Your last competitive game at Anfield after 17 years – has the reality hit home yet? When I made the announcement in January this was the time I was dreading and regretting because I knew how tough it was going to be. But it’s here now, I have to get on with it, play and say my goodbyes in the right way. I always knew this moment was going to be the toughest for the simple reason I am going to miss it so much.

Do you think the emotion will get to you on the final whistle? Carra said I couldn’t cry! I don’t know, I really don’t know. I don’t want to, I want to keep it in check and say goodbye properly to the fans. I remember Sami Hyypia cried after his last game. Sami was a big, tough centre-half but definitely had an emotional side. I have, too, but I don’t think there’s anything to be ashamed of if you shed a tear, especially if you have a love and affection for the supporters. Even when the likes of Robbie Fowler and Jamie left it was very emotional for me as their team-mate. I am dreading that moment when the final whistle goes, actually. I know I’ll be thinking of the people who have been there with me since day one. I remember getting on the bus with my dad to the centre of excellence at the Vernon Sangster [a now demolished sports centre on Stanley Park], getting two buses in the rain and the cold and the ice and snow, and I’ll just go back to that moment when it all began.

On the plus side, the end of your Liverpool career might be a release? I think there will be a sense of that in a couple of weeks. I have been in the spotlight in this city, in this team, for 17 years and had some highs and some lows in that time. What some people don’t understand is that sometimes it’s a tough place to live and be a player as well. So I think there will be a relief and a release in a couple of weeks.

Gerrard: ‘I’m sitting here now thinking about whether there’s a role for me to come back to at the club in the future.’ Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images via Reuters

Has there been a time in the last five months when you’ve regretted your decision to go? No, not really. I did not make the decision lightly. I was honest enough to say when I came away from England at the start of this season that I thought I’d be playing on for another season after this. But the way the season’s gone, I have been getting messages and feelings that I got the timing right. I have grown up alongside players like Robbie Fowler and Carra, and we spoke about this moment a lot. When do you make the decision? When is it right? I have always agreed, especially with Jamie, that you go a touch early, when people want a tiny bit more, rather than when people on the terraces or around the city are saying: “You stayed too long,” and they’re trying to kick you out of the door.

After the announcement, you picked up an injury and were then sent off against Manchester United. Did you worry that your Liverpool career was fizzling out? I did. Certainly sitting in the dressing room after the sending-off against Man U, I was thinking: “I don’t want it to fizzle out in this way, and people to remember a hamstring injury, the suspension against Man U and some bad performances.” So I am really happy the last couple of games have gone well and I am hoping the final two games go the same way. But I think people will remember me not for a period of four, five or six games or even six months. I think once it’s done and I’m away, if my name ever crops up, they will remember what I have done for 17 years rather than a short space of time. I hope they do, anyway.

Steven Gerrard says he would like to return to Anfield once his playing days are finished. Guardian

Everyone has been having a say on your Liverpool career for years. How would you assess it? I’d assess it over the 17 years. When I first started watching Liverpool on the terraces and playing football in the street it was a hobby. Playing for Liverpool was always a dream and one I never thought I’d get near. So looking back now at what I’ve achieved I’m immensely happy and proud of how it’s gone. I’ve got a couple of regrets, of course, but I think that’s totally normal. I don’t think there are many footballers who finish a career and have only good memories. Everyone, if they analyse their careers in the way I analyse things, will always have a few regrets in there.

A young Liverpool fan’s shirt says it all about Gerrard’s contribution. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

That there isn’t a Premier League title in there? That’s the biggest one, yes.

Could you have imagined at the start of your career that a league title would elude you? Not at the very beginning. I always felt I had the talent and ability to stay around for a long time when I made my debut for Liverpool at 18. I knew I had to work hard to do that but I thought over the 15-year period that I wanted to stay for I’d get the chance to win it and I did on a couple of occasions, last season being the best chance. That makes it a bit more painful because it’s so recent.

Not bowing out with an FA Cup final appearance must be another? It was too good to be true, wasn’t it? Winning the FA Cup on your birthday on your last game? I’ll still watch the final, though. I’ve watched the last 30 so I’m not going to miss this one.

If you had your career all over again, what would you do differently? I don’t think I’d do much differently because I’ve always tried to apply myself in the right way. I’ve lived for my profession on and off the pitch. I’ve made some mistakes along the way of course, maybe had a few nights out at the wrong time, and there are some performances I’d like to change for the team and individually. But that’s just not possible; that’s life. I don’t want to look back too much on what I’d like to change – I want to look forward. I’m actually sitting here now thinking about whether there’s a role for me to come back to at the club in the future, and to contribute again, rather than thinking about what I’d like to change about the past.

Gerrard revels in the glory that was Istanbul. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

And is there a role for you to come back to at Liverpool? I don’t know at the moment what’s going to be there after America but I’ll certainly be coming back.

You’re part of a dying breed of players who have spent their entire Premier League careers at one club. What has happened over the last 17 years to facilitate that change? The power of owners and the money in the game. Money talks in certain situations. Everyone has their price and sometimes, if an owner or a club wants a player that much, they are prepared to go beyond it to make it happen and pay well over the odds. There’s a lot more movement in the game but I always had a connection with this club that I didn’t want to let go of. I had the chance to leave probably five or six times but when you play for your family and your people, I always wanted to achieve success and win trophies to share with them and not just go looking for glory, which I could have done.

You gain respect throughout football as a one-club man, though, don’t you? I am proud of that. I have always tried to be honest, on and off the pitch, with the way I play. I have always tried to be honest with the media. I have always wanted to show people that what they see is real, that there is no falseness or me trying to be something I am not. I have always tried to play in a certain way, so that people enjoy what they see. That is how I have tried to go about it, really.

Do you fear that, when you leave, a crucial link between Liverpool and its past will be severed? People say it’s vital to have a scouse heartbeat and local players. I think it’s nice but I don’t think it is the be-all and end-all. It is important there is a group of players here who are very good footballers and they have a coach who is very good tactically. That is when success comes. I don’t think it comes down to whether there is a scouse lad in the team. That is just a bonus for the supporters because they can feel a connection. The important thing for the future is that we keep trying to attract world-class players that can contribute to success. That is how you win games and tournaments. It is as simple as that.

The young Gerrard: Anfield’s scouse heartbeat. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Those players might be more likely to join Liverpool if you were around to help persuade them … I tried with the last four or five and none of them came so don’t look too much into that! I don’t think people come because of me or Jamie Carragher or anything else. I think they come because of the badge and the club, its wonderful history and tradition. The way football has gone now, players just want to play in the Champions League. That is the key. That is the disappointing thing from this season. We have come up a bit short but there is no doubt in my mind that if we had Daniel Sturridge fit from day one we would be talking about Champions League for this team this year. I think we have got the right owners in charge, the right manager and there is a core of potential. The important thing for me – and this is just my opinion – is adding some players to that who are ready. I wouldn’t buy any more potential in the short term. I would buy players who are ready to come and fight and be successful.

You gave your England career a “six or seven out of 10” when you finished. What would you give your Liverpool career? No one is interested in what I would give it.

They are … I’m not going to judge my Liverpool career out of 10. But I can judge two performances for you. I’ll give Istanbul nine and I’ll give the last Man United one at home zero.