James Milner looks back on his record breaking Premier League career.

0:00James Milner:James Milner makes history his 654th Premier League appearance. One word to describe James Milner. Legend. Unique. Consistent. Dedicated. Intense. Brilliant. He just loves to win. I think he's everything you'd want to be in a footballer. The Premier League loves James Milner.

0:22James Milner:Goodness me! He has done it again! James Milner's the name!

0:53James Milner:James, can we start with your academy upbringing at Leeds? It was a club thriving at the time with young, homegrown players, Alan Smith, Jonathan Woodgate, Harry Kuehl and so on. Just talk to us a little bit about that period.

1:06Tim Thornton:Yeah, it was an amazing time. I think, you know, being in the academy and then you're seeing the likes of those guys come through. I remember Alan Smith scoring with his first touch at Anfield and, you know, he was my hero, you know, growing up then at that point. He'd done what we all wanted to achieve and, you know, ball boy and then, you know, the Champions League nights and I think Lee Bowie's goal against AC Milan in the last seconds on a very wet night. Seeing that and being a season ticket holder from being really young and going with my family. As a Leeds fan, it was a dream really being at the club and being in the academy of a team you supported.

1:43James Milner:And now a big moment in the young life of this fellow, James Milner, born in Leeds, just 16 years of age and won't be 17 until January. He's either a midfield player or he can play up front. Been a star in the youth team. Hasn't played that many reserve games. And this is first team debut. Tell us about your Premier League debut. What do you remember?

2:08Tim Thornton:Yeah, I remember we were pretty comfortable in the game. And then I thought there might be a chance I get on. And then I think we conceded a couple of goals. So it went 4-1 up or we were 3-1 up. Then 3-2, 4-2 or something like that. And then it went to 4-3 and I didn't think I was going to get on. and to be fair, Terry gave me the nod to go on. I remember coming on and I think Lee Bowyer passed me a ball. I remember back to goal and I tried to pass it back and passed it to Paulo Di Canio and he put it over the bar, thank God. I just remember Bowyer afterwards asking, did I ever bet on 4-0? Having a joke, but yeah, that was obviously a special day and a long time ago now.

2:47James Milner:16 years of age you were. How do you prepare yourself so young for playing against established Premier League stars?

2:56Tim Thornton:I think by that point I wasn't thinking too much about that really I think the big thing for me was at first getting in around the Leeds first team I think first time I trained with the reserves and I'm looking around and there's David Batty there and a few others and you're like you know these guys are my heroes and you're training with them and then you get sent up to train with the first team and you didn't really know it was some sort of mid-session and you got sent over so that probably helped in terms of that and you just tried to to go and do as well as you can i remember the speed of even training it was like so fast and i was a pretty fit guy but it was like this is so quick for me and you're breathing heavy and things like that but then actually going into the game i can't remember too much about being nervous playing against other premier players because for me leeds were the an amazing team and you know um you know i was training with these guys so at that point then it's well go and stay in the team and and be around be around and do what you can so then to make your debut after traveling with the team two or three times I think before that and and and seeing Wayne Rooney doing what he was doing at that time that obviously showed you again it was possible and someone else was doing it and made you even more eager to go and train really well and and take a chance when you got it on the pitch.

4:08James Milner:How much of a whirlwind was it? Premier League's youngest ever scorer, the goal against Chelsea. Were you able to take in at the time what you were achieving?

4:17Tim Thornton:No, not at all really. I think when you think back now, I think like I said, I made my debut and then stayed around the first team and then scored on the 26th and then 28th of December, obviously a busy period anyway, but then two goals in two days and then it pretty much blew up, you know, obviously in the papers and people ringing the house wanting to represent you and I think people turned up at the local cricket club we used to go to all the time and asked where I lived and people said we'd never heard of him and lied and things like that so it was a bit of carnage really and you know just before my 17th birthday and you know you think back now and you think I was in a school hall doing my GCSEs like five months before that and all your mates go to watch Leeds and then you're playing on the pitch and scoring goals in front of them it was like thinking back now it's more but at the time you just focused and try get in the team try stay in the team score goals right next one next one and that was the sort of mindset I had try and try and try and stay in the team and cement your place in that first team how much did a loan spell at Swindon bring you back down to earth Swindon was great I think the manager changed Peter Reid came in and at the end of that season and didn't really fancy me he fancied a couple of the younger guys ahead of me and and started bringing them on and I wasn't getting on the pitch too much and the start this next season was the same and I remember it was Kevin Blackwell the assistant rang me one afternoon and said you know do you fancy going on down to Swindon and I said well it doesn't look like I'm getting much game time here does it so I may as well and he said yeah and it was time when you could do a month alone so I went there with Andy King played six games done pretty well there you know full of confidence scored a few goals the lads there were brilliant with me and and just got stuck in there and we did pretty well in the short time I was there.

