Don't go all shy cos there's cameras here.
- I've gone beetroot. - She's gone all red!
Do we have to knock?
KNOCK ON DOOR
- How you doing, you good? - I'm good, and you?
Good to see you. Yeah, very well.
See the way they've got City on the telly though? One that they got right!
There's loads of people, Steven, that will have been part of your growing up process,
that would have had a big influence on you
being the success that you were as a player.
Yeah, there's still a lot of familiar faces about.
I miss this place, I'm not gonna lie to you,
I do get a special feeling and a buzz coming back,
I love the people here,
I love the environment,
and there was no better place to come to work.
I think from a fan's point of view you don't realise the amount of work and effort
that people behind the scenes do, and it's all for first-team results.
There she is! Come on, look.
I'm dead busy.
I'm coming in for you in a minute, you and your mate, you best...
God help us.
..get ready.
Here they are, the boys.
Mark, how are you?
- Harrison, you good, you well? - Nice to see you.
Take a seat.
Well, Steve, this is an office where the light is always on.
Two of the hardest-working lads at Melwood,
most people would agree.
Yeah, 100 per cent,
and I seen that first-hand when I was here as a player.
Always available, no matter what hour in the day.
I was one who had to sort of adapt to analysis,
because I didn't have much of it in the earlier days.
And it was like a breath of fresh air, having a place in the environment where you could
go on your own, or go with a unit if you like and ask as many questions as you want,
see the game back in all kinds of different angles.
From a learning point of view it's absolutely valuable.
We are a part of the decision-making process,
our job really is to provide enough help and support and evidence -
both from a team perspective and to the individuals -
for the coaching staff to ultimately make the decision.
And I think this is the big thing from your side, as a player,
to now being a manager, is you spend hours and hours behind the scenes
going through lots of, from our side, video or information,
and then it's filtering that down to what the player can take on.
The messages that you're going to...
So there's a lot of times where - and this is part of our job and we have to accept it -
we will do countless hours of work to turn around for one video clip.
Or sometimes it might not even get shown.
But as you said, the message to then get through to the players,
and under Jürgen and his staff, this is probably one of the best things they do,
in terms of taking everything you can possibly give them and shortening it to key messages,
translated into what the player can do to help them.
Real talk now, lads - what was he like to deal with?
Was he demanding, was he a pain in the backside?
What was he like as a player, from an analytical point of view?
Careful what you say here, careful.
Who's gonna say this?
OK, for us, without blowing smoke, he was brilliant.
It's always great to have a senior figure
in the team who is so open to receiving information,
that will allow all the other players
to almost understand and see it's OK for that to be the norm.
So, for you, obviously, you were the captain,
you would always be seen around us and be seen wanting information and to learn.
I think you've got to be able to be thick-skinned
and be able to deal with criticism. You can't come into an analysis department
and expect it be all, "Look at this, it was great, great, great."
You've got to be prepared for these lads and have the respect,
they're looking at this stuff many, many hours of the day
and they're going to find parts of your game, and if you can accept criticism,
but also realise that it's constructive criticism
to try and improve you as a player. Sometimes you walk out of this room
and you've seen something that isn't going to be great for the next couple of hours,
but you've got to move on pretty quickly and try and use it to your advantage
for your next performance.
How are you, you all right, Lee? You good?
This is the big one you wanted to do,
Carol and Caroline.
I love to see them, get the stick out the way,
cos I'm sure it's coming.
Where are they, they hiding?
There they are!
Come on then, who's getting the first cuddle?
- Caroline, go on. - Come on!
Don't go all shy cos there's cameras here.
- I've gone beetroot. - She's gone all red!
Come on.
Just cuddle him.
I won't let go.
Come on.
- You all right? - Yeah.
Come on, your turn.
What's new?
Nothing really, we miss you, that's all.
What are the lads like, the new lads? Good?
Lovely, yeah, every one of them are lovely.
Everything that we're not - polite, respectful?
Everything, yeah.
Lots of Liverpool fans will have read about you two and seen pictures of you recently...
These are doing more press than me at the moment.
Everyone's forgot about me and everyone's talking about these two.
What were his demands like in the morning for breakfast,
did he have any particular dietary favourites?
Not sure I wanna hear any of this.
No, because they just got everything, didn't they?
Spoilt, weren't we?
Just an ordinary Liverpool lad.
Just liked whatever we gave him.
Didn't you, lad?
- It's like having... - Abuse!
..three mums, I had one at home and then two when I came into work.
