a good impression. It was a massive game for
the club, but it was also my chance to prove
I could be a key player. Luckily, we managed
to play a fantastic home game and won 3-0.
It was the perfect debut for me.How did your 2006 move to Liverpool come
about? Were you happy to rejoin Benitez?
I was over the moon. I stayed at Valencia for
another three years after he left, so when he
called me I wasn’t expecting it. The Premier
League was getting bigger and I’d dreamt of
playing in England, as I admired the culture.
It was an unforgettable experience.Did you enjoy playing with Steven Gerrard?
When people ask me to pick the best players
I’ve worked with in my career, Gerrard is top.
Not only because of his abilities on the pitch,
but for the man he is. He’s always been a role
model for everyone at Liverpool. Leadership
comes naturally to him because he leads by
example. When you see such a talented and
important player like him working hard every
day, being the best professional possible, how
could you not respect the guy? He’s a legend
and still a very humble person. I was a big fan
of his football qualities as well. He was class.You lost 3-0 to Everton in one of your early
Liverpool appearances. What was that like?
Awful. The Merseyside Derby is so important
for both teams and the city itself. The rivalry
is intense and losing 3-0 to Everton can’t be
sweet – it’s tough to describe the feeling. We
were supposed to be the favourites, but just
couldn’t play any good that day. I remember
all the disappointment in our dressing room.Peter Crouch remains a big character in the
game even after retirement. What was he
like to train and play with?
He’s a funny lad. I listen to his podcasts now
and again. I used to laugh a lot at his robot
dances. I could see it a million times and still
find it hilarious watching the big man dancing
like that. Peter is so friendly and he was a top
striker too. It was great to be his team-mate.Craig Bellamy, meanwhile, was known for
being feisty. Was he scary?
Well, there’s that story of Bellamy and John
Arne Riise in the Algarve. It was mad. Bellamy
lost his mind and went to Riise’s room to hithim with a golf club! We were all relaxing in
Portugal before a Champions League game
against Barcelona, then the police turned up
at our hotel. Rafa was going crazy, but luckily
it didn’t escalate. We played Barça and Craig
scored. The funny thing is that John took part
in the build-up to the goal. Craig celebrated
by swinging an imaginary golf club – the fans
were a bit confused, but the players weren’t.Should you have won the title in 2008-09?
I think we would if there had been two more
matchdays at the end. We weren’t consistent
enough over the whole season – at one point,
Rafa’s job was even under a bit of pressure.
The turning point came in a week when we
beat Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford
after beating Real Madrid 4-0 at home. From
that moment on, we felt it would be hard to
beat us. Unfortunately, we still finished four
points behind United.What did you make of Benitez’s infamous
‘facts’ speech aimed at Sir Alex Ferguson?
Did the players talk about it?
Yeah we did, it was pretty funny. We weren’t
expecting it and Rafa definitely knew what
he was doing. It was funny how many times
he used the word ‘fact’. The media made fun
of him, but it was a turning point. Somehow it
gave us a boost for the following games. We
improved our football from that moment on,
too. That’s another fact! [Laughs]How special were those European nights at
Anfield? Is it the best atmosphere around?
From my experience, I’ve never played in one
better than Anfield. I’m not just saying it as
a former Liverpool player; I also went there
as an opponent, for Valencia. There’s no fans
quite like Liverpool’s and European nights are
huge there – I miss it very much. I remember
seeing the famous comeback against Barça
on TV. These types of results are more likely
to happen at Anfield, and the 4-0 victory over
Real was more or less the same atmosphere.
The pressure on the visiting side is incredible.What do you remember about that 2011
night when Andy Carroll replaced Fernando
Torres? Were the Liverpool players gutted
about Torres leaving?
We didn’t expect him to go, but it was a big
offer [from Chelsea]. Torres had an amazing
history at the club, and it’s never easy when
you lose such a key player. Liverpool signed
Carroll, but things didn’t go too well for him.
Carroll came with a lot of expectations after
a great spell at Newcastle, but he couldn’t
replicate that. Luis Suarez also arrived and
filled that space left by Torres. The supporters
only overcame Torres’ absence with Suarez.Was Suarez as fiery off the pitch as on it?
His house in Liverpool was opposite mine, so
we had a very close relationship. Luis is such
a calm man off the pitch, but then he seems
to be another person on it. It’s really hard to
associate some episodes of his career to the
guy I shared many moments with away from
football. He’s a sweet man who doesn’t show
any bad behaviour off the pitch.You broke through at Wolves as a teenager
during a time when the club suffered three
successive relegations. How hard was that
at such a young age?
It was all right when I first got there, because
I’d left school to be an apprentice and it was
still quite a well-run club that had just been
relegated from the First Division. I made my
debut in the Second Division, but then things
started to go awry financially. John Burridge
was the goalkeeper, but he joined Sheffield
United and Wolves couldn’t afford to bring in
a replacement, so I got a contract. I was 17
and missed only three matches that season
[1984-85], but we were down by Easter and
conceded 80-odd goals – though I won player
of the year. I was so naive that I didn’t think
about losing, because I was playing. Looking
back, it was a valuable upbringing – we were
backs-to-the-wall busy and always having to
deal with disappointment and defeat.Your performances at Wolves earned you
a move to the top tier with Southampton.
You were there when Matt Le Tissier and
Alan Shearer emerged – could you tell how
good they were going to be?
They’re a couple of years younger than me,
but we were in the reserves together at first.
I was going up against them in training and
they were prodigious talents. Al wasn’t really
a goalscorer at Southampton – he was more
the lad who ran the channels, and it was Le
Tissier and Rod Wallace who got all the goals.
Le Tiss never changed. He was a real laidback
Larry who could do anything with a ball: he
could pick up a golf club and go round in two
over par, pick up a snooker cue and get a 50Interview Chris EvansThe Three Lions shot-stopper
talks Le Tissier genius, Euro 96
and Blackburn’s title winnersTIM FLOWERS
“On THE InFAMOUS
‘DEnTIST CHAIR’
nIGHT OUT, ME AnD
SHEARER STAYED
BEHInD TO FInISH
OFF OUR CHInESE”
94 December 2021 FourFourTwo