 Hello and welcome to the new season of the Coaching Manual podcast hosted by me, Danny Mills. Today I'm joined by former Wimbledon, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Leeds United, Don Castant, AFC, Wimbledon goalkeeper, Neil Sullivan. Neil made over 500 appearances as a professional and had 28 caps for Scotland during his long career. He was also included in the Scotland 1998 World Cup squad in France who opened the tournament against Brazil. Neil is now a goalkeeper coach at the Leeds United Academy. So Neil, absolutely delighted that you've come in. Let's take you back to beginning, not quite beginning of life, but beginning of football. I suppose, you know, again, like every kid playing grassroots football, what got you into football? Well, I mean, really right at the beginning was when school holidays, you used to go to the park and play with your mates. I've got two brothers used to play in the back garden, just football was the only thing to do really. Younger brothers, older brothers? I've got one younger, one older. So what we used to do, we'd play in the gardens, we'd go over to the park and school holidays until it got dark and you had to run back and you didn't miss tea. Just the usual stuff kind of growing up and then as it progresses, you get into playing school football. Then you get Saturday clubs and, you know, it's just the normal kind of routine really. Were you always a goalkeeper? Because that's why I mentioned your brothers. I was thinking, if you've got two older brothers, they'd probably picked on you and made you go in goal. But you're a big lad now. I'm assuming you're a big lad then and you weren't going to get bullied by them to go in goal. No, no, we just took interns really. I used to play out on pitch. I was a bit of a midfield dynamite for one of my teams and then realised running around was stupid really, so I went and stood in goal. And the teams I played for, the better sides, I played in goal, so I kind of stuck with that really. And then that took you through into professional football or elite level. What sort of age did you get picked up for that? Well, it was different. They didn't have academies like they do now when they pick you up under six, under seven and you go through and stay at one club. It was very much a... I played statley football team for my local borough, which was Merton Borough. From there, I played for Sunday football for my local team, which was Oakway Sports, which was another local team. And I paid for a pub team from Reigns Park where I grew up with on a Sunday. So that was interesting when I was kind of 13, 14, 15 playing against football. You had to stand outside afterwards, I take it. I wouldn't allowed in. Yeah, I wouldn't allowed back in. But I played for them. That was interesting. I planned against a load of hungover men. That was quite a good way into football. But what it was where I was playing for Merton Borough, we had quite a good side by people like Graham Stewart was in our team, Jason Cundy was in our team and we got to a few finals and they were played at Plough Lane, which was the old Wimbledon ground. And I just got spotted there as a goalkeeper and from probably 14, 15, 16 I left school and went and done the YTS at Wimbledon. So quite late in terms of this day and age of getting picked up. One of the, we spoke to other players and stuff and obviously the big thing now about is kids overplaying. Like me, you, Jonathan Green that we spoke to recently, there was no such thing as overplaying. You played morning, noon and night and when you weren't playing with your mates you were home kicking a ball against the wall. Have we gone a bit too far in terms of overplaying at times? I think the thing is there's so many ways to measure overplaying now and fatigue and you know, I'd have a GPS, everyone's got a GPS, I mean you're not a GPS, you just went over the park run, you got on your bike, went up to the park, Please don't tell me goalkeepers have a GPS on. No, no, thank goodness for that. No, no, I think there is a special one actually, they can tell how many times you hit the floor and all that, but sometimes it can be too far. You know, when you're just wanting to play football, that was it, you was out in the back garden or you was out over the park with your mates, that was it and sometimes I was playing four games over a weekend. So I'd play for my local side, my borough side on a Saturday morning then I'd play another game for school, maybe Saturday afternoon then I'd play Sunday morning for Oakway which was my local club side and then I'd go and play on the pub team. That's brilliant isn't it? So obviously you're now 14, 15, 16 years old, you're at Wimbledon, you go through that process and then obviously you join the Crazy Gang full on. I mean that must have been incredible experience in many ways but quite difficult as well I imagine. It was tough but it was brilliant at the same time. There was always something going on there but it was hard and you had to grow up, I think helping playing in the pub team with a load of hungover men was quite enlightening and then going to Wimbledon and the Crazy Gang as an apprentice and the YTS. It was no different. It was similar, few hangovers actually, but it was enjoyable. You know it was tough, you knew your place as a scholar, as an apprentice, the jobs you