This week’s pictures of Steven Gerrard‘s first granddaughter, Lila Grey, are certainly cute.
Steven, the former England and Liverpool star, and his wife Alex are said to be thrilled by the new arrival – as of course is their daughter Lilly-Ella, 21, and the family’s many fans on social media.
But I’m afraid I have a slightly different reaction.
To my mind, midfield maestro Gerrard used to be hot, hot, hot.
But as a grandad – at the super-young age of 45 – he’s simply… not.
I first came across Steven Gerrard back in 2015, when he signed for the US soccer team LA Galaxy.
He’d decided to follow in the footsteps of former England teammate David Beckham and ply his trade in Tinseltown. In fact, he almost rivalled ‘Goldenballs’ for fanfare when he landed.
Feted by local news shows as the Galaxy’s hot new signing, the handsome face of the legendary Liverpool captain was emblazoned on billboards across the city.

Steven Gerrard followed in David Beckham’s footsteps and joined LA Galaxy in 2015

Gerrard’s eldest daughter Lilly-Ella gave birth to a girl, Lila Grey, making the former Liverpool captain a grandad. Pictured is new grandmother Alex holding her granddaughter

Steven and his wife Alex with their daughters Lilly-Ella, Lexie and Lourdes. They had a son, Lio, in 2017
So, when I was invited to attend an open training session with the team followed by a press conference at the stadium, I was thrilled.
I’d long had a soft spot for Stevie G and had written about him and wife Alex numerous times in my role as a showbusiness journalist.
I imagined that, as with the other England footballers I had met before, I would be suitably star-struck – and so it proved.
It wasn’t exactly the weather you’d hope for in LA on that July day.
The California sunshine had vanished. The sky was overcast and threatening rain. There was even a cold breeze – but that’s exactly what broke the ice between us when we came face to face on the touchline.
I was taken aback – pleasantly – by his amazing muscly calves.
Gerrard, who was sitting out the session but observing from the sidelines, asked who I was, and I explained I was there to write about him for the British press.
He quipped that we had both been ‘stitched up’ by the weather, which was much more what you’d expect at home than on the West Coast.

Lilly-Ella with her boyfriend Lee Byrne. The couple have been together since 2022

Lee’s father Liam is a member of the Byrne Organised Crime Group and the Kinahan Organised Crime Group and was released from prison earlier this year after being jailed in connection with a plot to stockpile guns and ammunition

Gerrard has had managerial spells with Rangers, Aston Villa and most recently Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia
And I was smitten. I might have been there in my capacity as a journalist but I’m also human. And he was very good looking.
Steven and Alex stayed in LA for around 18 months before returning to Britain and their native Liverpool.
Since then he has managed Glasgow Rangers, Aston Villa, and spent time in charge of Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq.
Whenever I have told friends and colleagues how attractive I find him, they’ve immediately demanded to know how I could possibly be enamoured of a man with such a thick Scouse accent.
Others have questioned the family’s new-found association with elements of the gangster world – for the father of baby Lila Grey is a man called Lee Byrne. And Lee’s father Liam is a boss of the feared Kinahan Cartel with links to worldwide drug smuggling.
(Lee, Lilly-Ella’s boyfriend, has never had any criminal involvement.)
Yet, none of that has made Steven lose his ‘swoon’ factor quite as much as his new role in life.
While it’s true that the world of grandpas has moved on from pipes and slippers, he’s just not so fanciable any longer.
Gerrard is just one year older than me so it isn’t about his age, and he still hasn’t lost his looks.
There’s just something of an ‘ick’ about him having a grandchild in his mid-forties.
Going back to July 2015, imagine how much I loved it when, after having my hand in the air to ask a question for what felt like hours during a press conference that same day, he dashed straight over to apologise.
‘They didn’t let you ask a question, did they?’ said Gerrard, much to my amazement.
I shook my head – and he offered me an interview on the spot.
‘Come with me,’ he said, and started regaling me with stories about his new Californian life.
He explained how he’d ‘leaned on David Beckham’ and his advice when he made the decision to leave Liverpool – where he was adored – and play his football in LA.
The Gerrard’s lives changed immediately and immeasurably.
With their three children, Lilly-Ella, then 11, Lexie, nine, and Lourdes, three, they moved into a six-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills, just a stone’s throw from the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry and Jane Fonda.
Alex once confided in me that Lilly-Ella wasn’t exactly over the moon about leaving her friends behind on Merseyside, though you’d never know it today. She seems every inch the Hollywood-style influencer on Instagram.
After that initial ‘moment’ with Steven, I would come across him from time to time at LA Galaxy games and the press conferences afterwards.
I would also see him at the Ye Olde King’s Head, a ‘British’ pub in nearby Santa Monica, which screens every Premier League football game. (I’d recommended it in the hope I would bump into him!) He was always so very kind.
But if I met him again, I just don’t think I would be as excited – not now he’s a grandad.
Sorry Stevie, but we’re done.