KOA special - Frank Nouble on his Town spell, CLACK and coaching ambitions

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0:38well frank welcome to the kings of anglia podcast i appreciate your time thanks so much for coming on how swings yeah very well thank you mate um yeah happy to be on happy to talk things uh ipswich and obviously my time there so no really really it's a pleasure to be on top man and yeah obviously we're now deep into summer and uh you're currently wearing if you're watching on video if you're listening on audio you've got a nice citrus town training kit that were gifted to you a few years back when you were training with the other 21s under John McGrill yes yeah lucky enough um you know they're what you welcome me back in to just have a bit of training I lived a stone throw away from the training ground um when I was at Colchester uh just off woodbridge road and um yeah lucky to go in there train with the kids uh on the 21s i don't know if they're under 23s on the 21s they're called um and got some kit i've got a number nine shirt as well so it was nice touch for them to let me have it and take it home so that's why i'm wearing it today definitely i'm sure i brought back memories i know this is a few years back now and just moved around and stuff like that but i'm sure it just brought back memories going and a lot's changed you know new ownership yeah a lot has changed yeah you know what though a lot of the current players I've ever played against anyway and obviously they've gone on and done really well or you know I just know of them especially living in that area at the time um seeing them about so it felt good it felt strange at the same time going back to the same training round where they actually where I trained wasn't exactly where we trained when I was back then as well so it felt different in that way as well but now look the club's doing amazing and it's just good to see definitely man and uh you've been on a bit of a journey since you left town um we'll go through your whole career as a whole you know much so yeah true true i won't do that for you but um you're now in the northeast you've sort of been everywhere in sort of uk and stuff but um how's it you know sort of settled in the northeast yeah no my partner's from up here so um she was with me when i was with town as well so uh yeah she's from red car small town and uh up here uh not too far from middlesbrough so we live in between yeah enjoying it the kids are settled got three kids now so you know they're in school you know i've moved them quite a lot um in the last few years even though i know i've moved a lot in general um you know my son was born in ipswich funny enough he's the last the last of the of the three to be born so you know for them to live up here we're all grateful to be together that's the main thing you know when you play football it's quite hard to find a base where you're going to be you know a lot of contracts tend to be two years one year or if you're lucky enough three years and obviously if you can extend it brilliant for yourself but most players don't get that opportunity to do that so you know I've been one where if I'm wanted I've tend to gone there and obviously I'm up here now and I think we'll be here for the foreseeable, I think, especially coming to the latter stages of my career.

3:40And we like it enough here. My partner's in uni as well, so she's trying to be a midwife, so she's in her last year of doing that. I think it's my turn now to support her in her dreams as well. Definitely. Yeah, it's a lovely, lovely area, sort of North East, lovely people as well. You're sort of, yeah. Yeah, how is that as a play? You know, you sort of can't really settle in one place for so long. Yeah, it must be. Yeah, it's hard, mate. You know what? Even if I'm talking about Ipswich Town, I was 21, I think, when I went there. So, you know, looking back on it now, I actually really enjoyed my living arrangements there.

4:21You know, I lived in Kezgrave at first, I think. I lived in Kezgrave. I lived in the town as well, a small flat just above Peace Express, which was quite damaging for me i went there pretty much every night um and yes i lived in them two them two areas and obviously then i moved to colchester as well further down the line and i came back to live in ipswich because i knew the area quite well so i was it's quite a home for me if i'm being honest playing for ipswich town and obviously colchester as well so i actually lived in ipswich quite a lot so i really enjoyed living down there we've got we've got friends that actually come to visit us have visited us up here twice now because our kids are mates in school when they were in Ipswich.

5:05So they've come to visit us twice now. So I think it's our turn to pay back the visit in the near future. Because I've not actually been back. I've not been back for a few years now. So I'm looking forward to going back to visit. And I've not been back to a game either. I've not watched a game. Obviously, I'm playing currently. Of course. So obviously, you know, the games merge pretty much simultaneously. So I've not been back to watch ever since I've played for Ipswich. So I'm looking forward to doing that one day. And obviously now they're back in the promised land. If I can get a game in somewhere, I'd love to do it.

5:39Definitely, man. And I want to sort of take you back now, as I always do on the show. And I'm sure you've spoken about your career from different podcasts and stuff. But I'll take you back to a young Frank. Some of my first memories, you know, from you are now, you know, you weren't expecting probably the journey you've been on with the amount of clubs and, you know, teams you played for. But what's your first memories of football? Who sort of got you into it? Did you have a family who sort of went into football? Well, yeah, my dad played football back in Ivory Coast before coming to England and then having me, you know, born in South London.

6:11So I guess I had inspirations of imagining what my dad was like as a player from my mum, from my mum every day, telling me how much of a player he was. But yeah, it's really of my own back, really, telling my parents I want to go play football. I think it's quite hard now these days for young players to go out there and just say, I want to play football because there's so many distractions. I think back then, for us, we just wanted to go out and play. Our parents allowed us to go out and play. I've got kids now and I find it hard to let them go out and play. So, yeah, lucky to grow up in that generation, just going and playing.

6:43And then, yeah, you know, playing for my Sunday team, scoring about 50 goals a year. I think, you know, getting scouted for Millwall and then eventually to Chelsea. and then going through the academy and West Ham and then found myself with TC, Terry Connors at Wolves. But I spoke to Mick before, Mick McCarthy before going there. And obviously then he left the year before. So the fact that he went to Ipswich, that January that came up, you know, Terry told me, look, I'm going to Ipswich. So if you want to come, you know, you're more than welcome. I think the club will be interested in you. So that's how it came about.