had to do, the way you were treated. Dave Besson was there? Dave Besson was a goalkeeper so I was there. The year they won the FA Cup in 1988 was my second year as a scholar so I joined as a pro that year. So 86 to 88 I was not a scholar that was a YTS back then. And obviously you broke into the first team? Quite late. I had one game when I was 21, just played one game, then another one when I was 23. Which to put it in context, I say back in the day we're actually not that old. But for young players to break in before 2021 was quite unusual. You had to be exceptional. I suppose Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler that was scoring a goal. But in general it was always considered that getting into the first team was maybe 22-23 sort of area. Yeah, pretty much. And don't forget you didn't have like an under-21 side or an under-23 side which you do now where you get that progression through that and you get a lot of games. We were playing, if you weren't in the first team on a Saturday you played in reserves on a Wednesday. And that was made up of senior pros who weren't getting a game and young kids who were coming through. So the challenges of the reserve games you were getting were, I would suggest, a bit high quality and a bit tougher because you were playing against seasoned pros. And how good were those goalkeepers that you worked with and how much did you learn from them as a young player? Dave Bessam was obviously there. Hans Sagers was there? Yeah, then Hans Sagers came in and again, I mean it's funny saying now but you know goalkeeping coaches weren't invented back then. You didn't have a specific goalie coach, a full-time goalie coach. So you were just learning off each other and you were watching people and we had a goalie coach come in one day a week on a Monday. His name was Alex Walsh and he was very good. He taught me the technical aspect of goalkeeping before then. You were just literally making out as you go along, you know, if a ball comes in you try to catch it and that was it. And then he came in one day a week. So it's a little bit harder than that. It is a little bit harder but it's fundamentally that's what you're trying to do but you're trying to teach yourself it. So a lot of it was self-taught? Yeah, well it had to be because like you say, you didn't have a full-time goalkeeping coach. And how did it, I mean that era that sort of huge crossover when the back pass was suddenly outlawed. You know now we're talking about sweeper keepers and Edison, you know, bringing it down, chesting it down, volleying it out to wing backs and whatever. Is it now completely different to how it was? And I suppose that must be the biggest change in any position in football. The back pass rule changed goalkeeping forever. Yeah, and it took a lot to get used to. There are keepers now that still aren't used to it, let's be honest. Yeah, it's tough and you know, when you asked about a goalkeeper you say, oh can he catch a ball, what size is it? Now it's how good is it with his feet before they even think about whether he can save the ball. And that's just the way it changed. I mean, I was at Wimbledon as well where even when the back pass was brought in it wasn't, you'd never play it, you'd just lump it as far as you could. There's a bit more to it than that, but you know, that's the way we were. I broke my leg through the first season of the back pass. I got a back pass that I couldn't pick up. Obviously I went and swung through and kicked my leg through and got straight leg and that was it. I broke my leg and that was from probably the early start not being used to the back pass rule. Well, I think used to it. And even as defenders we would tell, don't give it a keeper. Yeah. Unless he's got 10 minutes of time and you can play the perfect ball. Because also the pitches back then. I was just going to say the pitches were horrendous. And you know, I think we all look back on old FA Cup videos, especially that we see a lot of. And you just look at that mud pit right down the centre of the pitch. The goalkeeper was a quagmire. It was just horrendous. To deal with it nowadays is much easier. To deal with what you had to deal with was almost impossible. Yeah, it was tough. And like you say, you wouldn't give it back to the goal. Especially me. You wouldn't get it if you did. It was one touch and that was it. But that was tough to get used to. And like you say, some goalkeepers still find it hard. But the best ones now are phenomenal. That part of the team and they set attacks up and fantastic. I don't want to give you cold sweats or whatever. But I can't talk about it with one of those without talking about the Beckham goal. I suppose it was the first time. It wasn't the first time it had ever been tried. But it was the first time it had ever really happened. And you weren't that far off your line at the time. No, it was. Was it just completely unexpected? Yeah, it was. I mean, it was the end of the game. I think we were too kneeled down that it was literally in the injury time. And we were seeing the game out. And yeah, as soon as it came off his foot, you kind of go, oh, this is going to be close to this. But also realised I was nowhere near it anyway if it was going to go in. But yeah, it was. But I think being at club like Wimbledon helped in many respects. We went and worked on