was pressure,
it was the best kind, and
I think every one of
us who’ve come here
in the last few years,
including the manager
I bet, was attracted by the
opportunity to do what we’ve
just done. Because when you
win something here it really
matters to people and that’s a
wonderful feeling.Q&A