Tottenham legend Chris Waddle does not think beleaguered current manager Ange Postecoglou should be blamed for all of the club’s problems – and yet, he cannot see his time at White Hart Lane ending well.
During an exclusive chat with Yaysweepstakes.com, Waddle harkened back to the fates of ‘big name’ managers in recent Spurs history such as Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte to explain why he simply cannot see ‘Big Ange’ getting out of the jam he finds himself in, Europa League or not.
Waddle also cast his eye over Tottenham’s recruitment policies and where they need to look for reinforcements this summer, while another club the ex-England midfielder knows all too well, League Cup winners, Newcastle, also received plenty of attention.
Magpies star striker Alexander Isak has been constantly linked with a move to one of Europe’s giants, and Waddle pulled no punches when it came to addressing the Swede’s immediate future.
Plus, Waddle offered some fascinating insight into his playing days, including anecdotes about Eric Cantona, Paolo Maldini, Glenn Hoddle and more all-time greats.
Question: Brennan Johnson has been in incredible goal-scoring form this season, what have you liked from his game and how has he found the net so often?
Chris Waddle: He’s got a lot of pace and he’s a full-back’s nightmare for that. Teams play pretty high, and he’s a great out-ball. If you can get in behind, you can stretch teams. I think he’s had a season where he’s been a bit like Tottenham, to be honest: a little bit inconsistent.
Being a former winger, I know what you rely on. You rely on service. And if you’re getting plenty of service and you’re not using the ball well, then people can criticise. Obviously Tottenham’s had a woeful season, let’s be perfectly honest. Apart from this Europa League run, they’ve done absolutely nothing.
But Brennan Johnson, he’s a player who’s got a lot of pace. I think sometimes he’s got to believe in himself a little bit more. I think he lacks a little bit of confidence when you watch him. Especially when I’ve been watching Tottenham games, he seems to sometimes let the game pass him by.
He’s got to have that bit more confidence to think, when I get it, I’m going to cause problems. I’ve got pace, I can get at people, I can take people on. We know he can score goals. His goal record has been very good recently, but I still think there’s a lot more to come from Brennan Johnson.
I think it’s not easy moving clubs. I did it throughout my career. It’s not easy. So when you get to a club, you’ve got to settle. He’s basically been knocking goals in all his life.
He’s moved to Tottenham, which is a big club despite their position in the league. They are one of the big clubs, there’s no doubt about that. And I think it’s taken him a while to settle, but I still think there’s a lot, lot more to come from him.
Ange Postecoglou has obviously come in for some stick given Spurs’ Premier League form this season but has the run in Europe shown that he has what it takes to get them firing at the top again next term?
They’ve got a lot of players out on loan, young players. They’ve got young players at the club. They had a great batch of players who won the Premier League 2 last season. So he’s loaned a few out, but they will come back with the players they’re going to buy. They’re going to have one massive squad.
So he’s got to clear the decks if he’s going to be there. If he’s still in charge of the football club, he’s going to have to answer if he has faith in these young players. Or does he have to move them on and get money in? Or does he sell the established players?
It’s a big turnaround because Tottenham are going to have a massive squad next season with these young players coming a year older, coming back from loan. They’ll be thinking, I’ve had my loan, I want to be knocking on the door now, I want to be in the first team. Some will achieve it, some will not, unfortunately.
He’s got to trim the squad. It’s alright bringing new players in, which, let’s be honest, they probably do need new players. It’s experienced players.
Injuries have played a massive part in this campaign, where do Spurs need to bolster the squad the most to prevent them being hit hard again next season?
Well, if you look at it, they concede goals a lot. People talk about Micky Van de Ven. When he’s fit, he’s as good as anybody in the Premier League.
We know Romero’s capable too, but I think he lost heart at Tottenham six months ago.
I don’t think he wants to be at Tottenham. I think he thinks he’s probably Real Madrid material, but for me, his body language and everything doesn’t look like he wants to be at Tottenham Hotspur. He’s been quite outspoken about the club, hasn’t he?
Whatever happens, I think he will leave, and I think they’ll get good money for him, they should. He’s a World Cup winner, he’s a very hard centre-half, an old-fashioned type centre-half, which I’m sure a lot of clubs in Italy, Spain, will be looking at if he’s available, and I think he will probably think I do want to go.