7:20and then i loved my time at it was from the minute i got there the experienced boys that were in that team really helped the young boys at the time you know where david mcgoldrick who was there they i think i think he signed not too long before me actually um we had him darryl murphy was like a big brother to me at the time there as well um luke chambers cole scoose you know these boys really led the change room it was run really well so as a young player coming in all i had to do was just train hard and hopefully get opportunity weekend and you know the young boys with me Anthony Wordsworth I think Jet was there at the time as well you know he was like a brother to me he still is now yeah no great group Luke Haim Tommy Smith I played with him later on down the line as well Colchester we had a great group great team as well actually looking at on paper I would say slightly underachieved the year I went there I think we finished 15th, 16th that year I'm not pretty sure it was random them places but for me personally playing in front of that crowd you know the home games for a team that wasn't fighting near the top we still got 18, 19 ,000 on average you know them years them seasons so I loved it I loved playing at Portman Rose and I think I think I tried to show that in the way I played full of pace and aggression.

8:43I think I really enjoyed it. Definitely. Were you always a striker then? As a kid, like anybody, you want to score goals. Yeah, you do, but I played out wide. I think Mick played me out wide a lot. I don't think I ever remember playing up front for Mick at Ipswich. At Chelsea, coming through the ranks, I always came through as a left winger. But obviously, because of my size, people tend to think he's a striker, he should be able to play up front. And all I knew was academy football. So, going to learn the men's game you know put a lot of people and they just go well he's a youngster from chelsea or west ham why can't why is he not producing why is he not scoring goals where it's different you come and play men's football they're putting balls in the channel stuff like you got to learn how to head the ball back post that stuff you don't get taught in the academies that's one con i will put on a academy football if you stay there too long which i didn't but if you stay there too long you tend to miss out on what men's football is really like so i came in as a winger and i i love playing that wide you know there's times where the front three was me on the left i think maybe daryl murphy in the right and david mcgoldrick up front and you know it meshed really well people like j tab and pindo anderson you know playing as well you know we were exchanging roles that wide i love i loved it honestly he was a great learning curve for me and i think i picked up most in my career actually playing under mick mccarthy and then experienced boys i think yeah that down the line i think they lost in the playoffs to maybe Norwich or something like that.

10:09Yeah, let's not talk about that. No, I know, I know. But my point is that they were getting closer and closer to, you know, doing really well before obviously Mick left and then turmoil hit the club. And obviously the big turnaround, you know, in recent years has been great to see. Yeah, definitely. And I want to take you back though quickly to Chelsea days because you probably spoke about it before, but it's always interesting to me. So, you know, rejecting a pro deal at Chelsea, you said, like coming through the academy, you're playing, but you just probably didn't see the path to break through to the team.

10:40Yeah, you're spot on. Again, it's probably the first time I got introduced to agents at 15 and lucky enough for me I played the age group up every year so I was doing really well at Chelsea scoring goals again I was playing left wing up front it was very like choose where you want to play you know the most talented boys we had freedom to go to what we wanted but we were signing foreigners even at under 14 age groups which is mental to me yeah so and chelsea obviously were on the rise josie marina was the manager you know abramovic was there we had everything given to us the training ground was unbelievable and i got to the under 16 age group and i'll played youth youth cup you know done really well in the youth cups lost in the final to man city my under 16 years i was playing you know two years up basically uh trained with the first team you know i'm training with ashley cole and these frank lampars and jogpers and all them people uh and they you don't realize it until you leave you know what position you're in got offered a deal a scholarship and a two-year pro i was one of two english players left from under 11s all the way up so i looked around i thought it's brilliant i've been offered this but what are the chances really of me getting close to first team football because i could i could taste it and feel it because i trained with them I thought no I need an opportunity here and I tried to get that out of them verbally but there was no promises made and the last person was John Terry to come through so it wasn't really it wasn't really something I could I could feel I felt like I might be in a 21s football reserve team football was called at the time training with charisma which might have been brilliant for a couple of years and deco all these people but you know I really wanted to get into the first team life and i've seen people my similar age group get opportunities at man united and you know man city and these places i'm thinking surely i can get an opportunity so lucky enough zola used to come in every now and then even while he was manager at west ham steve clark as well and yeah i got a phone call saying west ham you know want to do want to do a deal for you so i couldn't i couldn't leave quicker if i'm honest with you just because i could feel first team football i was going to get first team number first team changing room and the minute i got there i trained with the first team so you know it was a great it's a big jump in terms of leaving a club where you've been at for seven years six or seven years but it's a great experience to actually turn down the deal which to this day i don't regret because it opened the world up to me in the path that i've obviously gone on to lead now god knows what would have happened if I stayed because I think a couple of years later they won the Youth Cup every year and I would have been part of at least one of them and you know they don't know where that path would have taken me but you know that's all ifs and buts I definitely know what happened and I live with that decision because I got first team football literally the next year I made my Prem debut coming off the bench a few times like it was a great experience and it led me on to take it on to my Ipswich days and other clubs Yeah definitely because that you know that's what you want to do as a young player play football when you want to get to that stage at a young age because sadly you see players now who are 21, 22 and haven't played much senior football but you did that and then you went out on loan loads of times you know how was that for sort of young players they weren't like local loans either no the mental loans mate so the loans is the part that I actually regret the only regret in my career is the loans again it shows how eager I was wanting to go and play I couldn't care less if I'd done well or badly at these places but I wanted to go out there and just see what it was like and feel it.

