As the Premier League era rolled in and changed the face of the sport, Liverpool were left behind. While Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger were stamping out dressing-room drinking cultures and educating their players in nutrition, Liverpool had a centre-back partnership – in Neil Ruddock and Dominic Matteo – who proudly binge-drank their way through each weekend, and played like it.

Arsene Wenger was pioneering change at Arsenal while Liverpool remained in the 'dark ages' Image credit: Reuters

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While Manchester United’s academy was churning out a production line of players that went on to populate not only their own first-team but many others throughout top flight, and Arsenal were recruiting the best junior talent from across Europe, it took Liverpool until the final year of Rafael Benitez’s reign to overhaul a youth set-up that had run dry for a decade.

At a time when rivals were spending money on ultra-modern players like David de Gea and Sergio Aguero, Liverpool were spending theirs on Andy Carroll; when rivals were making forward-thinking appointments like Roberto Mancini and Andre Villas-Boas, Liverpool were looking backwards to Kenny Dalglish. Even their attempts to modernise led them back in time: Damien Comolli’s short-lived statistics-based recruitment model resulted in the arrivals of Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, two footballing anachronisms.

2011 Premier League Liverpool Charlie Adam Jordan Henderson Kenny Dalglish Stewart Downing Doni Image credit: Reuters

On an economic level, Liverpool were years late in working out how to monetise their global profile, and by the time they’d opened their eyes to the world of summer tours, official merchandise, matchday hospitality and the like, Manchester United had already grown into a self-sustaining corporate behemoth, and had claimed significant market territory in the process.

Which is all a roundabout way of getting to Steven Gerrard, who, it was announced last week, has returned to Liverpool as a youth coach (or as the club put it, in a wide-ranging role in the professional development phase of the young players).

He will make an interesting addition to a backstage setup that, under Jurgen Klopp’s rule, looks to have been dragged kicking and screaming into modernity. Klopp’s 14 months of stewardship thus far has seen the appointment of a head of fitness and conditioning, Andreas Kornmayer, and a head of nutrition, Mona Nemmer, both from Bayern Munich. Kornmayer’s influence is there for all to see every weekend, in a rangy, energised and lean-looking squad. Nemmer has revamped the canteen and the squad are now given diets that are individually tailored and scientifically planned.

There has also been the promotion of Pepijn Lijnders from the academy to the role of first-team development coach. His job is to bridge the cavernous transition from the youth team to the senior side – a common pitfall at top-level clubs – and so far it looks to be bearing fruit: six academy graduates have appeared for Liverpool this season.

The key here is none of these were appointments based on anything other than hard science and scrupulous head-hunting. Whichever way you look at it, Gerrard’s appointment does not fall into that category and it is fair to ask whether the return of the epochal captain, uplifting as it may seem, is in fact a move that flies in the face of everything progressive that has been happening of late.

It is a valid question, but one which can be answered by the second half of Klopp’s two-pronged approach to reviving Liverpool. If part one is about sober science, part two is all about emotion, passion and atmosphere.

Steven Gerrard Image credit: Eurosport

This has been most obvious in his longstanding project to reinvigorate Anfield. So far he has called out the fans on their early exits, led his players in a show of appreciation to the Kop after a late equaliser, and time and again referenced the noise levels on a matchday – just four days ago he bemoaned a “very very quiet” Anfield crowd.

His project is far from complete but the effects have already been demonstrable: last season’s comeback against Borussia Dortmund was a night for the history books, and one that’s impossible to imagine happening in front of anything other than a fully invested crowd.

His gleeful whipping up of the home fans after his team had reached the Europa League final was another stage of the same process: it was showmanship, sure, but it was studied and deliberate, too. It was designed to have an effect. It is no coincidence that Klopp’s arrival has coincided with Liverpool embarking on a year-long unbeaten record at Anfield (curtailed on Saturday).

Klopp’s methods have shown that science works: the players are patently fitter, faster and more effective under his rule. But he is also a big believer in the unquantifiable. There is such a thing as aura in football, and Klopp knows it. In 2017, no figure in Liverpool’s history exudes anything close to the aura that Steven Gerrard does. And – without factoring in what technical coaching skills he may or may not have – that is worth something in itself.

If Kornmayer, Lijnders, Nemmer and the rest bring the tangible, Gerrard – like his manager – brings a good helping of the intangible. Describing his return as a sentimental appointment shouldn’t be pejorative given Klopp’s track record of harnessing sentiment as a means of winning trophies.

Gerrard’s homecoming may work out; it may not. Either way, it’s a harking back to the past that, for once, aligns perfectly with Klopp’s vision of the future.

-- Alex Hess

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