 Simon, a whirlwind couple of days for you, just explain what's happened. Yeah, so I've been doing my rehab over the past few weeks since the boys last game at Everton. I've been in the following days and working hard to get my fitness back, come back after the small operation I'd had on my knee. And then myself and Jayce had a conversation on Friday in the office and the club felt moving forward that there wasn't an opportunity to renew my contract, my playing contract. And whilst I was obviously disappointed, I respected the decision. I know which way the club is moving. I know it wants to move forward again and get back to the top as soon as possible. And like I said, of course, I was disappointed. I'd love to carry on my playing years at this club, the club that I love. But it was a decision I had to respect. And here we are now, yeah, a few days later. Not possibly the end of the road? No, I hope not. Not playing wise. I want to get back to full fitness, which is hopefully a few weeks away. See what level I'm at then. See what opportunities there are. Obviously, that plays a big part. I think in the current climate, it's going to be hard for a lot of players to find new football clubs, regardless of their age or coming off the back of an injury. So I think it would be tough for me. It might be a waiting game, certainly. The transfer window won't close till October. And then it will come down to if I actually want to wait that long, or I want to explore other opportunities. So we'll see. Are there any other opportunities, possibly at AFC Bournemouth? Yeah, there's been some potential talks behind the scenes. I mean, I'd love to stay at the football club without a doubt, whether that's now or in a year's time after continue playing. But the club know that. I know that. I think I could offer a lot to the football club having just come out of the game, having just come out of the dressing room with all those players. And I feel the club needs that experience and that know-how of being in the dressing room, especially coming out of the game so quickly. So I hope I can offer that, if that is a role that is talked about. But we will see over the next couple of weeks. You said that you'd love to stay at the club. Just take yourself back to November 2011 when you sat on the bench and watched a 6-0 defeat by Brentford in the Football League trophy. Did you love the club then? I won't say I loved it now. I was looking around thinking what I've got myself into. But it's funny really because it was a step down for me at the time. I came from Charlton on a stroke of luck really. And the story goes that it was Bournemouth or Carlisle for me on loan. And as soon as I mentioned Carlisle to Mrs. She broke down in tears. We were out at dinner and that's a true story. She was crying saying we can't go to Carlisle. So then I rang Brad as I said, yeah, I'm on my way down. It suits me. And I have to thank Lee Bradbury for that. I always do. Me, Simon, I think Nathan Byrne got injured at the time. So I was quite fortunate. Came down, played a few games on loan. Sat on the bench for that first cup game. And I loved it straight away. I loved the area. I loved the group of the lads that were already there. Some of the boys that are still there now. And ex-players as well. And I felt a real sense of like a family style atmosphere. I've never experienced before at a football club. And straight away I knew that this is a place I wanted to be for years to come. I think the team were in the bottom half of League One when you came down and you debuted in the FA Cup against Gillingham and went on to lose that replay. Things weren't really all going in the club's favour in those days. No, they weren't. It was certainly turbulent times. You know, obviously Lee Bradbury came out of the job and Paul Groves came in. And I would actually say he implemented a style of football that suited us, the squad that we had and then Eddie inherited. We started to pass the ball a lot more. We had a good squad at the time. You know, the money was coming into the football club slowly, but surely there was obviously Max Stenham coming in behind the scenes. And it was looking a little bit more stable. It was looking comfortable. And then for me the icing on the cake was when Eddie walked back through the door. You could just tell instantly it was almost overnight or it was his first day in. I always remember his first day when we had to walk down to the beach and he spoke to everybody individually. Had a real impact on every single player that day. And you could just tell in training the intensity just went up straight away. Went on a great run of games and that was when the belief started coming in that we could do something special. You've touched on it there, but played for three different managers in the space of 11 months. That must be quite unsettling for a player. Yeah, it wasn't ideal. I remember Fletch, he won't like me for saying this, but I think the second day I was there he stepped down as assistant to carry on playing and got really emotional about it. And I'd just been on the bench for that 6-0 defeat to Brentford and I just couldn't get my head round what was happening. So it was certainly an exciting few weeks just to say the least. But like I said, over the coming months there was definitely more stability coming into it and the manager coming back was the real high point without a doubt. All the players knew that. Like I said, he was the first to admit he inherited a really good squad. A lot of ability in there. We'd spent a bit of money on some important players at the time. Myself, Cookie and Chazz all joined at a similar time. And then the manager added real quality over the coming years and we just went from strength to strength. And you obviously caught his eye in the first game he took charge of. You scored a thunderous drive which whistled past the Tramir goalkeeper. Yeah, one of not many that I've scored over the past few years and that'll probably be one of my biggest regrets that I've never scored in the Premier League. My son always goes on about it. Can I watch your goals back and some of them are so blurry that long ago. A couple in the