the Monday and obviously I was getting slaughtered. I didn't get a great deal of press. But you know, being at Wimbledon, they just hammered me. And that was it and it helped you get over it. That's what I mean. Because we've seen a lot of similar goals since David Seaman did it. I think it was Naeem, wasn't it? He scored even further out. And actually, he had more opportunity to maybe stop it. And that sort of thing, you even had Roldinho in the World Cup with David Seaman. But they tend to get overlooked a little bit. Is it because yours was sort of like the first big goal on TV? Possibly, yeah. That sort of, unlike I had now, was still highlighting it. Yeah, but it was, you know, in that era it was a Premier League. It was new-ish and you know, it's just on its way up really. And for something like that to happen at that time with that player as well. Because, you know, he just burst onto the scene. He was just on his way. So, you know, there's a lot of things going on with that goal at that time. At least it's not as bad as a Karius in Champions League final. Yeah. What am I playing in the Champions League final? Well, yeah. You go to the World Cup final. But they got away with it, didn't they? And equally asked, but you'd already lost the game many hours. Yeah, yeah. But that's the life of a goalkeeper, isn't it? You then went on to Tottenham, you know, a huge club at the time. The managers you worked under, George Graham, Glenn Hoddle. From what I know of them, I'm assuming they were complete contrasts in how they coached, how they dealt with players and their philosophies. Yeah. I actually really enjoyed playing under George Graham. Because going from Wimbledon where it was, I think on the outside seems like it was a bit raggy ass. And it was still very disciplined in the way you had to act and perform and do your jobs and all that kind of stuff. And obviously going to Spurs with George, which was a massive club. I'd been at Wimbledon for 13 years, left score at 16, left at 29. It was a massive change for me. And I really enjoyed it. I like to know where you stood. I like to know your job. I like to know your role. I found it really good. And I was lucky enough to be player of the year that first year, actually, when George was there. So I kind of flourished a bit with him. And I really enjoyed the time. And then Glenn come on, and again, a completely different way of doing things. We had a new owner, Daniel Livia, just taken over. George left. It was just a different way of doing things when he was buying different players, said he's showing them come in. I mean, even at that stage, did Glenn ever ask you to play up from the back? Or was that ever... Not necessarily with your feet, but throw it out more. It was coming in, yeah. He asked me to drop goal kicks and kicks out your hands into certain areas and take a bit off it instead of just hitting an area that wanted to be more precise, really, which, to be honest, I struggled with. Well, because I played with Glenn for under 21, drew my time under 21 when he was senior manager. And he asked me to do something sort of similar. I wasn't particularly comfortable with it. I played the sweeper role. It wasn't great on the ball, but he gave me two simple jobs, either pass it 10 yards into midfield and just give it to one of those, or ping the diagonal out to the wing back or the winger, because I could do that. And he said, and that's it. He said, that's all I want you to do. And again, so he was trying to evolve things, but he was still playing to my strengths, which worked for me. Yeah. And it was, like you say, it was that time where things were changing the back pass rule, the players that were coming in. There was a new way of just trying to change. He had these definite ideas on football, you know, where he come from, the kind of player he was, you know, he's trying to change it. And, you know, that's what he tried to bring the players in at Spurs that would do that with him. Because Tottenham have always had this great philosophy of actually they play skillful players, technique, Glenn Hoddle, how's the idealists? You know, they epitomise that. Could you tell that was the philosophy at the club and some of the younger players coming through were sort of in that mould? Yeah, I mean, when I was there. Or does it go a bit too far and it's maybe not as... Well, we still had... Emotional as that. Players like... Darren Andon was at the club. We had David Genola at the club. We were fantastic players. But we also had players like... Les Ferdinand who, you know, you're playing in his strength, you're getting balls wide and getting balls in the box. So it was a different way. And then when Glenn came in, he brought people like Dean Richards, who wanted to kind of play out from the back a bit more Teddy Sherwin and what he knew. So I think he was trying to do it in a more slower way to get his style of playing. And I think, you know, people will forget, you know, Tottenham are a huge club at the time. You played in the League Cup final. Yeah, we played against Blackburn, yeah. Yeah, we got beat 2-1, I think it was. Tough to take. Should you have won it? You know, Blackburn were, I guess at that time, a top side. Yeah, they were a good side. From what I remember, the game was quite a close game. I think Andy Cole scored a couple of goals. But we