Tributes'I love it like the first day' - What LFC means to Klopp, Gerrard and more icons

"It feels so intense in the best way – how close we got over the years with our supporters. It's like when you have these moments where you can look in the eyes – you can only see a few – but if you see these eyes, it's pure joy and enthusiasm. That's what it's all about actually. Having a chance to be part of such an emotional journey, I think it's really important. I'm proud, yes, but I'm more thankful that I'm allowed to be part of it."

"This club has played such a big part in my life, a big part in a lot of my family's lives. And still to this day, we love it like the first day we ever met it – I certainly do. A special football club, I'm in a very privileged position that I've actually been going out to represent it as a player. It's played such a big part in my life and obviously a lot of people, family and friends, so we owe this club a lot. It's got a connection, it's got a real powerful fanbase and it has that family feeling to it."

"Coming down here at 26 years of age with a young family, the club just totally integrated, not only my immediate family, but my grandsons, granddaughters – it's unbelievable. The attachment that they get to it is a fantastic reflection on the football club itself and the way they try their best to look after people as much as they possibly can. If the supporters are made to feel part and parcel of the football club, that's very, very special."

"What would my life be without Liverpool? It would be a lot less enjoyable, I must say that. I think the special thing about the football club is the people. I just think the passion of people within this city for football is unprecedented. The atmosphere we can create at Anfield, everyone knows coming here against Liverpool knowing what they are going to get. That is something we should be really proud of – that we create this atmosphere that is looked at around the world as Anfield, the Kop."

"I'm proud just to be involved in this team, to be involved in this football club for so long. It's incredible. To lead the team out is an immense feeling and one I don't take for granted."

"Liverpool is really where my understanding of what it takes to be a great football team started, in terms of the empathy that you have to have for the team, for the city, for the relationship between the fans. Because football belongs not just to the team, it also belongs to the tea lady, the fans and the community. That is what Liverpool espoused. Liverpool Football Club really is just a microcosm of what the world should be, in terms of the harmony that is necessary for everyone to come together to be successful."

"It means everything. It's a very, very special club, which is the best in the world, in my opinion. I didn't realise how big Liverpool Football Club was until I finished playing and I was lucky enough to continue working for the club, travelling all over the world and seeing how passionate Liverpool supporters were. That's what makes Liverpool so special – because we're one big family club."

"When you've been a Liverpool fan as a young child, having that great chance at 15 to sign for Liverpool, I think I deserve to say it is a dream come true. When you get that bond of the players and the fans, there's nothing stronger. There's no stronger bond – coming together to make the wonderful times happen. It is an absolutely wonderful place."

"Liverpool Football Club was my favourite club when I was growing up, so it already meant something to me when I was young. To be able to play 10 years for this club and to have been captain, I'm very honoured to have done it. It's like a second home. When I came to Liverpool, I felt the family feel right away, that everyone pulls in the same direction."

"I'm very proud to have been a Liverpool player. The experience of going to Anfield now is still exciting. Just to walk up and fans invariably come up and ask for an autograph or a photograph, recalling one or two moments of our careers. There's a lot of pride attached to coming to Anfield."

"When I was 17 years old, we went to a tournament in Germany. At the end of the tournament, I received a scarf from Liverpool FC as a gift from a boy. I hung this scarf above my bed. After I signed for Liverpool, my mother came to visit me and she took this scarf and said, 'Do you remember this?' I still have this scarf at my home. It was a special feeling that the dream came true."

"Being a boy born in this city, it means a lot. The fact I bring my children here and they absolutely adore coming and want to go again and again and again, I think that says it all for the accommodating atmosphere the club always has, how warm the people make you feel and how special they make you feel when you arrive. It's a very special place. The atmosphere at Anfield's amazing. Whenever I played abroad, any players I met would always say English stadiums are the best, and particularly Anfield is the best. The atmosphere it generates genuinely scares opposition."