14:21Went to Barnsley, went to West Brom. You know, West Brom, yeah, I went there, they won the league. I only went there for I think a month or two, something like that. But loved it. Went to Swansea, Brendan Rodgers, he was my youth team coach at Chelsea, so, you know, it's funny because football's all about timing. If I stayed with him longer, God knows what would have happened. I might have gone Liverpool with him. You know, these things are so, it's never always about your abilities, what I tell young players now. Obviously, you've got to be good enough to get there. but you also got to be lucky um and be the right place right at the time and take the opportunity so yeah some loans were great some loans weren't so great um you know i went gillingham twice really loved my time at gillingham yeah i went chow and so many teams all the space of two years um so it probably adds up to about eight clubs and then that's why people go you've got more clubs than tiger woods and i'm like i know but a lot of them were before i was even 20 on loan so So, no, great experience for me.

15:17But it probably led me well going into an Ipswich exchange room where I'm used to meeting new people. I wasn't phased at all as a youngster. I think if you ever speak to anyone that I played with, they'll never say Frank was shy. You know, I came in, I was being myself straight away. And I tried to portray that on a pitch. Yeah, because I hate to say, I think, yeah, Tam was your 10th club when you signed for us. So, I'm about to say, there's so many loads of loads. So, you're double figures already. I've got a picture of you signing for the club. For the audio listeners, you're holding the shirt up.

15:49And we'll just, you know, sort of describe it as much as we can. But can you remember this day and this jacket? Yeah, yeah. I remember that jacket. I got hammered for that jacket. I'll tell you that for free. Yeah, no, I remember that day. It was a great feeling. Leaving Wolves and then coming back down south, you know. Yeah, it was a great feeling. It was a great feeling because Mick McCarthy was a big name in football. He still is, obviously. He was like a proper father figure to me. so just that feeling of being wanted again i think any player you know anyone in life wants to feel wanted you know in some respects so it felt great uh yeah that day was it's a bit of a blur really because i remember knowing that i've signed you know middle of the season and you just come straight into the thick of things there's no time to settle nothing like that you know i think i was in the bank straight away uh for a few games then coming on just trying to make an impact and then try to impress my teammates it's always difficult but i think i did that quite well so no i loved it and i settled in really well made friends with people like aaron koreswell straight away him his part his partner my partner still friends to this day so you know i made friends for life at that club yeah and how was it to settle in suffolk because you know i'm sure you now you've got a permanent contract i know you went to walls briefly i don't know if you had enough time to move there or not you probably was like no i lived there no i lived everywhere i've been i've lived so yeah i've tried live really close to the training ground as well so um yeah no yeah i lived in yeah so the first place we moved into i was in the hotel hotel so what's it called the house yeah i lived there for a month i think and then found a place eventually um i think it was the apartment on top of a piece express again so yeah no i was in the heart of of suffolk i was in the heart of the town center really no again when you're young you don't really take things in you don't really appreciate your surroundings so i went to training i came back i didn't really see much of the town it's only when i got a bit old enough and i had kids that i appreciated living in ipswich even though i left the club later on but at that present time um yeah it was a it's a bit of a blur i went to london as much as i can to go see family and friends um but yeah honestly just a young boy just trying to enjoy it and my partner was living with me as well so at least i had that rock next to me and i didn't miss out on on too much of life how was your um family like thinking when you're moving to all these clubs and going oh we want to go and support you frank but yeah i've got some loyal boys so i've got a group of friends there's about five of us we went to school together so they've been to every club i've been at come to the games so they came to ibswich for them that's a local one considering the little places i've been to so um um you know they came to support family my mum my dad always come to came to my games uh even if I was playing I'm not playing always came to the home games my mum not so much she gets too nervous watching me always has and and because I knew she was nervous watching me I probably wouldn't want to understand either because it'll fucking it'll piss me off as well thinking that she's nervous thinking relax I've been a professional now for a few years now I think I think I've got this um Yeah, so, yeah, family, yeah, my mum and my dad came and my little brother came a few times.

19:05He's an aspiring footballer and he's gone on to have his own career. And my youngest is obviously trying to break in now. So, that was good. That's good. And, yeah, let's talk about, you mentioned Aaron Crosswell earlier, he scored an absolute screamer in sort of your best game for town. You know, he scored twice against Crystal Palace. Share us your memories of that because that was a great night for the club, but also for yourself. Yeah, no, great night. I think the big teams that used to come down to Portmoura was always a great night. You know, when your left has come with your Vardis and Mahrez that year.

19:35I remember QPR were odds-on favourites as well. When they come down, big crowd. Fikersa Palace was one of them as well. I'm still friends with Yannick Bellassi. We used to go back and forth online. Me, him and Jet. So that game was actually bigger for our friendship. So the fact that I probably turned up the best game I played for Ipswich Town in that game was brilliant. Crezi scored an unbelievable goal as well that night. Crezi was obviously one of our best players, most consistent player, played every game. But that one of the left foot was put in the top corner. So I think Palace might have gone up that year anyway.

20:09Yeah. I think they won in the playoff final or whatever. But for me personally, it was a great night. And I just remember the scenes of the goal from kickoff, you know, winning the ball back early and then obviously slotting it nicely, you know, past their goalkeeper. that feeling of just knowing everyone's going mental a night time game as well just stuff like that you just can't take away from anyone so I always preach that to young players now obviously scoring a goal is the best feeling in the world but the actual feeling of knowing other people are joyous with you at the same time is unreal so I'll always remember that game Yeah because that was early in your time in town as well I think that was maybe in April you signed in the Jan so early on so good opportunity to go here you go I've arrived hopefully Yeah No, it was brilliant, mate.

