Graham's Blog

In part two of my extraordinary conversation with Víctor Sánchez, we hear about his heady days as a player and later a coach with little old Deportivo de La Coruña.

A sublimely talented Deportivo side won La Liga and put in some amazing European performances under the guidance of Javier Irureta, including turning round a 4-1 away deficit to AC Milan.

Also in part two: spoiling Real Madrid’s 100^th birthday party and how Victor coached his Depor side to an incredible 2-2 draw in the Nou Camp to avoid relegation.

I caught up with Víctor Sánchez del Amo in Madrid, the city in which he enjoyed a miraculous first big season as a two-footed winger for Real. Via a training-ground revolution, Fabio Capello instilled a unity of purpose and suddenly Los Blancos were La Liga champions.

The methods of the next short-lived boss, Jupp Heynckes, met with dressing-room resistance and league form collapsed. Yet it was that season in which Real ended their 32-year wait to be European champions. You could not make it up.

Here’s another chance to hear my interview with Ossie Ardiles from season five.

Ossie was a truly magical midfielder, who played for his hometown side Instituto de Córdoba while both doing his military service and attending university. The fact that he didn’t have time for politics may have saved his life – many of his fellow students were ‘disappeared’ during the darkest period of Argentina’s history.

There’s also amazing content about playing through injury to win the 1978 World Cup under legendary coach César Luis Menotti.

And we hear about life at Tottenham when war broke out between the UK and Argentina in 1982.

In part two of my interview with the superbly engaging Danny Murphy, we hear more about his relationship with the late former Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier, who guided the Reds to a famous cup treble.

We hear about Fulham’s incredible run to the 2010 Europa League Final under Roy Hodgson.

Also: amazing insights into analysing tactics and why midfielders who don’t take risks are just cowards.

Danny Murphy is one of television’s finest analysts, not entirely surprising for a man who played the beautiful game with such intelligence, vision and skill.

In part one of our conversation, Danny describes being taken to Anfield as a child and declaring to his father that one day he would grace the famous Liverpool jersey. He was as good as his promise.

After a glittering spell, the classy midfielder joined Charlton. It was ‘horrible’ being at Anfield again in an opposition jersey, although his last visit there as a player, with Fulham, was therapeutic, especially when the Kop sang his name.