Hello and welcome to the first in the series of Big Interview clip shows. We decided to pick out some themes that snaked through season 2015-16 of The Big Interview, and see what our guests had to say on them.
Often in these interviews, players’ names come up and I have to divert from the questions I have in front of me and find out more about them. These are the mavericks – footballers who can get us out of our seats with one flash of genius.
Not many mavericks can tell you how they do it – but Chris Waddle can. The former England winger takes us inside the mind of a maverick – how he perfected the technique that made fools of defenders from the Sunday Leagues to the San Siro; and what it feels like when the pressure to entertain becomes a burden.
Who better defines this term ‘maverick’ than Paul Gascoigne? We’ll hear from three footballers who give us three different perspectives on the genius of English football in the 1990s: Michael O’Neill, who found himself taken under Gazza’s wing as a young player at Newcastle; then Alan Pardew tells us what it was like to man mark Gascoigne during the pinnacle of his career. Finally Waddle tells us what happens when Gazza has time on his hands and a box of eggs at his disposal.
And last but not least… Eric Cantona, who came into English football like a comet in 1992. Waddle knew exactly what was heading our way, having shared a dressing room with Cantona at Marseille. At Leeds United, both Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister saw the impact the Frenchman had on the team that would win the title in 1992.
Enjoy!
Graham