20:54Great feeling. For me personally, I've never been a scorer of many goals, mainly because positional play, I've played mostly out wide in my career. And back then, it was always about providing for your forwards and creating and doing stuff. Whereas now, you know, everyone's a numbers game now and the wingers are scoring more goals than strikers, aren't they? So I've always wanted to give everything I can, but also showcase my strengths so it should be strength and pace, you know particularly at that time so playing at Portmouriel I feel like that was automatic mate I don't know what something about that pitch or that grass just makes you feel quick it's hard to explain but if you are quick you're going to feel even quicker playing there so when I see players of today playing at them I always feel like Ipswich always play quick football you know slick especially when that grass is wet and you've got your wingers and your fullbacks overlapping like I've always thought of that that's the way that that club should always play and they've carried it on now and obviously surpassed it to the next level so bringing back the glory days of you know when when when they were flying and winning trophies so for me that's how it felt playing there and i'll always remember that it's one of my fondest memories playing football was playing at portman road so one of my top three best clubs and i know i've got plenty but they're definitely it's definitely one of my best clubs that i've been at definitely as you say you know you had to play out wide because you know my goldrick was scoring the goals murph was you know just about to go on fire and stuff like that and what a player he was mate honestly yeah we saw it in training but he was another one he probably didn't score as many goals as he should on paper but what he actually brought to the team you know we couldn't you can't buy that you know bullying players and you know you play a ball down the line he's literally holding a player with him and running down the line and producing something for us maybe getting a corner them small things are so underrated and especially in today's football because everyone wants to play ticker tacker football don't they um but we have mcgoldrick is magic you know he's gone on to have a great career still speak to him today um he was the magic man for us and then everyone else just done their jobs really well again maybe league table didn't always showcase that but we were a solid team that's what that's what i thought and i really appreciate their memories yeah i think a lot of fans appreciated you just for your hard work okay you didn't score the goals and you made maybe off days here and there but just you you're a massive character and you know i remember being a young fan just remember frank yeah he was just such a character and you're just such a workout work course on the you know the pitch um and of course you had the the clack yeah talk us through that i wish i kept that going man i wish i kept that going when you look back on things you think oh i had that idea people have got clothing lines left right and center especially friends of mine who have gone on to doing really well stuff like that but the clock came out of nowhere i was playing fifa and my uncle walked in and he was screaming it after i scored a goal or my team's got to go on fifa and i just brought it back to the training ground and again i used to just shout it at training i used to i used to really annoy the older pros like your christoph bearers and stuff like that who were hard hard nuts in training but if i skip past them and maybe score the goal whatever i'll scream clack straight in their face and again it's quite childish and playful but I think they enjoyed the playful side of me compared to you know some of the more not serious but more toned down characters we had in the change room like your cold scoose you probably wouldn't imagine but he's one of the funniest blokes you could ever meet you know really dry sense of humor I've really gotten well with him um but he would be someone that would encourage me saying he calls me clack to this day if I ring him now he said clack what you doing how's things so um yeah that's right that was a very random thing but you know I got a hat made for it a little t-shirt made for it i wish i carried that on um but no yeah great memories from from from town having said them words for sure yeah that's what a lot of fans came up and just asked me when i was saying i was going to speak to you and can you ask him what was clack about i remember saying it a lot um you know that could be one day it could have gone into the octro dictionary or something but you didn't carry on with it but i know yeah incredible man but you know how would you sort of reflect on your time at town as a whole you know mick was building the team you know he came in when we were struggling we had like you know many issues we didn't have much of a budget i think you only signed for like 25k or stuff like that yeah it was very small fee um and he was just building the team steadily um and of course the season where you went out on loan at commentary we got into the past and we lost against as you mentioned norwich um but how would you sort of reflect on your time at town um yeah it's a time that i you know i my last year there going into pre-season i really wanted to establish myself and say look i had a meeting with mick i said look this is the year i really want to establish myself as not just a in and out of player or you know i had a run where i played maybe 20 games 25 games in a row the year before and i was really enjoying it and then he would take me out and put me back in and you know play mind games as a coach now i'm older i'll realize what he was doing but make me more hungrier to go out there and really produced like i said if i had an off day i had an off day but he knew that my reaction would never be down i'll be like all right next game i'm going to go out there and produce again because we felt like we really wanted to do well for the for the fans and the supporters it might not have felt like that from the stands but for us even though the team weren't really flying but we have been coming up from the years before it felt like we're getting closer and closer to really achieving and i really wanted to stay there for longer i felt like i should have been a player that stayed there for at least five six years and in my prime going into my prime rather than leaving just before that and obviously going out alone to Coventry look I had a good time at Coventry on loan but I wanted to be doing that for for town but a lot of players came in that year even though they eventually did do well towards the end of season it was very frustrating well Ebanks Blake come in then Leroy Lita come in a lot of attacking players where I thought look my age i'm i'm a great age and i thought i should have been given more of an opportunity than them um even though them them two guys in particular i've gotten really well with it's not about it's nothing personal it's just frustrating for me that time how it ended and uh leaving out on loan and kind of leaving through the back door i didn't really want it to be that way but that is football and you know i'm very i'm a goal getter so i always carry on not worry but I've always followed for the town so a bit frustrated how it ended and I wish I was given more of an opportunity to you know what go all right Frank had a great year this year but we know that the enthusiasm and the energy and you know some of these qualities are you can't really buy them qualities so I wish that I was given that more of an opportunity but you know Mick was ruthless at the time and you know they went on to have a good year that year obviously he left later on which I think led to the demise of the club probably should have replaced him with someone a bit more young and vibrant, ready to attack the leagues.

27:49But they didn't do that. But obviously, they've got someone now that's obviously on fire. Definitely. And we've got a memory here, actually. This is from Jack. This is a town fan. Frank was a workhorse. Gave everything. And he said, you're very young at the time when he watched you. And I go with my dad and my little brother. Huge guy with a Suffolk accent behind us. Had the deepest voice and used to shout, go on, Frank. Go and get him, Frank. I think a lot of fans just appreciated your hard work. You know what, that phrase there, I honestly felt like I heard that every time I was on the pitch.

