Steven Gerrard has acknowledged that the intense rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United made things awkward in the England dressing room. He believes that the strong club rivalries could have contributed to England's struggles under managers like Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello, and Roy Hodgson.
In a 2017 event in Belfast, Gerrard discussed the possibility of becoming friends with former Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand after retiring.
He told the audience: "When you're lining up in the tunnel against Rio and Gary Neville you want to do everything in your power to beat them – there's hatred there, that's exactly how it is.
"When you meet up for England at that time, you pretend you like them – but your career finishes, their career finishes and your friendship starts for real. I've got nothing but respect for Rio as a player, played for a top club all his life, he's a good fella as well, I'm enjoying the role at BT [Sport] with him as well."
Ferdinand made a similar point in an interview with the Times magazine in 2018: "It overshadowed things. It killed that England team, that generation. One year we would have been fighting Liverpool to win the league, another year it would be Chelsea."
"So I was never going to walk into the England dressing room and open up to Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry or Joe Cole at Chelsea, or Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher at Liverpool because of the fear they would take something back to their club and use it against us."
"I didn't realise that what I was doing was hurting England at the time. I was so engrossed, so obsessed with winning with Man United. Nothing else mattered.'"