played in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal as well, at Old Trafford, which was another close game. So we were doing well. And that was under, I think that was Glenn's first game, actually. I think George Graham might have got us to the semi-final and then Glenn came in as one of his first games. And then we progressed, like you say, the year after we got to another final. But yeah, they were a good side. A lot of good players, a lot of good players in that team. So after, obviously, you've been through Wimbledon, Tottenham, but then probably the best move that you ever had must have been to Leeds. Slightly biased here. Don't take that so seriously. But of course, you came into Leeds at a time when they'd been on a massive downer. And you were competing really with Scott Carson, a young kid coming through that looked probably 35 at the time. You know, and all of them. Well, yeah, and incredible, but you weren't at Leeds that long, but good times there. Yeah, and also you've missed out a year at Chelsea as well. Of course, yeah. Which you missed out after Tottenham. But yeah, I came up to Leeds. I think, like you say, they'd just gone through a tough time, just got relegated. They had to get rid of a lot of players. Yeah, me included. Yeah. And that to start again, really. And I think if it hadn't been like that, I think Scott would have played, because he was an exceptional goalkeeper. He was fantastic. You know, when you, he was young, but you go and work with him and you think, yeah, he's not bad. Because there'd been such a big change. We still had, a chief was still there. The Gary Kelly was still there. There was a couple, but I think they just wanted a bit more experience just to settle things down. You get another player of the year. At Leeds, you know, my first year I did there, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's how busy I was. You know, you've had quite a few of those, you know, and I think, you know, people forget and then, when you look back at your career, you know, you talk about, you know, Scotland, you know, when they were good at the time, you know, Leeds, but you know, done exceptionally well at those clubs. Playoff finals, disappointment of that. Disappointment, yeah. Is that one of the hardest games to lose? The championship, yeah. Yeah, horrible, horrible. Because, you know, you spend all that season trying to get in there and then once you're in there and you get to the final, you know, it takes over your summer and, you know, all the expectation and, to be honest, the way we lost as well was disappointing, you know. It's such a huge game. It's massive. Obviously, I played in the 1998-99, 1998-99, 1998 final. And obviously, Sasser and it saved the penalty. Yeah. Mickey Gray missed. Worst penalty on the planet. Yeah. But remember it. Sasser became a hero, you know, for basically the ball hitting him. Yeah. I mean, the championship playoff is just incredible, isn't it? Yeah. Everything that's wrapped around it. Again, the build-up and, you know, the money that's involved, it would have, it would have changed Leeds' direction, I think. The way, the club they are now is if we would have got up, got into the Premier League with the money and, you know, who knows what might be my, got relegated and come straight back down. But, you know, just having that year in the world could have, could have changed the way or where Leeds are now. And after Leeds, you moved on to Doncaster, had quite a long time there, you know, honestly. Again, promotions, playoffs. Yeah. But a different type of club, different situations compared to what you were used to because you've been at a lot of big clubs and although Leeds were down a couple of divisions, it's still a big club at the time. Doncaster was probably the smallest club that you paid for. Yeah. But still with big ambitions, you know, when we were, I went there, things weren't working out again, new managers and new owners and different ideas and so I just wanted to play really, that's all I wanted to do. And Donnie came in with big ambitions and we was in League One but got promoted and won the Johnson's paint. It's, it's different but the ambitions are still big for Club Light Donnie. So if you're helping them and to get a Club Light Donnie into the championship and stay there, was quite an achievement. It was similar, kind of similar to Wimbledon really. We were a bit unfashionable. We were, how sweet was that playoff success? Against Leeds. Yeah. It wasn't sweet. No, I mean, I had a great time. I enjoyed it. I mean, it finished a bit strange but I'd likely, I mean, I'm back there now. I'm sure we'll touch on with the coaching. There's a lot of good people then. But I was a Donnie player. But at that moment, there must have been a little bit of a, I've done it. No, not against Leeds. You're just a nice guy. I'd have been, well, yeah, maybe not against Leeds actually. I had a great time at Leeds but, yeah. It was more the fact of helping, it didn't matter who we were playing. If we could have both gone up great but it wasn't because it was Leeds, it was, because it was Donnie and we'd got into the championship which was quite an achievement really. You're listening to the Coaching Manual podcast hosted by me, Danny Mills. So you touched on it now, you've now gone, well you're still in football, not gone