28:22And obviously before even you mentioned that, I said I felt even more athletic than I did before entering that pitch. So it does warm my heart when I hear things like that. Even if one quote, small things like that, it means a lot to just players in general. Because look, all you see us is on the weekend. And, you know, we get jugs on a weekend performance or a midweek performance. So, you know, the fact that you can say someone remembers you or you've tucked someone or, you know, they felt like you gave everything. You know, it means a lot. But honestly, I love that club. Still love it to this day.

28:53Still follow them on every platform possible. And, you know, when they do well, I'll always mention it. But again, I do definitely need to go back there and see it for myself. I think a few players go back there when they call us Edwards was there. How could I forget him? I follow him online and I see he's gone back and done a few things and spoken and Alan Judge even though we weren't teammates at the time I know him obviously he came to Colchester later on so I see a few boys go back every now and then so I would love to go back in the near future Yeah it's a good thing about the club especially in recent times we sort of welcome the players the next players because it's at the end of the day once a blue always a blue it is great to see players get invited back and you know do different things and go and watch the game and just be around the club which is great to see and what other sort of fond memories do you have anything that comes to mind you know i've got loads of memories mate i've got i don't know if they're pg enough though do you know i mean i've got loads of memories like listen i remember one time he probably you won't mind me saying it but i remember training with like stephen hunt right stephen hunt was a teammate right he's a proper nicest bloke you could ever meet yeah but he's a head case so in training we used to go out and do shooting with terry connor's before uh before the actual main session so the strikers and attacking players go out so it'd be me david goldrick darryl murphy just funny come out uh anthony words have come out um a few other boys jack married as a young boy at the time we went on to do really well he's one that we thought would go on and do well as well but he went out alone obviously done well for looting and stuff like that but we got out do shooting and he kept missing the target and he uh steven hunt kept honey kept missing the target and i kept saying to him if you got a mate over there because you keep kicking the ball in the bushes he hated that right so that carried on into the training session and then every time we've done possession he would come and man mark me and i thought it's a bit strange like he never he's never near me in training because we're both attacking players i don't know why he's so close to me got to the end of the session to five o's and um yeah he came and he absolutely nailed me, two footed.

31:00Don't forget, he's about four foot, right? But compared to me anyway, he's small. So he's come in, right? And he steamrolled me, took me out. So I've got up, Nick's ball come to him. I've took him out as well. But as I've took him out, he's grabbed hold of me and he's looked like he's about to swing for me. Nick's come in and stopped it straight away. So both of you, a pair of whatever, I won't say it, you can both go inside or carry on training. We looked at each other and just gave each other a big hug and a cuddle. That epitomised, right? what that group was like we were fighters in training and for maybe sometimes lack of quality in the on the day of the game as a team how we played there was never a lack of fight or warriorship in that team i don't know if that's a word but you know warriors in that team um were a lot of men you know and if you were a young player you had to quickly adapt quickly to know that listen people are fighting for their lives there and that's something i had to learn quickly so that was a great that was a great memory there's a few memories of a couple of lock-ins in a few pubs in town led by Mr.

32:00Darrell Murphy the Irishman after a win an away win or stuff like that I remember winning the game at Blackpool I scored in that game as well we came back from 2-0 down I think it was and you know a great away win whatever I remember that was a great night coming back that's for sure no listen I had some good memories good pre-season tours away with them as well in Ireland really loved the Ireland trip over there my first Guinness was with Ipswich Town as well, funny enough. Yeah, no, some great memories, definitely off the pitch. On the pitch was, it just felt great playing for time, mate. It's hard to explain.

32:39I don't think you ever get an ex-player say they had a bad time. And if they did, it's mainly off the pitch. It wasn't on the pitch. For me, in a way, in that time frame, it wasn't on the pitch. Really loved it. So no, some good memories, but like I said, some have to be kept behind closed doors. Yes, of course. understandable yeah and yes um some great characters in that squad did you um room with anybody or were they yeah i remember jet everywhere i went um a room with anthony wordsworth because he was my best powers were at the time there still is my he's one of my best friends in football um so yeah us younger boys tend to stay together but then as soon as we left the room we were next to the mcgoldricks of this world and luke luke chambers you know what a hero he was for the club um you with his first person i see with a fist pump you know you should get a lot of credit for creating that fist pump actually you know doing that in england it's got overused now doesn't it just everyone does it i'm like i know i know it's mental but that was i felt really unique to us so yeah you know we couldn't wait for him to do that after after a win um yeah so yeah you know we had young boys at tyro mings like tyro mings like what a career he's gone on to do you know He was a young boy.