Danso has come in, he’s been given time. They’ve tried everything with Archie Gray to make him a centre-half. So the problems are in defence.
The goalkeeper has been very hit-and-miss, so they might look for a new goalkeeper. The goalkeeper has not given the team confidence.
I think Tottenham always create chances. I think they’ll always do so, the way they play.
The goalkeeper has lost confidence, so this is what Postecoglou will have to address if he’s still there, but it’ll be very interesting, as I said earlier, he’s got so many players on the squad list, how’s he going to get rid of all of them? You want to get rid of them, and start building a new team, because this team’s proved this season it’s not good enough for Tottenham Hotspur’s ambitions.
Who do you think will win the FIFA Club World Cup?
Well, I don’t think it’ll be a European team. Probably the better teams will struggle, because they’ve played too much football. It’ll be a Brazilian team, it’ll be an Argentinian team, whoever is fresher. It’ll be somebody who doesn’t play the level of football intensity every week, and can get rest. Probably a lot of teams who have not got international footballers. The freshest team for me out of the big teams will win.
On Ange’s future
Personally, I think they’ll get rid. I think they’ll look for someone else. But let’s get something right here. I’m not blaming Ange for everything.
Look at the managers Tottenham Hotspur have had. Now, Jose Mourinho, serial title, serial medal winner. Antonio Conte, top of the Italian league. Nuno Espirito Sanato might get Nottingham Forest in the Champions League. How can it be that these managers are not good enough yet? They go to other clubs and they succeed.
Spurs need to look at how they run themselves, and how they operate in the market. In my eyes, that is the problem. Tottenham have always been a massive football club. Great supporters. It’s a great club. It really is.
But you look over the history, how many players they’ve got rid of who big clubs would never get rid of. So if you’re going to go back to Gareth Bale, myself, Glenn Hoddle, Luka Modric, Paul Gascoigne, Harry Kane. So all these players, you build a team round and you think they shouldn’t leave.
So when you look at it like that, you feel for the manager. Whoever’s going in is going to be told that the club have lined up transfers for three potentially great players between 19 and 21.
The only way to judge the managers properly is if they start buying like Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal, buying established players, players who are ready, and keeping their stars.
There’s got to be a reason why these managers, whoever goes into Tottenham Hotspur, do not succeed. And it can’t be tactics all the time. It’s got to be that your team’s not good enough.
Get somebody who’s 27, 28, 29, who’s at the top of his game, he’s matured, he knows the game.
I can’t just blame Ange. I’m not happy with his tactics because he never has a plan B. I’ve got to criticise that. But overall, I would not just blame Ange. I would blame the format of what the club is, and what they’re trying to achieve and how they work.
Do you think Alexander Isak would be a fool to want to leave Newcastle? Do you expect him to stay?
The lad never says anything, he says he’s happy, which he’s got to say. The only thing that would make him leave is ambition. We all hear rumours that if Newcastle don’t get Champions League next year, that’s his exit. He basically has to say, I want Champions League, which a lot of players say.
He’s the number one centre-forward at Newcastle. He’s done unbelievably well. He’s a talented footballer and people like this are sought after. But again, if Newcastle have got ambition, he doesn’t leave. And if he can see that ambition, I don’t think he’d want to leave.
But when you get to Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal and whoever is linked with him, and clubs abroad, all of a sudden, your head turns. Now, the key, realistically, will be if Newcastle get in the Champions League, then he’s got no reason to say, I want to leave.
But if they don’t get the Champions League, then he’s got a reason to say, I want Champions League football, basically asking for clubs to come in for him.
But the only bloke who knows if he really wants to go, even if they do qualify for the Champions League, is Isak. But it’s very quiet. Nobody says anything. He just keeps saying, I’m on contract and I’m happy. We’ve just got to take it from there. But I think it’s all on Newcastle.
If Newcastle get Champions League, it’ll be interesting to see if he wants to leave. He’ll have to come out and say it.
Will Newcastle build on their Carabao Cup win and become regular Champions League qualifiers and PL title contenders?