back into it but you've gone back to Leeds as a coaching role. Was that always your ambition to go into coaching and take it, take it on? To be honest, it's weird because when I was playing, I finished at 43 years old and I had another option for a year's playing so I wasn't really thinking about it. You know what it's like, you think you can play forever, you think you can play forever and you just, and when we were doing that and I got the offer of another year I thought I can put it off another year and play but then the opportunity come to go into Leeds Academy with Richard Naylor who I played with and I thought, you know, it's time, I've done all I need to do and then you start thinking, well, what are you going to do after football? And the opportunity to go to Leeds where I, like I say, enjoyed it I knew the people in there to do coaching which is when you leave school at 16 and you're finished at 43 it's all you know football. So you're a goalkeeper coach now? I'm the goalkeeper coach for the under 18s, yeah. So two things really, is it easy or harder for players to go into coaching because I go, maybe the route you get a little bit of special treatment to get into football but actually are the expectations higher because of what you've done and what people expect from you? I think there's an expectation, yeah. Is the expectation that you will be great instantly? Yeah, yeah and it's not like that. There is a lot to learn. Obviously you know I mean the good thing you can draw on your experiences and you can, you know, I coach goalkeepers so I'd like to think I know Just catch it. Just break it down, that's all it is. If a ball comes towards you, stop it going behind you. It's literally how you do it. But that's quite interesting because a lot of the coaches that we've spoken to and managers, coaches, whatever you want to call them this down age they've all said just simplify it just keep it simple it's so, it's almost got too complicated in this day and age where everyone's trying to this isn't new, this isn't new, but actually new isn't always better or even good at times. Well new isn't always new, new is just different really. A different name. Yeah, it's just repackaged and instead of being on a piece of paper it's packaged up onto an iPad and a nice fancy computer and shown on the wall. It's how you get your ideas across and for me ultimately my job is as simple as it seems. I'm thinking that a goalkeeper first and foremost is there to stop the ball going in the back of the net and then everything else is obviously important with your feet and everything else like that but I think ultimately that's what you work on. Is it hard for goalkeepers to go into management, coaching of the whole team? Are they still looked at in a different light because of your position when you played it is so specific to what you do? I think of many that have done it and again if you go to any training ground there's the first team and then over in the corner there's the goalies over there. You're almost a different club aren't you, within that club? Yeah and that's fine because you're the only person in that team that can use your hands but you've seen everything from where you are. You've had the same experiences okay you've not technically been out of your box and playing that type of game but you've seen it all. Does that mean goalkeepers can't be as good or do they just not get the opportunity because they get pigeonholed? I think they can I think it's whether they want to or not I mean the first thing I found difficult from going from playing to coaching was standing on the half way line watching a game you know I spent years on the bench mate for 28 years I'm standing watching and I could pick anything out from standing in go I could see everything, I could watch everything I could anticipate the runnies making the boys going to play, I could see everything and then for the first probably six months standing on the half way line just looking into this crowd of players I was just what's going on now? Completely different perspective Completely different, completely different and that might have an impact on on why So now you've got Bielsa he's something like the godfather of coaching, you know Guardiola and all these coaches so how brilliant he is How different is he and well equally how difficult is it to deal with him the fact that he doesn't speak great English I assume But to be honest with the 18s we're not I don't know if you've been to Thorpe Arch recently but the whole place is changing it's very much a first team environment so everything is based around the first team the changing rooms are different where you're allowed to go Will he expect his philosophies to drip down to the 23s 21s and 18s Has he created a club philosophy or is he just going no I'm going to work on the first team and leave my concerns there I think at a moment I think at a moment he's very much first team he's getting that right I mean obviously we're doing well we've got a few players up from the academy into the first team into the first team squad which I think are changing the way they play but I think it's very much first team that's what he's concentrating on because this will be fair if you're a Leeds manager I mean it's different now but you know I think as a manager per say you might get a year, 18 months, 2 years