You didn't say "mums", you said three wives.
Three wives, same thing.
Cos we used to nag him.
Same thing, always moaning, always complaining.
Is that an important part of it though, Steven, on a serious level?
When you're at the top of your game like you were, you've got two ladies here
who were ultimately very honest with you at times?
Sometimes they'd tell you if you weren't playing particularly well.
These ladies and the people behind the scenes, they don't change,
they don't change in terms of the result and stuff.
Our moods change, so you can score a goal and get a win
and come in and be on cloud nine,
these help bring you back down to earth and put your feet back on the ground.
Or if you're down and you've had a bad game,
these help pick you back up, so they play a very important role,
not just for myself, but for every player and the members of staff,
because these create an atmosphere in here that's always the same,
it's very positive and it's a happy atmosphere.
They make you feel like home whilst you're at work.
Real unsung heroes, aren't they?
Of course they are, and as I say I don't think they appreciate or realise the role
and the job that they do to support first-team players.
The team and individuals can't play well or deliver results without the wider family
of the club, and that's what these people do. It's very important.
It is nice to be...
That's the first nice thing I've said about these two!
I know.
No, it is nice to be spoken about like that,
because we just come in and get on with our job and that's it.
I'd say the buzz is just coming in to the lads and enjoying a laugh and a joke with them,
and...just have a ball with them.
We're lucky to be in a job like this, because you can have a laugh
with you all, and like you say, if you're down we always try to...
have a smile on our faces.
That was a lot with me, wasn't it?
Yeah, because we used to say,
"Oh, God, he's got a face on", and go the other way.
That was probably after a defeat, they used to avoid me!
Ads, what are these really like?
Nightmare!
"Nightmare." Told you.
Do you have to knock?
HE KNOCKS ON DOOR
Yes?
How you doing, you good?
Good, and you?
Good to see you. Yeah, very well.
Do you have memories, Jürgen, of coming into Melwood for the first time
and seeing some of those friendly faces, people who've been here a long time
that were ready to greet you?
One of my first meetings I think, it was my first meeting with the whole team
I made downstairs in the press room.
And I brought in all the people working here at Melwood,
because I didn't know them obviously, but I was pretty sure a lot of the players
don't know them as well, so I let them walk through the press room
and I said, "Do you know the name of all these people?"
And they didn't know all of them.
But they all work for you all day, 24 hours,
are there for you whatever you do, however the last result was,
and it's important that they have a relationship.
They're the people that you miss the most. I was here from 16 to 35 every day,
and Carol and Caroline, and Graham and the kitmen and stuff,
they're the people you miss on the way out, so they're important people.
They're always in good shape, even if you lose, when you come in...
They're normal, yeah.
They're already singing.
All the Beatles songs.
Is that important sometimes too? Because you're around football people a lot,
is it important that sometimes the non-football people
are the ones that bring a smile back to your face again, when you're down?
Coming into our canteen, the restaurant, they are really independent of the result.
So that's really important, because there's so much pressure in the business,
it's unbelievable, and everything leads to this game -
you win it, the sun is shining,
you lose it, for sure it will rain the next day
and everything is completely different. So it all changes with the result,
and to have this kind of consistency is really, really important.
I love that, I love this place.
And as you're finding it now, Steven, in your job,
we count ourselves, all employees of Liverpool, as being a family, don't we?
How important is that when you're bringing through young players,
the importance of being close, the importance of family values?
Well, it's club values for me.
We always say to the boys, "It's very important how you behave off the pitch."
It's important, the right impression. For example, if they're down at Melwood,
we want them to be respectful to the staff.
They are.
And the same in Kirkby, we want them to go into the canteen and treat the people
like normal, like they would if it was their own family.
I think it's very important in the game to be respectful and follow the values of your family,
but also the club as well. So we're very strict in that way, that they show the right behaviour
to the people and show respect, because everyone is after the same thing,
and it's success for the first team,
and everyone needs to feel important and play a part for that to happen.
We feel as a family, if I'm honest. So I feel that we are a family here.
So we all work together, we all try to win together
and everybody is doing his piece, so that's how it is.
They are all on fire all the time, they all have a Liverpool heart like this,
and we come in, go out, but they stay.
So a manager, usually you are in for a year or two, I'm already in two and a bit more,
but it's not likely that it happens too often, but they really keep the standard.
They are very important and we try to show it every day.
It doesn't work every day obviously, but we try the next day again.
Thanks very much for your time, good luck for the weekend.
You're welcome.