I don’t know about that. I think Newcastle are going well at the minute.
They’ve got quite a few old players, like their two centre-backs. Not easy to replace.
I’m not saying they’re finished now, but they’re not getting younger. That’s a lot of money to buy two quality centre-backs.
The midfield is very good. I think they’ve got enough midfield players. I think the midfield is very good. Up front, Isak is obviously very good. Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes have come to life the last few months. Murphy does a job on that right hand side.
So, their ambition is to say, yeah, we want to be knocking on that top four for the next couple of years with that squad we’ve got. When you’re a top team, you’ve got to keep getting two or three players in every season for competition.
And I’m not just talking about three kids from lower leagues or learning the trade. You talk about two serious players, good players, to keep everybody on their toes. But if you just relax and think we’ve got a good squad here now, people get a little bit complacent.
It’s very important that Newcastle keeps strengthening and people might say, well, they’re quite strong in these areas, but you can always get better.
You’ve got to keep moving. You can’t sit on it and say, oh, these will do a job.
No, you’ve got to keep progressing. They’ve had a great season with the Carabao Cup.
Now they should kick on.
They play with a lot of confidence and there’s no reason they can’t get top four, top five this season. I know it’s tight, but with a couple of additions this summer they can challenge for the top four again.
Do Newcastle need to sign a new goalkeeper if they are to fight for the biggest trophies in both Europe and domestically?
Nick Pope had an injury, came back, and a lot of people are saying he wasn’t what he was. He seems to be getting a bit better, but I think a goalkeeper will be on the list.
They were linked with a Burnley goalie, James Trafford, but obviously they got promoted.
There’s a lot of goalies out there you can get.
Danny Rohl claimed some Wednesday players are not able to play at his level. Dig at a lack of investment, or a sign that he wants out, with Southampton reportedly keen?
I think Daniel Rohl will leave. I think he will get offers. I’m not saying it’s Southampton.
It could be, but I think he’ll get more than that. Listen, he’s turned that squad around and I know exactly what he’s saying. He’s probably right, if you’re all in honesty. A lot of their players came from League One. They were bottom of the league, near the bottom.
Terrible start. And they turned it around and we should give the players credit. They worked their socks off. They were good and well organised.
Danny Rohl, his assistant, Henrik Pedersen, they really work well with that squad and every week, you know, it’s been a slog for them, let’s be honest. To finish where they have, It’s been a massive achievement, I think.
A month ago I talked about maybe he’s nicking into the playoffs, amazing season for them and I totally agree that he is looking for investment. There’s talk of, there’s an American group, very close. I think they’ve had a bid turned down for taking over the football club, which would be great because I’m not a fan of Dejphon Chansiri. I don’t think he can meet Danny Rohl’s ambition. I don’t think he can reach that.
I think, again, it’ll be a lot of players out, a lot of free transfers in, and he’s going to have to work miracles.
But I don’t think Rohl will stay. I think he’s got too many good offers where he’s actually going to go somewhere with a checkbook. He’ll be getting a job where he’s got a chance of doing really, really well and Wednesday fans can thank him for what he’s done if he does go,
They need their investment, Sheffield Wednesday. Unfortunately, Chansiri took the club on, he had a go, it hasn’t worked. Just take an offer, a realistic offer and move out and let these new people come in and make Sheffield Wednesday great again with Premier League status.
If you look around, you can see why this group is trying to buy Sheffield Wednesday. The last big club, really, let’s be honest, who are not in the Premier League. They’re getting 30,000 at home games, they have great away fans. It is a club which you could do a lot with. It’s a big, big club.
I hope somebody takes it on and gets it right, but it’ll be sad obviously for the fans to lose Danny Rohl, but times move on and for next season it’s going to be harder than this season, so they’re going to get a lot of players in, a lot of players out and it’s going to be a lot of hard work during the summer.
The PL bottom 3 is showing the widening gap with the Championship. Do you think without significant and smart recruitment that the likes of Leeds, Burnley or Sheff United won’t face a similar fate?
Yeah, definitely. There’s no club that looks like it’s in trouble in the Premier League.