33:51When he came in, we called him the printer because he'd come from a mortgage advising company or whatever he was doing. I think he came from Chippenham. Done a trial. We saw him and thought, who's that tall kid like? He's smashing everyone in this game. And obviously he signed and he's gone on to do unbelievable things. So, you know, he was a great young player at the time as well with Freddie Visele, Elliot Hewitt. They were the younger boys, a bit younger than me as well, actually, in the team. So, they were in and around it anyway. But no, no, great memories mate great memories definitely and um i still remember this day where you know as you sort of see x players i'm sort of going like a spreadsheet of x players you know where they are i remember back in 2016 you're off to china and i was like i know there was a sort of trend going on but how did that come about an experience in china different culture different you know world over there mate it's a different world over there especially at that time um again look i don't want to come down on any you know the chinese culture but the minute i got there like people were spitting on the floor and i couldn't believe what i've seen i thought this is one of the cleanest countries that well as soon as i stepped out it was so clean but the culture of just spitting on the floor was a culture shock for me um but then how clean it was there's also a culture shock for me queuing up for to get a train ticket people pushing if you turn your back for half a second they'll just push in front of you so it was like a real dog dog world out there but at the same time almost the most politest people you could ever meet as well so it was very weird to get used to but again the move came about so randomly obviously leaving town that year and coventry on loan i was on holiday in mexico i got a call saying look there's a team in china that would be interested in you it was the same agent as a samuel jean so he already had him over there went out there from mexico with my partner in cancun and uh didn't come back Misses had to go back to England get my stuff and bring it back to me over there ended up staying there a year and a half knowing what Frank Newball does he went on loan as well come the end of his time out there after the first year had a good first six months there sorry came through the middle of the season and new manager came in he says he wants to sign Ronaldinho Pato and Fabinho Fabinho I think he was the striker for Seville at the time you know he was on fire I thought okay where does that leave little old Frank then he could only play three forwards at a time so you know he ended up signing Pato for that team and some other two players I can't remember but I was still contracted so I ended up staying and trying to you know still play football as I always do went on loan to another team did it end up working out so you know I had to come back but trying that for itself if I had my friends and family there I would never leave if I was playing you know week in week out it was a great experience so I will always encourage anyone and go try new things you know living abroad is not it's not scary especially when you go out there and definitely open eyes and try it i loved it weather was unbelievable mate i lived in beijing so i can't complain i lived in beijing my team was beijing based it's tianjin but beijing was around the corner and then um i was in shanghai hong kong every other weekend with my partner visiting stuff like that was unreal experience that's 24 yeah it's 24 which is mad if you like if you're heading in 24 you're leaving a championship team or League One team going to China you go why is he going there you might think it's because of money but also I'm 24 if I look back at it now would I do the same thing maybe not I probably would have gone to China for another League One team maybe and try and progress again but no at that time I was like I'm going to go try this and I loved it I loved it I think your brother went over to China as well didn't he so he's going to join us you know older brother he rang me he was like look I've got a couple of teams who weren't mean I think Motherwell was the team that one of them he was leaving Livingston he was like should I go Motherwell or do I go China I was like if I'm you I go to Motherwell you forget to establish yourself in you know a good level in a Scottish Prem go Motherwell extend your time out there they love you out there in Scotland he's like no Frank you've been there I want to know what it feels like obviously all the stories I told him about he took it and he really wanted to experience it with his partner as well and he loved it so he's come back to Leverston funny enough now season's done and now he wants to go back out abroad so he's got the bug he's got the itch so now it's good to have two two family members go out there so yeah I always encourage people go try things out you never know you might love it yeah did you try to learn a bit of language or was it difficult yeah yeah I learnt all the bad words mate yeah all the bad words were learnt yeah all the bad words were learnt I learnt how to stay right and left but pretty much everyone there spoke English again you have to be lucky to be in the towns that try to speak english it's very westernized though beijing and shanghai so when you go to these places and hong kong everyone speaks english so yeah um no it wasn't too bad but a translator that was with us pretty much every day it could help us with the locals but um no i didn't i didn't really have to try and learn chinese no everyone tried to speak english so it's good why do you think um they can't become like a powerhouse because that's such a big country.

39:05I don't know, it's hard questions to answer, but, you know. It's interesting though, because the level, it's hard to explain the level as well. People always ask me, what was it like? How do you compare it to England? I would say in one team, you'd have a championship player and you'd have a League Two player all in the same team, you know, whereas in England, it's very much more competitive, isn't it? So people tend to find where they should be at eventually or, you know, a bit of luck, you might play a bit higher or a bit unlucky, you play a bit lower. But in China, all in one team, you could have someone on big money and someone on not so big money, but they're all playing in the same team and they're probably two different levels of spectrum of how good they are.

39:45So it's hard to measure, but I will give them credit for giving the Chinese players, the local players, an opportunity to play and not allowing the influx of foreigners to take over. That's one thing. So the Chinese national team will be players that are playing for their local teams in the top league. that's a good thing but actual ability wise they can never be better than what they are if they don't challenge themselves with the higher levels which is going to be england and teams in europe isn't it so it's hard for them to push themselves so i think that's where it's hard for them location wise it's hard obviously they can't just travel to england play english teams can they so but actually giving an opportunity young chinese players is a great idea to only allow i think it's five foreigners now per team so at least half the team is chinese whereas in england you don't really see many prem teams playing all english do you or predominantly english so it's hard but the money is obviously the you know a big factor in europe isn't it so i think one day though they will catch up because the infrastructure there is getting better as when i was there and god knows what it's like now that's 10 years ago so i'm sure things are building up more and more out there it's just like america though america is a big country why are they not flying but they've got other sports that they prioritize but again with this world cup i'm sure there'll be more infrastructure being built but no one can do better than the english man let's have it right yeah yeah correct frank newville so there's our sport is our sport mate isn't it's our primary sport so every kid up and down the country whether you're good or bad you know you kick a ball don't you so and you watch it so i think i think that's where the difference always lies with other countries yeah and so you haven't mucked about in terms of where you wanted to play your football um you know going through your clubs since you've left china you know you've been you've gone down as far as plinth so now of course gateshead and spending more and you know now um we spoke earlier in the chat you just went i just want to play football and if they're going to give me a contract i'll play yeah yeah yeah and you know what and every place i've been to you know most of them have great history you know i've been lucky to go to a lot of good clubs you know i could i could have gone to many other clubs and you know could have been here or there or nothing but the place i've gone to i felt like it's somewhere i wanted to be challenged and also do well at you know going to argyle blimph argyle was a great experience again so far away from where i was living at the time coming back from uh from china and it was obviously going to colchester Colchester felt more like home, like I did at town.

