Steven Gerrard: Superstar
by Graham Davies

Steven Gerrard is a man who has every reason to be happy with who he is, where he is going, and how he presents himself while he's getting there. I can say this even as a sulking Manchester United supporter.

Last Friday, I was the guest speaker at the Football Writers Association Dinner, where he was receiving their Player of the Year award. The first speaker was Fabio Capello, then Steve and then me. It was about as easy as speaking in the Vatican just after the Pope.

Fabio managed to present for a smiling and affable 45 seconds, which seemed to be almost entirely in Italian, apart from the phrase "must win our next qualifying match two-nil". This got a suitably intense and patriotic burst of applause which he wisely took as the cue to sit down. We then saw a spectacular Sky Sports video, showing the highlights of the Gerrard season, which was the perfect intro for the Man Himself.

Steve will never be a professional speaker. He doesn't exactly need the money. But this was an utterly charming professional performance. He came across as the same nice guy that I was chatting to at the VIP reception about his favourite Starbucks in Southport.

I suppose it was just a string of thank yous...but each one of them genuine. It was a real contrast to last year's half-hearted contribution from Ronaldo, who gave the impression that he was doing everyone a favour just by showing up.

And he didn't bugger about with any rambling repetition. Steve followed the formula for the perfect acceptance speech: Be Nice, Be Grateful, Be Off.

And then after my own sparkling piece, there was a massive, but slow movement among the 700 people of the audience. About half of them walked up to the top table and calmly formed a line for an autograph on their menus....all of which were patiently signed over the next hour. You see, Steven Gerrard is not some crass Football Idol that you mob. He is a Gentleman that you queue up for.

In my book, that is the mark of a real star.