John Giles believes Steven Gerrard will go down as one of Liverpool's great servants but remains behind some of the club's all-time legends.
The former Anfield club captain has announced his retirement as a player, 18 months after moving to Los Angeles Galaxy where he ended his career in Major League Soccer.
The 36-year-old was never able to win the Premier League with Liverpool despite coming close on a couple of occasions but did win two FA Cups and scored in the famous 2005 Champions League final win in Istanbul.
"I think he'd be up there. I think he's been a great servant for Liverpool - the dramatic goals he's scored in big competitions - there's no doubt about that," said John of Gerrard.
"I wouldn't put him up there with the great players. I think he's been a great Liverpool player and dramatic Liverpool player and a scorer of important goals."
For example, John puts Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness quite a way above him in the ranks of Liverpool greats.
"I'd say they'd be well above him. I always found that Gerrard was a very, very exciting player and he was a goalscorer playing from midfield. He didn't actually contribute that much as a midfield player. If you look at his career with England, especially him and [Frank] Lampard, neither of them were genuine midfield players. They were known as very good at getting on the end of things. But the reason they weren't very successful playing together was you have to initiate something to get an end and they couldn't initiate anything.
"I never saw Gerrard as a player that could control midfield in a certain way and score a certain amount of goals. Bobby Charlton did that for example but Gerrard was a spectacular goalscorer. But there were lots of times in midfield where England needed something in midfield - and Liverpool - where he didn't contribute to that.
"He'll go down as one of the great contributors to Liverpool's success but I certainly wouldn't put him alongside Souness who did actually control the middle of the field - he didn't score as many goals - and Dalgish was everything. He could play up front, deep, make goals, score goals. One of the great players of all time."
Gerrard was unable to enjoy success on the field with LA Galaxy after leaving Anfield in 2015.
"I'd say the Americans weren't too happy with him to be honest [because] I don't think he really did his stuff there," said John, in terms of his impact on the field.
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