Let’s be honest, Man United, Tottenham and West Ham will not be in a relegation fight next year or near the relegation. Look at other teams who you normally look at, maybe Bournemouth Crystal Palace, but they look quite strong.
I don’t see a team in the Premier League who’s going to fall away where you look at them and think they’re struggling. Wolves have come on very strong. I know that things change in the summer. People sell players because they have to, and then we’ll look at it then.
But realistically, Leeds, Burnley, Sheffield United or Coventry. No disrespect to them, they’ll give everybody a game, but the three you see at the bottom now, it’ll be the three who’ve gone up who go down again, unless they spend over £400 million.
And let’s be honest, a lot of clubs will not spend anywhere near that. Look at Ipswich as an example, they spent 130 million on Championship players. It wasn’t enough.
When you go to that Premier League, it’s ruthless and the fans turn on the manager, which is not the manager’s fault. And then they turn on the chairman, and he’s probably thinking, I ain’t got that money. And they turn on the players, and it’s not their fault if they’re not good enough for that level of football.
So, when you go up, you may as well say, ‘We’re going to get a few hammerings, we might get relegated.’
The chairman will be happy with the money because it’s the Premier League, but as a club, as a supporter, a player, you must think, wow, how are we going to survive in this league? The difference is that big now. It is unbelievably different. The years that are going on, it’s completely changed the Football League. The Championship is a great league. But when you go out of the Championship, into the Premier League, you have basically 12 months or 10 months of agony.
Newcastle look set for a wonderful season, with league cup success looking to be followed up with a CL finish. Have the Toon hit their ceiling and could you ever envisage them mounting a title challenge given the financial restrictions they face every season?
Yeah, because there’s profit and sustainability rules, it’s going to be hard. Last year, we know that they didn’t want to sell Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest, but he had to go. There’s a lot of players who, if they don’t get into the Champions League, they might have to sell again. So it’s a cruel world. You know, when you’re trying to build a side to compete with these big boys, it’s all based on success.
If they don’t qualify, then you could see the likes of somebody like Sandro Tonali or Anthony Gordon leaving. Newcastle do not want to sell these types of players, but they may be forced into it.
Should Tottenham look to release Ange of his duties, regardless if he ends up delivering the Europa League trophy – given their shocking performance in the PL this season?
I mean, listen, it’s really ridiculous when people say: ‘If he wins the Europa League, he’s got a job next season. If he doesn’t win the Europa League, he’s lost his job.’
So we’re talking about, basically at the minute, two football matches.You’ve got your job if you win it. What if he gets the final and loses it? Does that mean you get the sack? To me, they think he’s the man for the job, or he’s not.
It doesn’t matter about the Europa League. You’ve got to look at the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europe, it’s a different league, it’s completely different. You’re not playing English teams every week, you’re playing all around Europe. So, sometimes they’re easy games, sometimes you get a hard team, we know that.
But, if you’re going to judge him, you should do it now..You can’t say, ‘You’ve won a cup, so your job’s safe.’ At the end of the day, you’ve got to look at the league position. You know, the fifth bottom, one above West Ham.
I mean, West Ham, Tottenham and Man Utd have had absolute nightmares of a season.
Yes, they’ve changed their manager, Man Utd, so give Ruben Amorim some time. It’s a hard job, we know that.
But you look at Tottenham and you think, what direction are they going in? So you look at it and you just think, is he the man who’s going to take Tottenham into the top four?
And that’s where Tottenham should be or want to be.
Does Daniel Levy deserve to endure the level of criticism, given the strong foundations he has laid for the future success of the club?
Listen, the training ground is one of the best in the world. The stadium is, for me, the best stadium I’ve ever been in. It cost them a lot of money. Covid kicked in, so we know that the budget to progress to start spending the money is probably being held back a year or two.
This is what people are waiting for. Is it this season they can spend £80 million on a player? Will it be next season?
Daniel Levy basically holds the fort, runs the club, but it’s not his football club. So, at the end of the day, he’s employed by somebody else.
They’ve got the training ground that they need, they’ve got the stadium that they wanted. So now there’s nothing else except to ask when is the money that is generated going to be spent?
We saw it with Arsenal for a few years when they built the Emirates. It took them a few years before they were seriously back in the transfer market.
