Steven Gerrard was waiting to address Liverpool’s Under 18s – the side he will manage next season - for the first time.

Coach Neil Critchley ushered him forward ahead of a fixture with Manchester City and what followed was the kind of emotional but informed speech that made Gerrard as a leader for club and country.

There were no niceties. No tentative, polite words of encouragement.

Gerrard demanded every first tackle be won and no minute pass without each youngster remembering the badge on the jersey.

He did not speak to the team like boys, but men, offering an authentic glimpse of the culture – the demand - of first team football. Bridging the gap between the Under 18s and first team is an area of player development that has caused most concern to English football.

“The room was so pumped up I felt like putting on a shirt and playing myself,” remarked another former player who was observing in the dressing room.

City’s Under 18s had not lost a league game for 28 months.

Liverpool won 2-0.