championship, Wigan and Bolton I think. The Tramir one which is probably one of my favourites actually. But yeah, no Premier League goal to my name which is a slight disappointment but doesn't tarnish anything that I've done at the football club certainly. I'd love to have scored more goals but for some reason I just enjoyed getting forward and making assists really. Making the forefront of my mind to bomb on and try to help the team out in that way. Promotion obviously at the end of the 2012-2013 season you got what you'd wanted. Yeah, without a doubt. Like I said with the manager walked back through the door we really had a sense of belief. We had some really good players who I thought straight away could play higher instantly and I think the manager believed that as well. And went on a great run of form when a lot of games changed our style, our philosophy almost instantly and it suited the group of players down to the ground. And even when we were right out of league one we just knew that we'd be good in the championship. We probably lacked a little bit of physicality that showed in the first few games I think Watford and Huddersfield would be fairly heavily so we knew yet to add that to our side of the game. But we did that and we competed really well in our first season but we always knew there was more to come. Just in those first two seasons in the championship you only missed four league games in total as well. That was a proud attendance record if you like. Yeah, certainly. I started to change what I was doing off the field as well. I was certainly living better. I was eating the right foods. I'd had my daughter when we first moved down. She's nine now and that gives you that extra sense of responsibility certainly I think the lads who have got children will admit that gives you a more responsible role in and around the training ground on the pitch as well because you feel like you want to make your family proud, your children proud and that certainly was in my mind to do that and I thought what can I do to get the best out of my game to achieve the most out of my career at Bournemouth and that was certainly to change things off the field. Sleep better. I know the lads do it now, sleeping in a separate room in the night before a game just to ensure that you're at your best and eat the right foods. That was massive for me. I changed my diet. The club are great with that now over the past few years. It's been excellent, that's been in place and I really felt the benefits from that and staying injury free obviously, that plays a big part but I think everything I spoke about goes hand in hand with that. The players very quickly found their feet in the championship in that first season and then in the second season obviously promotion to the Premier League but it wasn't all plain sailing in that season. I think you were fifteenth in September before Arthur Borich arrived. Yeah, it was tough like I said we were still getting to grips with the physicality of it and we probably needed that experience. A lot of the players we had hadn't played a load of games in the championship and Arthur Borich coming in was just he just settled down everyone. You know the character he is. He's so relaxed, he's very laid back and he was exactly what we needed at the time. Played a huge part in coming in and just really making everybody more relaxed concentrated more. I know that sounds like the opposite but when we knew we had Arthur Borich behind us he'd let him down because he'd let you know about it if you made a mistake for sure and he did really well for us he was one of the pivotal reasons we got promoted so yeah another key signing for us. And a proud ever present record in the club's first season in the Premier League as well. Yeah well again I think it goes with how I was trying to change my lifestyle off the field I'd had the confidence from being promoted at the championship I knew I was doing the right things off the pitch I wanted to play as many games as I could I was chomping at the bit every single weekend to get out there and improve myself and I loved every minute of it I felt fit, I felt strong even coming up against some of the best players in the world in that season in the Premier League the Manchester City's away and Eden Hazard I remember having some really tough battles with him playing full back but I wanted to test myself at that point I felt like I was at a good level to be playing at and I loved every single minute of that first season. And the departure of one of your team-mates Tommy Elfic resulted in you getting the captain's armband that must have been a proud moment for you as well. Yeah it was a proud moment but also sad because me and Tommy got on really well so did the whole squad but he knew that he wasn't playing as many games as he would have liked to he knew he had to go and play some games Villa was a great move for him at the time and I'd had the armband a couple of times in the championship in his absence and then in the Premier League when he wasn't playing as well so I had an inkling that I might have got it on a permanent basis I felt like I'd done enough to get it but the manager kept me waiting for a few days in pre-season and the lads were kind of questioning it saying well I'm not sure if you're going to get it now you know you haven't been told anything so I was a little bit nervous and then he called me into his office and told me that he wanted me to have it on a full-time basis and I was absolutely delighted it was certainly one of the highlights of my career to be named club captain something that I took really seriously I felt I'd worked hard for it over the past few years like I spoke about and yeah it was something that made me very proud and I loved every minute of that Tommy says that the team that won the championship he thinks it was the best championship team of all time is it something that you would concur with? That's a big statement from Tom but that's Tommy for you because he backed everything that he believed in he was great like that he was a real motivator in the changing room and I'd say we had quite contrasting styles really as captains I learnt loads off him but