What are the main differences you’ve noticed between your time in the Football League and the EFL at present?
If you look back, when I got promoted in 1983-84 in Newcastle to the First Division, we held on. We were alright. We finished halfway up the league. I don’t know how. We weren’t the greatest team in the world, but I think there were a lot of teams like that.
What changed is the introduction of foreign players, buying players from anywhere in the world, then the money taking over. When the Premier League started, that was where the money started. Once the money flooded in and wages were going up, spending and sponsorship flourished.
From 1992, from the Premier League starting, this is where it all started, where the gaps started getting a little bigger. There were still about seven, eight, nine teams who were basically Championship teams, but that’s changed now. I kind of think the Championship sides who go up now – they get relegated.
The competitiveness of the Championship this year has been pretty staggering, why do you think that’s been the case?
I don’t think the Championship clubs pay as much as people think. I think the wages have dropped in the Championship. The Premier League is the league where you earn real recognition and money.
I think the Championship is a league where obviously players from the Premier League are going on a loan, or it’s for players who aren’t quite good enough. That is why it’s so
competitive in the Championship, because you don’t really get a club going into the Championship who literally blows you away. You don’t get big spenders who can walk the league.
Yes, sometimes teams who go down go straight back up, but it happens that clubs struggle and then drift away, like Norwich. The money dries up, players get older, the best players are sold. The Championship is a feeding ground for the Premier League, but sides in Europe too.
I think it’s a very competitive league. It’s a very equal league. I mean, look at Plymouth on Saturday, they almost beat Leeds. You wouldn’t see that in the Premier League. You wouldn’t see Southampton go to Liverpool and you think they’re gonna beat them.
Not a chance.
People love it because it’s so competitive, and the teams are very much the same, and that is why it’s a good league to follow.
Who do you think will go up in the playoffs and why?
The playoffs are a lottery. It’s who turns up on the day. I mean, I watched all these games, and it was all over the place. If you’re looking at it on paper, Sheffield United should win. Sunderland’s having a dreadful time over the last month.
Once they qualified for the playoffs, they’ve not done anything since. But are they geared up to say, we’re ready now for the playoffs, we know what we’re going to do and this is what we’re going to do?
Sheffield United play Bristol City, which they’re expected to win, but Bristol City’s got a good record at Bramall Lane. So, listen on paper, yes you’d go Sheffield United. I’ve got a sneaking feeling that Sunderland could turn it on.
I wouldn’t write Coventry off. They score goals, create chances. They’re a very, very dangerous team. I don’t fancy Bristol City.
Transfers
Do you think Kevin De Bruyne would be a sensible addition for Newcastle to add Champions League experience? Their Saudi ownership could help him move on to the SPL after a season or two.
I think a lot of clubs would like Kevin De Bruyne for a season, but Kevin De Bruyne probably wants a long-term deal. I’m sure he’ll get a lot of offers, Kevin. He’s been brilliant for Man City the last few seasons. People will be worried about his age, injuries, and if you’re paying a guy a lot of money and he’s not playing. He might not agree to a pay-for-play deal.
But listen, he’s going to get a lot of tasty offers, even if he’s 33, around Europe. I’m sure some will offer him a two-year, three-year deal, so he’ll have a pick.
If he went to Newcastle with that midfield, they’d have three in the form of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes. It’s hard to see how they’d leave anyone of those out. You’re talking about being a squad player and I think at 33, Kevin will probably think, no, I want to play.
Which Premier League side needs Liam Delap the most next season?
Yeah, there’s a lot of clubs after him, isn’t there? Clubs who need a centre-forward.
West Ham. Chelsea need a centre-forward in my eyes. I know Nicolas Jackson is there.
I think Jackson is more of a number 10, but Cole Palmer does that job ever so well.
Jackson to me, he plays on the defender’s shoulder, he’s got a lot of pace, misses a few, but he never shies away. Fair play to the lad. So you look at Chelsea needing a centre-forward. Arsenal need a centre-forward. Man City have got a very good one, they don’t need one.
In the top teams, you know, if Isak moves from Newcastle, would he become a fit for them,? It seems that Everton want a centre-forward. There seems to be club after club who are looking for this number nine. He’s attracting a lot of interest from a lot of clubs in the Premier League. You could name about 10 clubs who need someone like him. So he’s not going to have a shortage of options.
