Creme de la Prem

Steven Gerrard said the FA should be fined for taking so long to call up Curtis Jones – having championed his rise for years.

The Liverpool legend was in charge of his fellow Scouser when he returned to Anfield to coach at U18 level before joining Rangers.

Gerrard’s influence played a vital part in Jones emulating his development through the ranks into the Reds’ first team.

Jones, who has inherited his hero’s original No.17 shirt at the club, revealed last year the way in which Gerrard championed his rise.

“I say it now, still, I feel like Steven was the one who came in and made me really think, ‘Look, if I lock all the way in, now I can go to the top,’” explained Jones on the We Are Liverpool podcast.

“I’ll never forget the time, we’d been away on pre-season – I don’t know what country it was – we came back and he got the whole team in on a one-to-one and he’d been speaking about the things you did well and what you needed to improve.

“I remember when he came in – I don’t want to say what he said – it was good but it was not nice. It wasn’t nice. It was like the harsh truths.

“I’ll say a little bit: ‘I gave you the 10 shirt on your back because I want you to be my main lad in my team and I want to build the team around you, but you didn’t show enough”.

“There was a game that he said, this is was what stuck in my head a lot – where I wanted to show him that anything you need from me I’ll do it – we’d been beaten by Fulham and he said I’d been tackled and the lad had stood over and said something while I’d been on the floor.

“He turned around to me and said, ‘What did you do about it?!’ I said, ‘I can’t remember’, and he said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you, you did nothing!’

“I sat there and thought, ‘you’re right’. This is my club, there are people like you who have played your whole life here and even came back to the academy and now you’re a coach, you want to give your all to the club.

“There are people like me, I’m a Scouser myself, I don’t understand the situation I’m in. I need to grow up here and need to be a man.”