tops, you probably don't have time to put all that effort maybe like Charlie Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, David Moyes did to actually understand every aspect of the football club because by the time you've watched the game you've been sacked and that's the way it is and you know you can't blame them for that you know if the first team is successful or any club you know the club is successful and that that field was down to the academy and obviously the 23s as well you touched on obviously coaching now and how it's changed what's your style of coaching or what would it be even if you were the outfield players because we hear a lot of how different managers coach and their styles and what they want to do in what way I mean extremes, teacup throw a shout or whatever or the silent type that just allows the players to play we've talked about a lot of in the past with other coaches how too many coaches stop the game too often you know are you one just actually let the players take a lot of responsibility or do you are you quite not domineering but pragmatic no this is what I want I think maybe a bit of everything really you know you can't forget where you're brought up and how you're brought up with the discipline side of it and so you try and instill that that's a big thing that's come through from a lot of ex players ex coaches that actually the old school principals of discipline are some of the most important factors and maybe there is a little bit of losing touch with those but they're again those simple things just doing the right thing at the right time being on time turn up with your clean boots with your clean gloves with whatever it might be have we drifted away a little bit from that yeah we had we've got coach Billy Russell who's been around for years and after the game Saturday he actually said this not so much leads but this year or this group of under 18s has had the most that anyone else has ever had they get picked up in the morning they get breakfast, they get GPS they've been coached since over 8 you know all this stuff and sometimes they don't know how to think for themselves unless you're telling them so I'm very much trying to get away from that rather than telling them what to do what to do obviously I guide them and I have my principles and I coach how I think goalkeepers should be coached but I don't stand there and make every decision for them ultimately in those big moments they've got to make their own decisions you can't stand behind the goal and go throw it out there do that, kick it out there there's plenty of fans that do you get plenty of advice from them certainly but you've got to try and get them and I think that's what I'm saying they've been given so much and they've been told so much like I said earlier on over coach so advice to coaches coming through young coaches I'm guessing keep the sessions simple give them guidelines but let them think for themselves yeah it's important I mean you've got to have your own set plays and you've got to have your set patterns and how you play but sometimes the best sessions you get is when you just sling them a ball and step back and watch them and see how they get on like going over to part with your mates you just had a ball and used to play and used to work it out for yourself when it's fun and enjoyable is that is that the biggest thing if sessions are fun enjoyable the sessions better the players work harder so if you can make those sessions yes informative but fun and enjoyable you're going to get a lot more out of it you'll learn more if you're having fun than if someone's just on it and you lose concentration but if it's fun and enjoyable you're bound to whether you think you are or not you'll take more on perfect brilliant so all you coaches out there make sure it's fun make sure the kids enjoy it that's the most important thing so lastly now just a few quickfire questions can be as short as answers as you like best kit you ever played in or worse if you'd rather us any kit back in what was it the early 90s I think goalkeepers especially they try to get as many colours onto the top were they not all green no we went from green to as many colours that are quite some shockers I think after that certain incident that you mentioned earlier on I like dark colours I used to try and blend in I think I had a yellow top on that day and from that then on I always try to wear dark dark strip has no relevance to how good you are as a goalkeeper but incredible how this little psychological things get into you did he know where I was because I had a yellow top on so if I had a black top on would he have known where I was would he have done that if you'd have been green you'd have been hidden exactly back to the old school see there might be a few of these bear in mind you at the crazy crazy game the funniest thing you've seen on a training pitch that you can mention keeping it broadcastable well you played with Ben Fatches so you know what he was like Wimbledon was brilliant going from setting John Artson's suit alight and nearly burning the training ground down everyone's seen the TV programs of that you could end there dragging Sam a man through a massive puddle who was the owner I mean imagine the city lads imagine the man city lads doing that to shake my soul just for the sake of it just because he happened