Author: neil

In part two, Paul Robinson tells how Leeds United’s glorious ride came to its crashing end. It was a time of layoffs and fire sales, and he movingly describes how financial implosion affects a football club. But he sympathises with then chairman Peter Ridsdale, a man who loved the Whites, a man who was only guilty of chasing his dreams.

After Leeds, Paul formed a second love – Tottenham Hotspur. He won the League Cup there and managed to switch off from his little son’s illness when he crossed the Wembley white line. Happily, Robinson junior is now thriving as a talented cricketer. At Spurs, Paul loved playing behind Ledley King – his favourite centre-half, and under Martin Jol – a tremendous man manager. There’s also great chat about coping with mavericks like Dimitar Berbatov and Mark Viduka, and how Leeds at last now face a brighter future.

Paul could be described as the goalkeepers’ goalkeeper – a man who has pondered the psychology of the role. He knows the torment that follows a blunder (it was timely that I caught up with him just hours after Adrian’s nightmare performance for Liverpool against Atlético, as described in part one). You need to have a golfer’s mentality, Paul says, to immediately put the last mistake behind you. Don’t go chasing the game, don’t try to make up for it or you’ll make things worse. He learned this the hard way – playing for England he was unfairly blamed for a crazy Croatia goal and it took him nearly two years to get over it.

Enjoy.

Graham.

Paul Robinson experienced incredible highs and crushing lows during his goalkeeping career.

The Yorkshireman was a Leeds United academy product and he was there during their glory, glory days under chairman Peter Ridsdale. What players they had – think of names like Smith, Woodgate, Kewell, Maybury, Kelly, Bowyer, Harte and Radebe.

Paul came under the wing of brilliant, tough-but-fair youth coach Paul Hart and was toughened up by John Burridge at Durham City – in my opinion the most wonderfully nutty No1 in British football history. Paul explains how ‘Budgie’ had a truly extraordinary enthusiasm for the beautiful game and a massive heart. An injury crisis handed Paul his first-team debut against Chelsea. He was only eighteen, but he loved every minute of it. Eventually, he would star against top Champions League teams, including a Barcelona side which featured the magical Rivaldo.

You will love this Big Interview with this engaging, thoughtful, articulate man.

Graham.

In part two, Sven chats more about Lazio’s famous Scudetto win in 2000. He and his players did their bit on the last day – then endured an agonising wait listening to the radio for Juventus to lose against Perugia.

At Sampdoria and Lazio, Roberto Mancini was Sven’s artist, a man who breathed football and went crazy when things went wrong. It was he and Gianluca Vialli who had insisted that Sven be their next manager at Samp.

We hear about Sven’s time as England coach – his one regret is that he didn’t employ a psychologist to focus on penalty shootouts. He did have the pleasure of getting to work with David Beckham, a man he thinks the world of. Sven even tried to sign Becks for Leicester City – but Victoria put the kybosh on that!

There’s chat about the magnificent Pavel Nedvěd, who was such a workaholic that Sven had to ban him from the Lazio training ground during the summer. Sven also describes how he had a contract to become Chelsea boss in front of him but pulled out after the tabloids got wind and accused him of treachery to the England cause. But he did the Blues one massive favour – he advised Roman Abramovich to buy the club instead of Spurs.

Lastly, we also find out about the ‘Gre-No-Li’; the three Swedes who set Italian football on fire during their spells at AC Milan in the 1950s.

Thanks, Sven. That was a special Big Interview.

Graham.

I travelled to Sven-Göran Eriksson’s home beside a glittering Swedish lake to hear about a glittering career. Sven managed numerous clubs, including both of Rome’s sides, and enjoyed more glory than Julius Caesar – notably four Coppa Italias, the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and, twenty years ago, a rare Serie A for Lazio.

Sven’s success was partly due to his willingness to listen to his players. Even a teenager – albeit the genius Clarence Seedorf – was allowed to give him advice. Much of our conversation was about Lazio’s extraordinary title win, but Sven’s passage to that club was only gained by jilting Blackburn, and he was eternally grateful to Rovers owner Jack Walker for being so understanding. By the time he had assembled his holy trinity – Roberto Mancini, Siniša Mihajlović and Juan Sebastián Verón – he knew Lazio would win the Scudetto.

That Serie A was won after a ding-dong battle with Carlo Ancelotti’s mighty Juventus – a club Sven snubbed. He also waxes lyrical about another managerial legend – Marcello Lippi.

Brilliant stuff.

Graham.

In part two of our conversation, Tim Sherwood delves into Blackburn’s incredible league win of ’95.

The race between Kenny Dalglish’s side and Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United team was epic, and no love was lost between the Glaswegian managers. It was a nerve-racking, ding-dong affair between real men which went down to the final day. Tim admits that Rovers would never have recovered if they had blown it. Incredibly, Blackburn had to train on a public park, regularly pausing their drills to let funeral corteges through to a nearby cemetery.

Tim is also great talking about his coaching and managerial career, not least identifying and developing youngsters. In his view, fledgling players need to go out on loan to toughen up and learn the ropes, but he prefers League One where they will get a game, rather than the Championship where they will warm the bench. Tim was foiled in his efforts to bring Isco and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Tottenham, but he was the sole voice at Spurs who kept the faith in a teenage Harry Kane.

Fascinating stuff from a great guy.

Graham