He’s got to pick the right one which suits him and then that’s when the pressure starts, because whoever buys him is going to be spending decent money and they’re going to want a return. They are going to want goals and the fans will be expecting goals. So wherever he goes, he’s going to be under the spotlight, but there’s going to at least eight, nine clubs that will be trying to chase him down.
How highly do you rate Morgan Gibbs-White and do you expect him to push for an exit after the best season of his career if Forest fail to secure Champions League football?
Nottingham Forest have had a great season. They’re just starting to fall away a little. Maybe the fatigue has kicked in a bit there just at the run-in. I think it’s been a hard long season for them, and I think they’re feeling the pace. I don’t think Gibbs-White will push for a move away.
But I think if a massive bid comes in, the chairman and manager might need to wonder if they have someone else lined up, buy him, and keep some of the profit. If he goes, though, it’ll be for massive money.
How will Wrexham do in the Championship?
Wrexham coming to the Championship, they’ll not be big hitters in the Championship.
They’ll not be because you’re talking wages that will be completely different from what they’re on now. We’ll see how they fare – they might need to buy a lot of players. Every league is harder and Wrexham’s an aging team.
Will they invest in buying players like they have done so far, signing players in their 30s?
Their dream is to get in the Premier League, but if you want to go to the Premier, you’re talking a lot of money to get out of that Championship,
Club World Cup
What do you think of the Club World Cup?
Look, Chelsea’s there and Man City. Man City look knackered. Players don’t need this World Cup. It’s a horrendous tournament for me. I mean, I feel sorry for players. I know they’re getting good money, don’t get me wrong, but in modern day football now, players need a rest.
England’s got two internationals, I think, in June. What for? Let the players have a breather. Let them have four or five weeks to recharge their batteries.
People pay good money to watch football. A lot of games you watch now, you’re watching players who are playing at 70-60% because they’re knackered and you think, how much football do you want to play?
It’s absolutely ridiculous that you can play 12 months of the year, that intensity, that level, with internationals. It’s not doing the players any good. When you come to the summer, footballers should demand a month off. And if they don’t get that month off, they should strike.
CL
What do Arsenal need to do to beat PSG this week?
I watched them against Bournemouth on Saturday. There’s just something missing with Arsenal. When you watch Arsenal, they’re a very efficient, big strong unit, a lot of energy and legs. People cover the ground well. They just lack creativity. I know they haven’t got a number nine, and they’ve played Leandro Trossard up there, they’ve played Mikel Merino up there. It’s surprising they haven’t played Declan Rice up there yet.
You look at them and players like Martin Odegaard. They all get the ball, they’re all nice, neat and tidy. But they don’t open enough doors, they don’t create enough for me.
Gabriel Martinelli on one wing, Bukayo Saka on the other, and when they do look across it, there’s never anybody in the box to score.
Man City, with Haaland, he’s a centre-forward. Arsenal don’t have that, so they’re playing some nice football and they get up to the final third and they just seem to run out of ideas.
And to play PSG , they rested all their first team over the weekend, basically. They know their goal is to win the Champions League. That’s their aim for the last 10 years.
We know Arsenal will give them a game. They’re fairly organised. The best way of Arsenal scoring, let’s be honest, is counter-attacking or set pieces. That is their way of going through the Champions League.
I think Paris is a better side. Paris have got three or four players who can open doors, can make something happen like that. Arsenal are very drilled, efficient, organised. If they’re going to win this game, they’ll have to defend ever so well and it’ll be a set-piece which will basically cause Paris the most concern.
Bryan Mbeumo or Matheus Cunha – who should Manchester United sign this summer?
Manchester United have an ageing squad. Ruben Amorim, who has a massive job on his hands, has brought a lot of young players through. They have to keep their hands off the panic button this summer. They need to give him time, and there are players there that he needs to move on.
Cunha, though, is a fantastic footballer. He can be temperamental, but perhaps United would be the making of him. You can’t be mardy at a club like that, the fans will let you know.