6:04Tim Thornton:Whether that gave me the confidence or to go back to Leeds then and whether the manager saw what I'd done at Swindon or whether the team was struggling when I wasn't there and I came back in and then I got in the team and Eddie took over, I think, midway through that season and Eddie had known me for years. I played with his son all the way through from under 10s, 11s. I played with his son Nick, who was also a good player and had a bit of bad luck with injuries and Eddie knew all about me. He'd seen me grow up and it was incredible for me. I remember even when I first come in, the encouragement.

6:36Tim Thornton:I remember one pre-season and the older guys were saying, slow down, slow down. He said, if you slow down, I'm going to knock your head off here. You keep pushing and drag him along. Stuff he used to do with me after training because he was an incredible player himself. I had all the videos watching when he was at Leeds and he'd set up scenarios of receiving the ball in situations as a winger and set up things. He gave me so much confidence. and advice and situations on the pitch and I had so much to thank Eddie for.

7:04James Milner:Leeds collapsed financially. How hard was that relegation to take for you as a homegrown player?

7:10Tim Thornton:Yeah, it was horrendous. I think your team's getting relegated anyway, but having been in the academy and watching them in the Champions League, playing in the Champions League semi-final and then you finally get a chance to play for your home town club and you're giving it everything and it was turmoil really and you think I didn't really understand what was going on too much off the field at that time. I remember having meetings in terms of going into administration and what's it mean for wages. As a 16, 17-year-old, do you don't care? You just want to play football. It doesn't really. Obviously, when you're older, play it now.

7:42Tim Thornton:Mortgages and families and stuff like that. I was just trying to focus on the football. Then to play for your home-time club finally and be relegated, it was heartbreaking, really. It was such weird. I don't even know how it happened now, really, in terms of how it could happen without me really knowing a lot about it, but turned up for the first day of pre-season the next year and was told I was going up to Newcastle for a medical. That was the first I heard of it. I thought I was coming in and playing for Leeds that season and they said it would be in the best interest of the club if I went and waived the so small amount of money that I was owed and that was it really.

8:18Tim Thornton:Obviously, Newcastle was an incredible opportunity, but I'd only ever wanted to play for Leeds and was a Leeds fan and you wanted to help them get back in. it was the best thing for the club to do that and obviously that was Leeds through and through so you know that's what we did. Would you have stayed if you'd had a choice? Yeah I mean of course like I wouldn't have thought twice about staying and playing for Leeds United for sure you know thankfully it worked out in the end for myself but you know that is you know one of the small things that I only managed to play for Leeds for a couple of seasons that's one of the things in my career that you know you look back at just the timing of of how the club was if it had been a few years earlier and stuff like that but you know I feel blessed that I came through there and so much to owe the club and the academy for you know what they gave me and the the influences I had coming into that first team you know you might be because you Gary Kelly's your Alan Smith's David Batty's Don Matteo um incredible influences on me and you're Nigel Martin's Danny Mills like the list goes on and what it was like to be a player and the values and I have so much to thank him for.

9:25Tim Thornton:I'm still watching him on TV and you see the incredible atmosphere at Lund Road. He still takes you back. Dyer, Milner up to his left. Milner looking to get inside.

9:36James Milner:Oh, that is an absolute stormer! James Milner has really upset the Apple Carts. Manchester United, a goal down and what a cracker! What persuaded you to join Newcastle?

9:52Tim Thornton:I think there was another club interested as well, but Newcastle was just, you know, the chance to, they were doing very well at the time, the chance to play under Sir Bobby Robson, absolute legend. Alan Shearer is one of my favourite players as well. He was obviously up there and I remember watching him at Euro 96 and things like that. And it was a team who was, you know, up and around near the top of the league and it was a good opportunity to go there. And, you know, you know you're going there as a young player, but you always back your own ability to go in there and make an impact.