42:15But then going to Plymouth was mental. But over there, it's like living in Spain in the summer. Honestly, the palm trees, the weather, you're next to the water. It was an unreal experience. But then again, I felt like I needed to come back to Colchester. Then I went to wherever I went to. I can't remember now. But I also played for Newport. I played for Southend. I played for Gillingham. Yeovil. Yeovil, yeah. So Yeovil, that was a great move, mainly for me because it went to the lowest league i've ever been at so it's conference south i think it was we ended up winning that league but again i went to a club that i felt like needed something to change and i feel like if i'm part of that you know i'm i don't speak for us for other people but i think i'm loved in that area if i go back there today you know i'll see the locals and uh and we can talk about great times so again i felt lucky and privileged that i got the opportunity to go do that there for two years probably one of the longest places i've been that town as well two and a half years culture stuff four years so these places you know they they stay close to my heart um obviously come to gateshead now i'm in the northeast freezing free you know free freezing my corners off up here but i'm i'm i'm loving every opportunity i get to and one thing i can always say is i've had so many teammates so many managers i can't go any town now without knowing someone that lives there so i can just pick up the phone and go look i'm I'm in I'm in Barnsley today and I've got a mate that lives in Barnsley or near enough Leeds way sort of thing so that's one positive of playing for so many different places you know I feel like I can go back there and have a semi home somewhere and feel a little bit appreciated so but it's funny because when Coventry you're fighting with town to go up I've got two corners do you know what I mean I've got more heart in town but also I scored the first goal back in Rico over there so it felt great to you know support both teams and then now i'm living next to middlesbrough middlesbrough fighting with town as well all the people that are my next door neighbors they'll support middlesbrough walking out middlesbrough tops on i'm thinking and they see me with this one they're thinking what's this guy doing there so it's just funny that all these things and all these clubs actually resonate with me far past living you know moving past the club i've not played for for so many years it still holds close to my heart that's good to hear man and um one thing i see as well on your social media you're coaching starting that journey and you're coaching young kids as well let us know I'm sure that's your plan it's massive for me it's massive for me mate I'm glad you mentioned it because I want to be a manager one day I want to coach I got an opportunity to coach at Gateshead towards the end of last season with players that were out on loan who came back to training the first team and then boys who weren't really involved were put on my lap to go and put on a session so you know new experience for me but i loved every minute of it so you know coaching is definitely something i've had so many influences or coaches and managers that i feel like it would be silly of me not to test that water and you know there's not put it out there there's not many black coaches and managers out there and i think they feel i don't want to speak for them but they've not gone out and and tried to be coaches from what i've heard and experiences and people i've spoke to you know and i don't know why that is you know and i hope that can change you know you've seen a lot of managers now you know who might be you know different backgrounds getting opportunities to go and coach at that you know at different levels look which i mean the first coach in that woken you know what a legend he is but the fact that he's doing it you know it's an inspiration for all and any player x players done it you know frank lampard for example you know coventry whatever i know he's a big name but the fact that they're taking jobs, whatever the level is, should inspire players to go do so.

46:01And I also want to be, you know, that beacon and that example to inspire other coaches of all backgrounds. Look, if you're good enough, you will get an opportunity. You know, so I'm doing my, currently doing my UEFA B. It should be done come December time this year. And I'm open to get an opportunity to go and coach somewhere. If I live in close to town, I'll be knocking on that door saying, look, Kieran, you've got a man here that's experienced, you know a lot in my career i've played at every level you know including the premier league be at 10 games but i've played at every level i've experienced so much in my life i want to give back and i and i think my character itself will inspire young people um and players of today so that's what i'm hoping to do in the near future um you know i've already knocked on the mudsborough doll to go and you know shadow what they do in pre-season you know academy level because it's on my door.