He probably thinks he’s at the stage when he should be at a club like United. Wolves are a big club, but Cunha will be looking for another level up.
He’s got a huge opportunity here. If he’s one of the players to turn United around and challenging again, he could be like Eric Cantona, the man who changed United.
But the club needs more than Cunha, they need big investment. Four or five players need to come in, but the even bigger challenge will be getting rid of some. They’re on massive wages. The clubs that will want them won’t have the financial muscle United do, and it’ll be tough to sell them on to Italy or Spain.
They lost 4-3 to Brentford but until Amorim gets his own team together, it’s too early to judge. I think top six is still a massive challenge for United next season, so they need two or three years with Amorim in charge. They have to stop changing managers.
The players coming in, they need to show they can handle the pressure, too.
Marseille
Do you think Paul Pogba would fit in at Marseille?
Paul Pogba was an outstanding young player. When he came to United the first time, everybody thought, look at this kid, he was going to be the new Michel Platini. Then he was at Juventus, did well, but then lost his way. He’s been out of the game and he’s in his thirties.
After the last few years, Paul Pogba is basically unproven. He was struggling even before he got banned. He wasn’t playing great.
We know he’s got talent. We’ve seen that from a young age. But for Marseille, if the deal was right, they could have a look at him. A bit like Dele Alli going to Como, never plays, he sits on the bench every week, and lost his way.
It’s a big risk. These guys demand money. They’re not sitting there and thinking, I don’t want any money, I’m just trying to get myself back in the game. You’ve got to pay these players and they’re not cheap.
So, Marseille with a limited budget, would they think they’d rather get a proven player who’s playing at this level at the minute? Someone who can do a job, rather than gamble on somebody who was a great player quite a few years ago, but was a top player?
Has he got that desire and passion? Has he got all that? Has he got that to come back and prove to everybody wrong? That’s the question.
Did you say something to Trevor Francis to put him off signing Eric Cantona?
I was at Marseille. Eric had a trial at Sheffield Wednesday, but the pitches were frozen so he ended up playing a little tournament on AstroTurf and Trevor rang us up and said I’ve got Eric Cantona on trial.
He says, what’s he like? I said, look, he’s a very good footballer, tall lad, big, strong kid.
I said, technically very gifted, but he is a bit of an individual. He can be awkward. I said, he’s a nice kid.
If he wasn’t playing, he wanted out. I just said, look, he can be temperamental. He’s a talented footballer, but he can be very temperamental. So I think that scared Trevor off him. Howard Wilkinson signed him at Leeds without watching him play, I think. And he wasn’t Howard’s type of player. I don’t know how he ended up at Leeds.
Obviously he went to Man United where the rest is history, as they say. But Eric’s a Marseille lad. The crowd fell out with him because he took his shirt off once and threw it away when he got subbed. He took his shirt off and threw and when you do that you’re disrespecting the shirt so the fans turned on him.
They loaned him out to Bordeaux and he came back and he was in the team, he hurt his knee. Franz Beckenbauer couldn’t put him back in. It was me, Abedi Pelei and Jean-Pierre Papin as the front three. Eric couldn’t get in the team and he had to leave.
And that’s when he went to Nîmes for a million a million, whatever it was, francs. And then that was when it fell apart there and he got banned for a year.
I’ve got on well with Eric, I’ve got to say. I did see him with a lot of players or a lot of teams, if it’s not going his way or he didn’t see what was right, he would let them know, he’d let the manager know, he’d let the chairman know. He wouldn’t sit around.
Eric was a great guy. We’ve got a lot of respect for each other. But he’s definitely a character.
Did Eric Cantona try to get you to sign for Man Utd?
We had a talk. We had a lot of respect. I saw him once one night out in Manchester and was trying to talk me into joining United, but I told him I was too old.
I’m 36 and he was saying to me that I was playing well for Bradford and I’d do well playing at United. I had to tell him. I couldn’t cut it, I was only in the First Division, I couldn’t handle it. He was great. I got on really well with him. Really nice kid.
He didn’t want to be the centre of attention. Every morning I used to shake his hand and say good morning to him.
Ronaldo
Do you think Chelsea or Man City should sign Ronaldo for the Club World Cup?
Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Chelsea, it would be great publicity for the football club, but no. I’ve seen him play for Al-Nassr, watched him play with Jhon Duran up front.
He doesn’t really run around a lot. We know he’s got ability when he gets the ball to his feet, but this tournament would be a lot harder than what he’s playing week in, week out in Saudi Arabia.
Let him rest there and have his holiday. He’ll go again next season. But I think it would be all sort of a publicity stunt. Of course, he wants to play in some tournament where it’s another goal, another tick.
But listen, if it means resting players for the Premier League, then I’m all for it, but it’d seem like a gimmick to me.
Have Ben White’s recent performances changed your mind about him being brought back into the England squad?
Telling people not to pick him for his country, it’s disrespectful. I don’t think you should say that, because you never know what’s around the corner. Now people are talking about bringing him back. Personally, I wouldn’t, but not just because of what he said – a lot of people won’t be happy if he’s picked – but because I think there’s better options out there. But we’ve got good full-backs now, like Trent Alexander-Arnold, so I don’t really think we need to bring him back.
Does Cole Palmer’s goal at the weekend show how much Chelsea have missed his best performances?
Cole Palmer’s a really talented footballer. I think he started the season really brightly. Rightly so, he got the plaudits, everybody was raving about him. Yet he still doesn’t really get a run in the England team in the position he excels. It’s bizarre.
He had a quiet spell. Whether the publicity got to him, or other teams marked him tight out of respect, I don’t know. He’s such a talented footballer and I think he’s had a good season with Chelsea. Let’s hope he finishes this season strong.
I do worry about him though, because he has to go to the Club World Cup. Like a lot of players, he’ll come back tired. Man City, Chelsea, their players are going to get 10 days rest before they have to play competitive football again. They will struggle to perform at their best and when it comes to the World Cup, they’ll be on their knees.
Do you prefer your record with Basile Boli or Glenn Hoddle?
I don’t know what happened with the one in France because I didn’t know they had a chart. I know it was on the telly and the music channels, but I don’t know if they had a chart.
I knew what happened with Diamond Lights, we got to number 11. We went on Top of the Pops, which is the scariest thing I’ve done in my life.
But with a French one I did a video and that was it. I didn’t publicise it, we didn’t do anything more. So I don’t know where it went in the charts.
I had a bit of fun with all of them. The Basil one was a bit bizarre, he was dressing up as an English gentleman like John Steed out of the Avengers. But we had a good laugh that day when we made it. We had a few drinks before we did it, obviously.
But I would probably say the second one I did with Glenn was the best of the lot. It was called Goodbye, which was quite apt because Glenn went to Monaco. So I thought that was the best song out of the three.
How did you end up in hospital after an incident with Paolo Maldini?
What happened was we drew 1-1 in San Siro and beat them 1-0 at the Velodrome. During the game in France, him and Franco Baresi, every time I went to head the ball, they put an elbow in the back of my head, and basically knocked me out.
I played for 75 minutes with a bottle of smelling salts in my hand. I had to keep sniffing it because I was all over this place. I finished the match, and Gazza and I went to eat at a restaurant at the stadium, as he was visiting me.
We’d eat at the stadium restaurant and have a couple of beers. Then I was sitting on a wall talking to Gazza, and I just fell off the wall, fell backwards, and I just had a week in hospital. That was because of Maldini and Baresi. I had a week in hospital and I couldn’t play for 10 days.
Maldini was a nice bloke, as was Baresi, but when they were on the pitch, they knew how to stop players playing.
Who was the toughest defender you faced?
I enjoyed playing against Paolo Maldini. People say, rightly so, he’s one of the great fullbacks of his time. I never worried about it, if you do a smart trick, it doesn’t matter how good he was, most people buy them. I played against him three or four times in my career and I always thought I did all right.
A lot of people say, who’s the hardest player you’ve played against? For me, I used to find Kenny Sansom hard to play against. Not physically. Listen, they’ll only kick you once, because then they got booked.
Kenny Sansom was very hard to play against because he was different, Kenny. He didn’t dive in, he was very quick, very quick over 10 yards. He’d feint that he was going to close you down, then stand off as you received the ball. He always made you have to think. I always found him difficult to play against.