to be there watching a naked player run back to the training ground through Wimbledon common because it was his birthday and been stripped naked probably slightly he'd get arrested if that yeah he probably would that's before mobile phones you could film it worst dressed team mate apart from the naked one at Donny we had a guy called Adam Locke he wasn't the best most underrated team mate that you played with yeah I think there was a Wimbledon we were quite underrated anyway we had a centre half Chris Perry was the centre half I mean to be fair he got a move to Spurs and then was playing next to Sol Campbell so maybe not got a credit but he was horrible to play play against you know all over not the biggest but always on you always nicking the ball just left Wimbledon actually the manager knew hardly played wide right so well you went to Wimbledon you were sort of right at the end of your career yeah I went on loan when they were struggling and again he just needed a bit of experience really but he wasn't quick probably had one trick and when you have people like Marcus Gow and F and a Coo Coo Dean Ellsworth, Robby L they just wanted balls into the box in front of you if you dropped off or do his one trick and whip it in behind he was if you look at his assists I bet they're phenomenal worst game plan and what manager prepared it obviously Neil just screwed his face up so I was expecting something either he's not going to tell me or something very interesting well no I mean how can you well we had Egil Olsen come to Wimbledon the year we got relegated and how we wanted the back four to play it was a bit strange I mean bear in mind most teams played two up front he wanted a centre half to come out of his slot and push on even now rethinking it I can't remember why but all that had used to happen the centre half would come out and the other centre four would bend his run into the big old that's left them and we got beaten we got relegated that year that was a weird one and the other one like you said earlier trying to invent a few things he came from Norway where he had a very successful World Cup I think they might have got to the semi-finals or quarter-finals doing it that way but it just didn't work best trainer Frank Lampard brilliant now he he gave himself the best chance to be the best that he could be on a Saturday he was class worst trainer well can you count if they didn't turn up yes El Hedgejuf just didn't turn up not often enough best player you've played against hmm see that's the tricky one is that as an outfield player that's maybe an easier question as a goalkeeper is it just the centre four yeah I mean my when you're playing against people like honry, Burkamp, Zola York and Cole but I'm guessing that there's not there's not too much you can do to affect them if they're going to go past three defenders and bend it in the top corner you'll make some good player though yeah but that's not your fault there's not a lot you can do to stop them doing that as a defender it's my responsibility to stop them going past me and stop them getting a shot away if they're going to stick it in the top corner as a keeper but the finishing you can tell you're isolated I find that a hard one but I always say York and Cole as a partnership their movement and the way they move was Robbie Fowler yeah the ball dropped to him in the box he scored but I probably say I was lucky enough to play against the Dan for Scotland he'd done a trick on a half-way line and the whole stadium went through he's not bad he was again, looking up the pitch you can see his movement just silly little touches and movements I think that's hard to disagree with is it down to one of the best players you weren't bad but then you compare with people like honry and Zola and Burkamp and decanio proudest moment in football I think I got probably the three the two you touched on the two player of the years with Tottenham and Tottenham and Leeds knowing the whole season's work has gone rewarded, that was very proud and of course the first Scotland captain against the best team ever, Wales but are you in the squad for Brazil? best coach you played under and why? again we touched on it early on I like George Graham because I like the way coming from Wimbledon where you knew exactly what you were doing and it was great fun and it was relaxed going into that disciplined way of playing and what he did and how he wanted you to play it kind of suited me organisation, simplicity discipline I say old school values but they shouldn't be old they're just good values simple as that and last one have you ever used your name to get in anywhere? front of a queue, restaurant probably probably I'm just trying to think of one where John Green was bullied he said every single time I can the Champions League medal comes out I'll use it for anything that's brilliant thanks ever so much Neil for joining us and good luck with coaching and everything else that comes from there thanks for listening to episode 2 of the coaching manual podcast you can keep up to date with the coaching manual on social media follow us on twitter at coachingmanual or on instagram and facebook at the coaching manual go on the website register for an account now for session planning tools high quality coaching content and more essential resources thanks for listening and see you next time