YOU will all have your opinions on how our guests would rank in terms of footballing ability in their prime. I happen to think that we have talked to some who are hall of famers in any company but, occasionally, a name will come up which causes them to draw breath.
This collection is dedicated to the moments when we got to talk about one of the all-time greats, sometimes with someone who had a unique angle from which to examine those special talents.
Lionel Messi is discussed by Gary Neville, a man whose job it is to find new ways to describe what it is that this genius does, while Graeme Souness and Peter Beardsley also talk about the little Argentine. Below is a video of the very warm-up routine that enchanted Peter and which he talks about in this clip show.
Paul Clement worked closely with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and provides an insight into the work ethic of the Portuguese, while Harry Redknapp recalls how Gareth Bale was transformed into an international superstar.
Darren Fletcher then talks about Wayne Rooney, while Kevin Bridges and Charlie Nicholas discuss two Celtic greats, Henrik Larsson and Danny McGrain, respectively. Joe Jordan also remembers the impact John Charles had on Italian football.
CHRIS Sutton is miles away. We have been recording this Big Interview in one of the executive boxes at an empty Carrow Road but Chris has allowed his mind to wander to Anfield, the memory of one day in May 1995 playing out on the pitch below him. His contribution on the afternoon Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League title has been preserved in a number of flickering YouTube videos but this replay is a private screening.
Blackburn lost on the final day of that historic season – Jamie Redknapp whipped a free-kick past Tim Flowers in injury time to seal a 2-1 win for Liverpool – and yet walked off the pitch as championship winners, with title rivals Manchester United frustrated by West Ham.
The matches had been played simultaneously and news of the stalemate at Upton Park would reach the Blackburn fans before their side’s match on Merseyside was over. Their gleeful cries broadcast the club’s success on to the pitch, with the Blackburn players turning to embrace one another even before the final whistle sounded. It was the final act of one of the most incredible campaigns in the history of England’s top flight.
In this podcast, Chris takes us behind the scenes of that season to more fully explain just how the league was won in 1994/95. He covers his £5 million move to Ewood Park and how it came about, and recalls significant matches against Everton and United. He also discusses his infamous decision to dive into a car while on a night out, as well as the subsequent reactions of his father, Mike, and manager Kenny Dalglish.
But as Chris breaks down that campaign, he reveals three key elements which won Blackburn their first title of the Premier League era. He acknowledges the character of that special team and how it was exemplified by captain Tim Sherwood; he discusses the steady leadership of Dalglish; and, of course, Chris talks about his formidable – and often misunderstood – partnership with Alan Shearer.
Chris arrived from Norwich City for a record English transfer fee and, after an unremarkable pre-season, came to form a strike pairing with Shearer which would become known simply as SAS. They contributed 49 goals between them as Blackburn chased down the title – Shearer finished as the league’s top scorer, finding the net 34 times – but they were not such a dynamic duo off the pitch.
“There was always a perception, throughout the time that I played with Alan, that we didn’t get on. Well, we did,” Chris says Part Two of this Big Interview. “We just didn’t go to the pub for meals and I think people made far too much of that as an issue. People go to work in an office every day and are more friendly with some colleagues than others, aren’t they? That was the case at Blackburn, but everybody got on.
“Alan wasn’t afraid of missing – and he didn’t miss very often – a lot like Henrik Larsson. Their mentalities were both very similar. I was ruthless but, when I played alongside Alan at Blackburn and then Henrik at Celtic, I knew that they wanted to be number one. They wanted to finish as the top goalscorer – and I don’t think that bothered me to the same extent that it bothered them. Maybe that was a weakness in my character.”
It did not diminish his contribution to a successful season 22 years ago, when he provided to be the ideal foil for Shearer. The video below shows just how effective their partnership was:
Watch closely and you will also notice Sherwood getting in on the act, hair swept back and driving his team forward from midfield. He was one of a number of strong personalities in that Blackburn dressing room but, as captain, perhaps best personified the side which would become league champions.
“What I liked about Tim was that he would tell you the truth,” Chris says in this podcast. “All the players respected him; he wasn’t a loud mouth but when Tim Sherwood spoke, you listened. He demanded more and that was a big, big part of why we won the league. Like a lot of the players in that dressing room, Tim epitomised what Blackburn were about at that time.”
And yet the club might still have come up short had it not been for Dalglish. Indeed, Blackburn had gone clear at the top of the league, only to falter later in the season – a dip in form which allowed United to press the Ewood Park side all the way to the final minutes of the campaign.
As their lead eroded, Dalglish stood firm. He backed his players in the press and Chris remembers a figure who was always calm and confident in front of his team, a signal that his faith in them was absolute. Their spirits were also lifted by the Scot’s repartee with his compatriot and Old Trafford counterpart, Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Throughout that title-winning season he had that war of words with Ferguson. Some of their spats… it was tit for tat and they were both so brilliant in how they handled it,” Chris recalls.
“And Kenny was absolutely a leader. We nearly blew up when we went ahead in the league and we couldn’t have wished for a better figurehead at that time. When I looked at him, he was immovable, solid. We were crumbling and his team talks didn’t change; his confidence in us was always there.”
IF things had turned out a little differently for Chris Sutton, he would have ended up pushing pens and paperclips at Norfolk County Council instead of terrorising defenders in Scotland and England for over a decade.
Chris uses the word “character” a lot and, in this podcast, we explore how his was forged – from an initial rejection from Norwich City to his dad’s boot camp approach to physical fitness.
We also discuss his experiences as a promising young cricketer and his particularly uncompromising youth team coach at Norwich.
There are stories about Sri Lankan cricketer Ravi Pushpakumara and Andy Theodosiou’s brutal tackles. Chris also explains how to mark Alan Shearer as a centre-half and why he would not want Efan Ekoku in his five-a-side team.
This is a side to Chris Sutton that not many people have heard before.
THIS compilation show is about how teams bond – a key element of almost every winning side that I’ve reported on and one which, I think, sometimes gets overlooked.
We do not start on the pitch but in the studio, as Charlie Nicholas tells us that Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday show depends on camaraderie as much as any dressing room he was a part of.
We also go sheep herding with Eddie Howe and play video games with Havoc, better known as Michael Carrick.
Gordon Strachan explains that the team that wins together does not necessarily have to drink together, while Michael O’Neill describes how he created the team spirit in his Northern Ireland squad.
And there is Peter Beardsley, who takes us to the race course as he relives an unconventional warm up routine ahead of an FA Cup match.
MARK Noble grew up with a football field for a back garden. Or at least he did once his dad had a secret gate installed behind the house, so that Mark could take a ball and sneak on to the grounds of a school.
It was not too long before he was stepping out at Upton Park. Or should that be the Boleyn Ground? Either way, in Part Two of his Big Interview, Mark talks about that famous old stadium and the final game there, against Manchester United under the lights.
Mark has kept a photograph from that night – a picture of the West Ham fans looking on as he shields the ball to help see out the game.
He remains connected to his support, his community, and Mark talks eloquently about the social housing projects being undertaken by the Legacy Foundation, which he founded alongside two other London boys: Bobby Zamora and Rio Ferdinand.
Mark is a good footballer and a good man. And this is a great Big Interview.