I wasn't going to try and be somebody I wasn't so I wasn't going to be as vocal as him in the changing room but I wanted to try and lead by example on the pitch of my performances and off the pitch try and be a role model for a lot of the younger players and I felt I did that and there's no doubt about that season in the championship we were something special without a doubt the only team that I can see that has been close to that or the squad that have been close to that in recent years probably leads this season they've been phenomenal the last couple of seasons but they got their rewards this season Fulham obviously they've been great playing a great brand of football but it's funny everyone I speak to friends and family and fans around the area always talk about that championship season how excited it got them every single game that they love watching us play they love the partnerships we had in the team the relationships and that year was certainly one of the fondest memories of my career And what about leading the club to their highest Premier League finish as well? Yeah, again so many fond memories to talk of so many positives and I'm not really one for swapping shirts or getting things signed that kind of thing I probably wish I'd done it more actually and got a few more shirts signed with players I played against but I've got two shirts up in the gym signed by all the lads of that season when we finished ninth because it was a special season we ended really well we had some great results and it just felt like this was as not as far as we could come because the season after we felt we could go and play European football but I think we lost the first five games so that kind of went out of the window so I knew that had been a special season and definitely one to remember and again really proud to have played a part in that Not too many negatives that you spoke about but there was that fateful day against Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day where your footballing world came crashing down Yeah, it did I mean the ACL injury the one that all footballers fear many years ago it would have ended a lot of careers obviously it still can because there can be complications coming back from that you get reoccurring injuries afterwards you get other compensating injuries on the other leg or in and around the knee or anything can happen after an ACL that's for sure and I remember the day really clearly we'd had a lot of games in the build-up and I was playing full back and then right over back three at times and sent a half and I didn't feel as energetic or as fit as I had done in previous games and I knew those games were taking their toll on me whether that was an age thing or not but the squad I think we had a few injuries at the time so I was playing every single game the manager said he'd like to have rested me if he could but it just wasn't possible and the game before I think we might have played Liverpool at home and I bombed on an overlap and I was struggling to get back in and that wasn't like me and that's when I knew that I might not have been feeling as fit as before and then we played Tottenham away after and I just remember Sunday and a nice trick on me and my leg just gave way and instantly it was a pain that I'd never felt before a sharp stabbing pain that didn't go away and then the adrenaline must have kicked in that's what the doc said and the pain was almost gone and I thought I might have got away with it but as soon as I got to the hospital which was an hour later they diagnosed it a rupture of the ACL and yeah it was a long road back from there During that long road it was nine months in total were there ever any dark moments that you were going to get back here? Yeah, there was and I think any player who has that injury especially the older they get they'd probably be lying if they said they didn't because the first couple of months were an absolute nightmare I couldn't even get out of bed without getting crutches or feeling light headed I was using the game ready ice machine six times a day sleeping with it on swelling wasn't going down I went out to Philadelphia to lose cook and I had more problems with the back of my knee I couldn't straighten my leg out I was nine months into the rehab so there were times when I thought I wasn't going to get back and then I just I made one focus made one goal my aim and that was just to lead the lads out and I just wanted that at the front of my mind to be able to lead the lads out I was captain one more time wherever it is, whoever it's against and that was the closure that I wanted and I'd never told anyone that before but that would have been Chelsea away when I came back and we won away from home 1-0 with Gozzo's VAR goal that we had and after that game I remember sitting at home with a beer and I just said to myself if I don't achieve anything else then I know I've come back from an ACL at 33 years old and still captain the lads in the Premier League so that was a huge moment for me Two young kitties and a lovely wife surely I should imagine you had to lean on them a lot as well during those nine months Yeah I did and they were great they were the rock for me really my wife she certainly found it hard because she knows I'm a fairly strong character I don't often show my feelings so every day I'd say yeah I'm fine but inside she knew it was hurting me the kids didn't understand what was going on really they were at school my little boy was asking me to be in the garden every single day and I couldn't get out there I didn't even want to go out there at times so it was tough it really was but like I said the small light at the end of the tunnel was that fact that I could try and get out there one more time anything else would have been a bonus and then the worst part is that the other knee injury I had for the past few months was completely separate to the ACL it was done in the Brighton game at home I'd just chipped a bit of cartilage away from my kneecap and I just couldn't get that back to Norman to the operation recently so that was a really frustrating time for me as well because I think everybody else would have thought that was related