10:21James Milner:Did you find it quite difficult initially?

10:24Tim Thornton:Yeah, I think I hit the ground running. I think I started pretty well. I remember having a conversation with Alan Shearer, actually, and walking out to pre-season, I'd been there a few weeks, and he was asking me if I'd been in the England squad yet, and I said no, and he was surprised that I hadn't, and that was a bit of a lift again. In terms of that, I thought, well, he must think I can play at this level. And then, again, manager change, I started the season, and I played a couple of games so Bobby got sacked and then it changes and a new manager comes in and things aren't going well and you want to experience and then you know there was a lot of turnover managers I don't think I started and finished the season with the same manager until about five or six years in my career so I was getting pretty used to that and that's probably the hardest thing in football you know someone builds up a thought of you and then it changes and you have to start again and yeah it was a tough time for a young player and moving away and living on my own and things like that.

11:20Tim Thornton:But I think I'd had to grow up pretty quickly at Leeds and the tough times there and coming into the team so young at 16, I think all these things have helped me become the player I am and the person I am and be able to deal with adversity. It started pretty much in those early years and being able to keep that level head when things were good or bad. How do you look back on your time there at Newcastle? Yeah, I enjoyed it. It's a football city. I think it was a shame. again it's sort of a team that was just you know on that just had better times and on that downturn you know I think we'd get to one FA Cup semi-final at Cardiff when I was there I think where we lost to Man United I think it was but it was a it was a club desperate for success and it had been so long and you could see how desperate the fans were for that success and you know I had good times there where the fans were amazing and the place was bouncing I had times also where the fans were showing the frustration and again you've got to grow up as a player and you know I never hid I always I always wanted to be on the ball and always wanted to play and try put things right um so again you need a bit of personality to play in in in a club like that at times when things aren't going well so again I think that helps me build my character and yeah I had some good times there and and again have a lot to own for in terms of how I formed as a character and some of the players I played with and under some some good managers there as well.

12:43Tim Thornton:Aston Villa

12:44James Milner:were you disappointed not to join them permanently after the loan spell and why did you choose to go

12:49Tim Thornton:back yeah obviously i had the loan spell and then um was meant to assign there and it got pulled at the 12th hour on deadline day which was tough to take i think in terms of a club saying they don't want you and then bringing you back and then again another big test and it's how you deal with that you're going to sort of get on with it and the only way i knew how to deal with it was work hard and kick on and managed to do that played a lot of games that year and and did pretty well and probably unfortunate for Aston Villa it drove the price up maybe five or six million I think it was in the end more than they should have that they were going to pay the year before but it just felt like the right the right move for me they they wanted me and the hierarchy at Newcastle weren't too convinced in terms of their confidence about giving me a new contract and things like that so that was why it felt the right deal for me to go to Villa and you know Kevin Keegan, I think the manager at the time, he was a fantastic player, I was loving my football in front of him and playing well.

13:45Tim Thornton:But the people upstairs had other ideas at the moment and that was the way it went.

13:50James Milner:Stephen Warnock told us that you went for runs at 1am on holiday. Curtis Davies says you tried to win urine sample tests. What drives your competitive nature?

14:01Tim Thornton:you um yeah i don't like to cut corners i think if you know i always ask questions and and about things if someone says you know this is what we're doing or why i'll say why and i like to build that understanding and then if i understand that's the best thing to do i'll i'll make sure i try and do that to the best of my ability so if you know i don't want to miss a run and there's you know it means a day that i've gone without a run because of whatever we've been playing golfing or something then yeah you go out and do it at that time and again with the hydration you know now obviously i'm a bit older it's like as long as i'm hydrated it doesn't matter you have to to win it but you know that was the mindset then you want to win everything you do and you know i still want to be the best at everything i can do why was it was it the right time to leave villa and why manchester city um love my time at villa amazing we were so close to you know winning a trophy losing in the league cup final fa cup semi-final as well um close to you know getting top four and just maybe ran out of steam at the end of that year with a long european campaign and i was playing really well and you know i think i hadn't won anything yet in my career and i think obviously with what was going on at manchester city it was the right time to go and try and achieve something they hadn't won anything yet at that point so it was a chance to go and join a club who hadn't had success for a long time and be part of starting something and it was tough to leave Villa you know that I love playing for Martin O 'Neill what he gave for me and the confidence he gave me and I'd probably my best individual season under him of my career really so you know I love playing under him and we had a good team there and Aston Villa's an incredible football club great place to play football the fans are always amazing and you know I still love playing at the ground now.