46:56I live 15 minutes from that stadium. So I'm just hoping to get an opportunity. And if you don't knock on doors, you never know what can happen. But I want to be a coaching manager one day. So that's the steps I'm taking while I'm coming towards the end of my career. I know I've just signed for Stockton Town, which is local to my house. I think it's a step three team, part time. So it'll give me opportunity to go and coach maybe during the week as well as, you know, training with them and obviously trying to do well for them. So yeah, I'm trying to do both. yeah I'm really looking forward to that journey and listen if it takes five years or ten years to get to to be manager of town so be it but wherever it might take me you know hopefully it will be successful definitely man all the best for that and I've enjoyed this conversation I hope you've enjoyed it as well I've got a few quick fire questions just to finish up talking about management who would you sort of say is the best manager you played under there's a lot to name I won't go through them all but yeah I want to give a shout out to John McGrill because you know you sort of played on the room a few times at Colchester and he's done a very good job with the Un21s as well this season yeah big shout out obviously because we're talking about town so I didn't want to mention too much about Colchester do you know what I mean but obviously he's a legend at town isn't he so no what a great man great fella yeah Scouser he's just a top man and I'm glad he's still you know working with the club and you know doing good things for the young players out there but yeah what a fella and as a manager for me obviously at Colchester though he was brilliant but we used to share stories about you know town all the time so I know he lives there he didn't live too far away from me actually um when I was living there so no I spoke to him last week actually funny enough I sent him a uh a cheeky message saying about my coaching actually saying look you know you know be careful for your job I could be coming for it in a year's time so he just said all right mate a lot of tried and come and failed so he's top man but yeah go on what did you want to say manager wise best managers top three yeah top three who sort of stands out for you top three managers Mick McCarthy without a shadow of a doubt he was like a dad to me very ruthless you know I got an R8 when I was at Ipswich I don't know why I did it but I really wanted to get one fancy car and he the boys actually got to me and said look I don't think Frank should be driving and i knew where it came from um and he pulled me in the office he said look i love what you're driving that um i'll come pick you up for the next week um and we could talk about why you shouldn't be driving i thought this is very strange like why are you getting so invested in cars um but it was a big like father figure moment for me so what i used to do is i used to park the car further down and then walk in to pretend like i didn't drive it i still drove it i used to park outside the car sometimes and i thought what am i leaving my car outside the car before that anyway anyway so mick mccarthy he's uh he's one um i want to say brendan rogers i had him for a short spell at swansea but actual coaching a team and tactical weight wise he was one of the best without a shadow of doubt so i want to say him and i want to say i've mentioned john mcgill i love my time with him but i want to say michael flynn i had him at newport uh ollie for a year and his man management skills it was unbelievable just come in and we used to play table tennis my first day and i smashed him up and he faked how bad he was that day coming next day smashed everyone at the park so small things like that they go a long way when a manager you know makes you feel like you know he's one of you but at the same time he's got a foray and we had great we had a couple of great cup runs play Spurs home and away you know Harry Kane had to beat us in the end it's no shame Harry Kane beating us is it now so yeah so Denfrey probably touched me the most in my career leaving a lasting effect in my career that's a good thing when you're coaching you know in the future and now you can sort of take everything off you know different managers taking off Zola Zola personal he used to train mate Zola he's the best player in training in the finishing drills it's mental you know having people like him you know manage me was unreal i had chris powell i had a lot of good managers i've gone on to do great things it's just the ones that resonated for you the time at the time it's probably the ones you remember the most so definitely take a few of them and bring your own style definitely of course you've played with loads of great players who sort of stands out for you your best sort of players you've played with wow best players i'll say if i'll i'll say a couple of names uh so i just got parker with sam he was the most consistent player ever played with he was always a seven out of ten so i'll mention him off the bat i had uh aaron creswell at town i never hardly seen play a bad game and if he did you know he's probably still a six out of ten so for me he was one of the best players you know um i can i can definitely say i played with um david mcgoldrick was the magic man um literally he's the goat um you know of all players in terms of particularly efl level like he is someone that if you can go and watch someone play he used to wear black boots we see why are you wearing black boots like the goal you score the chops that you do and stuff like that he's like never want to bring attention to myself let the football do the talking and that that really does ring well with um how he played so yeah McGoldrick is up there.

52:31I mean, honestly, I've played with so many players, I'm obviously going to forget someone. But there was a couple of players that were young that I thought they're going to have great careers. James Madison, obviously went on to have B. And unbelievable. Mate, he used to wash the manager's car at Coventry. I used to think, who's this guy like washing cars? And he'd come and train and put in three kicks in the top corner and train. I used to think, oh my God, this guy's going to make it. So, yeah, James Madison, John Stones was at Barnsley. He was 16 when he made his debut. with me on the pitch and he had a chance then and obviously you know he's getting heroes heroes um you know goodbyes at man city so there are a couple of players to mention definitely and um i don't know if you did you keep shirts you know against players you played against i've got loads of shirts mate i should have more really but i've got loads of shirts i've got kieran trippier he's close friends of my close friend of mine i played with my barnesley as well and obviously living in newcastle i used to go see i've seen him quite a lot recently went through his goodbye do as well only last week so Kieran Chipper I've got his shirt I've got Martial Colchester went on a cup run we played Man United in the quarter finals Carabao Cup which is brilliant for the club so I've got a few Rashford's shirt Talos shirts I've got Kresi's shirt I've got Chambo's shirt I've got McGoldrick's shirt I've got a couple of others as well I think I've got Luke Hyams's shirt as well actually somewhere yeah I've got John Terry's shirt playing for Wolves we played Chelsea in the Cup and while I was up with Sam as well I forgot Rooney's shirt I was on the bench mate he scored and I almost celebrated because I still put my knife so I forgot I was in the area I had to remember I was out to park and I was so yeah I've got loads of shots I should have more but I've got loads of shots especially with friends I've been definitely man and well thank you so much for your time sort of final sort of messages to the fans and yeah it's been great to go yeah yeah no obviously I know the club is well supported really well supported but you can't imagine how much love them players will be feeling obviously getting promoted again but especially the new players when they come into that club and they just see the admiration and the numbers that you guys pull out every week to go watch your team it's unreal so hopefully that will carry on next year hopefully they've learned a few lessons from the first year in recent years going up there and I think they will stay up this season and I'm hoping they surprise you and do with Sunderland what Sunderland did you know growing up I know they made a lot of signings probably Town will probably have to do that which won't feel great for the players that got the club up but they're going to have to mesh it somehow of know-how as well as exciting young talent which they have in abundance so nah listen if I can get back there one day if you see me walking around hopefully I'm recognisable enough that you can come say hello So come give me a cuddle.

55:28And if it's a local pub, somewhere we'll go have a pint as well. So no, I'll be back soon. I'm sure. I'm sure of it. I'll hopefully go back this season. And if I do, I'll put it on the socials. And if someone wants to come say hello, I'll be more than welcome to. Sounds good. I can imagine, hopefully, definitely your young son. You know, he's born in it, as you said. Will he become a Town fan, do you reckon? No, honestly, them things, they always work full circle. I always think that. So you never know. He's already kicking the ball. He's only three. So, you know, you never know. but again if I do come there with the family in particular they will be having town shirts anyway I'll get that straight away so no hopefully I can be back soon you never know in football do you top man well thank you so much for your time cheers mate top man appreciate it

56:30Thank you.

57:04Thank you.

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