to the ACL injury but it was and it was a completely new one and you said you didn't feature after lockdown because of the second knee injury as well what was that like watching the team empty stadiums not the best start to lockdown obviously picked up towards the end and then just failed to get over the line at the end probably the worst part of my career if I'm honest Neil it was worse than my ACL injury because I didn't actually know what was wrong with me the whole of lockdown I felt great I was cycling nearly every single day wasn't running or actually training as much as I probably should have but I felt that cycling would have been the best thing for my knee and just concentrating on gym work and then I came back in the first session back after lockdown it just flared up and just couldn't get it right again I was losing fitness again training once a week and then not being able to train again for the rest of the week and it was ridiculous the situation I was in so I demanded that I had to have the operation had to go and see the surgeon get it cleared out just for peace of mind more than anything and then to sit and watch the lads in empty stadiums was just it was a nightmare it was horrible really and I think that affected us definitely I mean we haven't got a massive stadium and we know that but we certainly relied on the atmosphere and I think that made a big difference for us down at the bottom we needed the fans more than ever and to not have them there was a huge blow you've seen quite a lot of the clubs medical staff in the past couple of years and I'm sure that you'd like to thank them for their efforts as well yeah there's so many people I'd like to thank of course the medical team I've worked with all of them on a day-to-day basis really high quality physios as well that I've had to put up with me and a few other lads that have been injured because we've had our fair share of injuries to be fair but there's a long list of thank you's of course and I'll let them people know as well definitely with phone calls and text messages not just the medical team players other staff members for sure and of course the fans who have been so loyal over the years Eddie Howe obviously stepped down at the end of the season and has been replaced by Jason Tindall just give us a word on both of those guys and how they've played a key role in your career yeah I mean where do I start especially with Eddie obviously I think what's really interesting is that they're quite contrasting characters and I think they've said that recently as well the manager is definitely a realist and he likes to think worst case scenario just to be prepared and Jason's always a positive guy and he can see the positive in any situation I think that's why he would be successful at the football club certainly with Steven Purchase by his side that would be a great appointment a really good coach and a good friend as well but to talk about Eddie I could talk for hours about him to be honest without a doubt the best manager the best coach I've ever played for the manager who made me believe I could play in the Premier League because before he came back to the football club I was trying to carve out a career in League 1 and at best in the championship until he spoke to me on the first day back down at the beach and said that he thought I was one of the best fullbacks he'd seen play and I don't think any manager had ever said that to me and from then on I thought I'd run through brick walls for him and I tried my hardest every day for him worked hard his style and his philosophy at the football club suited us down to the ground and we worked very hard for him but he worked even harder for us trying to get the best out of us and he certainly did that Jason's made it quite clear that he's going to be his own man but also he said that there's a lot he can take from Eddie into his managerial career Well why wouldn't he I mean the success that he's had with Eddie and being able to learn all those years with him there's certainly coaching styles of his that stand out for me he was a good defensive coach he worked on set plays really well and he feels like he's going to be the man for the job and I can't see why not to be honest in the short turnaround we have and to bring in a new manager who doesn't necessarily know the history and the philosophy of the football club would be hard now I think with the championship season starting soon and then the amount of games we're going to have I think it was the right option without a doubt to bring Jason in because he knows this course so well we need to hit the ground running there's no doubt about that we want to bounce back straight away and I say we because I'm still talking like I'm there or maybe as a fan because that's what I am now without a doubt I want to get to as many games as possible and watch the boys and help in any way I can and yeah I think Jason's going to be the right man 644 career appearances more than 300 for Bournemouth give us your favourite Bournemouth performance wow that's a good question there's loads to choose from Neil honestly I mean I'd love to say any of the Premier League ones I think the first win away from home at Chelsea was massive when we won 1-0 and Glen Norrie popped up I got man of a match that night and that was a really big moment that was when I genuinely believed that we were capable of staying in the Premier League and I thought myself that I could be a Premier League player for a few years with the club there was the three assists against Leeds in the championship that stands out on a personal level the Charlton game was massive for me that was definitely up there when we got promoted to go back to a team that said that I wasn't good enough to play for them and then to go up as champions at Charlton away that was one of my proudest moments as well so it's tough I'll go with the Charlton one on the last day of the season Brilliant well thanks very much for your time and on behalf of everybody supporters, staff, players as well I'd like to thank you for your outstanding service to the club down the years it's been an absolute pleasure to deal with you Thank you Neil, thank you