FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

UPFROnT

Do you regret staying on for a second
season as Birmingham boss?
Steven Hunter, Redditch
You do afterwards, but you can’t look
back and think like that. I only did three
games at first – they’d gone more than
20 games without winning, and we had
to win two of the last three matches to
stay up. We did it. The following season,
it was difficult. I signed players very late
in the window – lots of loans, and I took
three players from Brentford. They were
only there for one match before I left.
I was shocked by that, but about three
games into the season, I had a feeling
I wasn’t going to last very long. Having
meetings with the people there, they
thought they were just going to win the
league. I think I would have done very
well there in the long term, though.

Your FA Cupwinner’smedalandyour

crown fromtheI’mA Celebrityjungle

are both ina housefire.Youcanonly

save one –whichdoyougofor?

Ben Finney,viaFacebook

The FA Cupmedal.I haven’tevengot

the crown fromthejungle– I leftit

there! I’d neverseenonesecondofthe

programme,sodidn’thavea cluewhat

I was lettingmyselfinfor.I askedNeil

Ruddock andhesaid,“It’sthehardest

thing I’ve donein mylife.It wasfucking

horrible – youdon’tgetanyfood.”I’d

been sayingtoSandra,“Ofcourseyou’ll

get food. There’llbea caravan– yougo

off air, havea cupoftea,thenbackon

set.” She said,“I don’tthinkit’slikethat”

and she wasright!Theywerelongdays.

It was nicetobevotedasthewinner–

I didn’t havea cluewhatwasgoingon

outside.I wouldasktheguards,“How’s

thefootballgoing,lads?”I knewthey

werefootballfans,buttheycouldn’ttell

youanything!Youreallywerecutoff.

Whatareyourfeelingsaboutthetime

atPompeywithAlexandreGaydamak?

Youwerepartofa verysuccessfulera

whichpavedthewayforitsdownfall,

too.Anyregrets?

JeanRobertTankred,viaFacebook

Notreally.I don’tseehowit wentwrong

forPompey,becauseif yougothrough

theplayersI bought,probablytheonly

playerwelostmoneyonwasJohn

Utaka,andhe

stayedforabout

fiveseasons.

LassanaDiarra

cost£4mand

wassoldfor

£22m.Sylvain

Distinwasfree

andsoldfor

£6m.Glen

Johnsoncost

£4mandwas

soldfor£18m.

SulleyMuntari

wassoldfor

morethanwe

paidforhim.

SolCampbell

wasfreeand

ona thirdof

thewageshe

hadearned

atArsenal.We

didn’toverspend.

Wemademoney.

Theywerestill

buyingplayersafter

I left.TheproblemwasthatGaydamak

wasn’tputtinganymoneyintotheclub.

Peoplehavecriticisedyouforwhat

happenedafteryouleftPortsmouth

andBirmingham– doesit annoyyou

whenyougetblamedforfinancial

problemsatclubs?

HarryTinnion,Coventry

Yes.AtBirmingham,thechairmantold

meI had£20mtospendandI spent

£11m,whichisn’ta fortune.It’sallthe

peoplewhorunthefootballclubs,the

chairmen.Peopleshouldtakea lookat

thefactsbeforetheydrawconclusions.

Who was the toughest managerial

opponent in your career?

Owain Walker, Derby

Who had the best team? Alex Ferguson.

Before the game, though, we’d go into

his office, watch a bit of horse racing

and have a bet. When the players go

out for the warm-up, that’s the worst

time as a manager, because you don’t

know what to do with yourself. We’d sit

in his office and watch a bit of racing.

Which team would you have loved to

become manager of?

Garry Robinson, via Facebook

Liverpool. With the fans

and the atmosphere,

it’s second to none.

I always thought

the‘wheelerdealer’

tagwasunfair– you

gaveopportunities

toplayerssuchas

MichaelCarrick,Rio

Ferdinand,Jermain

DefoeandJoeCole.

Didit annoyyou?

‘DaveVillaboy’,

viaFacebook

Yeah,it did.I bought

playersbecauseI’d

alwaysbeatclubs

whowerestruggling

• that’swhyyouget
  thejob.Youcan’tsit
  thereandsay,‘The
  team’srockbottom
  oftheleague,butI’m
  thissupercoachand
  amgoingtochange
  everythingwiththe
  samerubbishside’.It doesn’thappen,
  andif peoplethinktheycandoit,that’s
  whymanagerskeepgettingsacked.It’s
  allaboutgoodplayers,soyou’vegotto
  improvethesquad.

Areyouofficiallyretirednow?

PaulaRoberts,Epsom

Yeah.I’vehadenough.Evengoinginas

anadvisor,I don’tthinkit’ssomething

I’dwanttodo.I’lljustgoandfollowmy

friendslikeFrank,andKevinBondis at

Southend– I’llgoandseetheirteams.

‘TheWorldAccordingToHarry’is outnow

Clockwise from left

“Frank! How’d you fancy

the Derby job?”; keeping

Birmingham up in 2017;

prowling the touchline

for Spurs at Real Madrid

HIgHS & LOWS

HIGH: 1987

Guides Bournemouth into second

tier for first time in their history

LOW: 2005

Relegation with Southampton

after controversial St Mary’s move

HIGH: 2008

Wins FA Cup final against Cardiff

after returning to Portsmouth

LOW: 2012

Misses out on the England job,

and then sacked by Tottenham

HIGH: 2014

Wins Championship play-off

final with QPR against Derby

LOW: 2017

Sacked by Birmingham, eight

games into the league season

FourFourTwo September 2019 11

ASK A QUESTION, WIN A SHIRT!

Follow @FourFourTwo on Twitter and

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interviewees. Whoever asks the Star

Question each month wins a classic

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courtesy of classicfootballshirts.co.uk

+STAR QUESTION +

Which player would win the most

bushtucker trials on I’m a Celebrity?

Ollie Davis, via Instagram

Scott Parker would do it, wouldn’t he?

[FFT: Who’d struggle?] Adel Taarabt,

probably! [Laughs] The hardest trial

I did was the one with rats all over me

• I don’t like rats! But it was the last
  trial and I thought, ‘Fuck it – in a few
  days, I’ll be in Dubai with Sandra’.