Steven Gerrard: Skipper England pride

The former Liverpool manager has turned to Gerrard to lead the Three Lions into Euro 2012 action this summer - and the Anfield midfielder insists he'll do all he can to help achieve the success the nation craves. "Throughout my career, since I was a young boy, a lot of people have said that maybe one day I would captain England," he said. "Me dad has been saying for a long time that he would love me to captain England so it's just nice to make my family feel proud and they're chuffed to bits. "I've never been totally confident I would get it because under Steve McClaren and Capello, I've missed out on it to other people. "So it feels as if it has been a long time coming and now I'm going to give it my best shot." England face two friendlies against Norway and Belgium before kicking off their Euro 2012 campaign against France on June 11. Despite the late arrival of a new manager, Gerrard insists England could well upset the odds over the summer. "Look at Chelsea the other night," he said. "They weren't the best team on the night. They weren't the best team against Barcelona, but they're European champions and they deserve it. "So there is a chance when it comes to any big prize in football that the team which isn't the favourite can win it. "This chance to go away with a squad of players with the chance to win a big prize is what dreams are made of. "Even though I've had a lot of setbacks and disappointing times as an international, the thought of maybe one day coming back as a success and a hero is still there. That's the buzz." But one thing Gerrard won't do ahead of Euro 2012 is make any promises. "Usually the experience I've had going into tournaments is always the golden generation are going to win it, we're going to do this," he said. "We put two or three results together and the nation gets carried away and also the players start believing that we're great. Maybe we go into tournaments believing we're better than we are. "Maybe in the last two or three tournaments, as a group of players, we've maybe thought we were better than what we were. "Sometimes we thought we only had to turn up with England because we had a lot of top players. But we just haven't performed, we haven't clicked, we haven't gelled."