15:49Tim Thornton:So it wasn't easy to leave, but again, it was probably the single-mindedness of thinking I've got more chance of winning trophies if they go to City. And even though they're signing a lot of players, you back yourself to go there and make an impact on the play.

16:02James Milner:In the song Blue Moon, the blue moon turns to gold. For Manchester City, it turns to silver. The silverware of the Barclays Premier League. Those words, typical City, refer to unfulfillment, they may have a different interpretation in the years ahead. FA Cup 2011, Premier League 2012. Trophies could be the new typical City. What was it like to win the Premier League for the first time around with City and the Sergio Aguero moment?

16:35Tim Thornton:Yeah, it was incredible. I think you never, you know, obviously the FA Cup the first year was the first one that we won together and that set the tone there and that belief that you can go on and win things. It was a topsy-turvy season. The season we won the league, I think we started incredibly and then dropped off and then had a scenario where if we won the last however many, six games I think it was, we'd win the title after beating United. I think if you did a film about the football team and you said that was the ending, you'd say, nonsense, that's never going to happen. So the fact it happens and you still see it and the incredible commentary now on that moment.

17:14Tim Thornton:You know, the hair still go up on the back of your neck. It was an incredible moment from, you know, a cup final going like that is one thing, but a whole year's work where the best team always wins the league, 38 games, and you think you've blown it in the last moment to go from being that low to that high in such a short space of time. It was incredible, really, and, you know, one of the all-time incredible Premier League moments. Is that one of the best moments of your career? Yeah, I think it has to be up there. I think in terms of any time you win a trophy, any time you win a trophy as big as the Premier League, I think at the time you see other teams win the Premier League and you don't think you're aiming for that, but you never actually think you might achieve it.

17:55Tim Thornton:So to do it and do it in that manner in that instant was pretty incredible. Two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup, a League Cup.

18:03James Milner:How do you reflect on that time at City?

18:05Tim Thornton:Yeah, amazing time. Loved it. Again, it was, like I said, the decision to go there and try and help start an area of success there and to be able to achieve that in a dressing room of players that were filled with talent and multi-million pound signings coming through the door every transfer window. You get knocked back down the pecking order and have to earn your stripes again and that was always a big challenge but one that I feel like I always did pretty well and always managed to find my way back into the team and be a big part of it and learnt so much from the dressing room and the players we had, Vinny, company, incredible captain, and we had a fantastic English core, you know, Joe Hart and Gareth Barry, Jolene Lescott, incredible sort of core that drove that group on.

18:50Tim Thornton:And then, you know, your Carlos Tevezes, your Sergio Agueros, David Silva, Dindjeko, you know, Yaya Toure, the list goes on and on. You know, I think it takes you to a level, the next level as a player, and I was playing at England at that time, and, you know, you're playing with world-class players every single day and testing yourself and pushing yourself and big personalities as well you have to grow both on the field and off the

19:13James Milner:field talk to us about boring james milner is it something you've come to laugh at and enjoy

19:21Tim Thornton:the fun side of that yeah i think um you know it came up when i was at the last stage of city i think a few years and you know at first it was like trying to find out it was and then it was like oh well and you know I never actually minded I feel like if people thought was boring I was doing a good job at keeping separate you know I think you have to do media you have to do certain things but you know it's not all of me is for everybody you know there's the football side and there's certain things and the rest is private and it's for me and you know I've obviously got the voice I've got and the accent I've got and it fits and it was funny so yeah I just thought it was quite funny and just sort of had a bit of banter around it and things like that and you know I think people who know me and have played with me and stuff like that they know can have a bit of fun as well so yeah it never bothered me too much

20:17James Milner:You ran your contract

20:18Tim Thornton:down at City