Joe Hart: “Pep Told Me I Was Done” - Training Session Wind Ups, City’s Takeover & Celtic Redemption

0:00This podcast is part of the A-Class Creator Network. Hello and welcome to That Peter Crutch Podcast with me, Peter Crutch. Looking forward to today's episode, lads. But how have you been? Everyone been okay? All good. Yeah, we're back. International break's over. It's been all right, hasn't it? It's been a little bit tan cock, hasn't it? I don't know. I got into it a bit, obviously. Do you think everyone's excited or as excited as they should be, given how well England have done? no there's always some sort of negativity around us isn't there I do think we do it to top players as well you know there's so much talk around Jude Bellingham can't we just celebrate what a fantastic young player we've got who's playing for Real Madrid it feels like that's the agenda doesn't it we've done a record we've won 10 consecutive games but let's not celebrate that let's just focus on a few negatives and make a story it is in it that's what it is it does feel like that doesn't it I suppose it's going to happen all the way it happens before every World Cup and there's always some sort of drama beforehand isn't there I suppose hopefully the team go and prove things wrong well anyway I hope everyone can be positive and actually celebrate what's been a great run also Republic of Ireland their last minute that result was extraordinary those scenes were unbelievable wasn't it definitely saw Troy Parrott's celebrate sorry his interview afterwards raw emotion yeah like whose interview have I said his name wrong there no no Troy Parrott yeah oh was it no no I was just saying his interview why did you say it twice oh you fucker I was scared I got his name wrong there like I thought you were about to say why are you a parrot I used to do that in school all the time my boys do that to me all the time so childish oh well and then I was watching the Scotland game as well on Saturday and you know that was exciting and imparts and lots of goals there so actually I think all in all considering we write off the international weekend quite a bit I would say you know a lot of drama very fun a lot of drama especially that island game that was incredible wasn't it it really was and I just love seeing raw emotion on a football field you see Roy have you seen Robbie Keane singing the Irish he must be in an Irish pub somewhere he's at the front like with the band behind him and he's singing I've seen that have you seen it first hand no I've seen that first hand if the band's on he loves getting up yeah and then he started singing Troy Parrott's song as well he must be just after the game so yeah class brilliant good they love a party as well it made me it made me actually think that I need to go back to to Ireland and have a large one well you're only you're only there having a large one about a month ago oh no that's why it just reminded me of the time I had and how I need to go back there and do the same again absolutely one eye on the Ryder Cup are you sorted for that next year well yeah we've got irons and fires have you would you like to come with us you've got irons and fires no I'm just saying it's a dear manor I'd love to go well maybe we should go as a podcast that's why I'm heavily hinting oh right okay well let's look into it shall we but bear in mind we've got more pressing matters Valspar have been in touch oh yeah I like Valspar because it feels like It's almost like a football branded name, isn't it?

3:33What was the one? That lid doesn't look securely on such. Be careful. I'm dicing with death here. But they've given us three paints, and I believe they're going to put this in wherever you can get Valspar from. We're going to pick a colour today. I think the selected three are here. We'll pick a colour today. I'll just do it in a Chumba One bar. Bizarrely, we're going to have our own colour in the Valspar range. The Tancock will be live. You can buy it from your local B &Q. so we're going to pick a colour now we're going to call it Tancock and this is going to get sold in it's going to be a very specific blend so you'll be able to go in select Tancock on a QR code basically and then it will produce for you a lovely Tancock this is where things have escalated from we did a Zoom podcast and behind Chris was a couple of colours and we said why can't we come up with a colour and we have, we've delivered good let's go so you get to choose what shade of tan cock is yeah you need to see these things on the wall first i'd like well yeah of course i'm gonna put it in i'm gonna just do it here on the chumba one bar so the thing is with this what we're what we're about to do now is i am drawing it on the chumba one bar but things do stay here and that will now be here forevermore oh yeah good point what do we think of that first colour lads I like it I like it it's a calming oh gosh we've gone from one contrast to another one of them is like a calming colour another one looks like something get all three up in there I think what it is with this you just need to it's a feeling rather than there's not much I think you can be able to analyse here it's to you if I if I wanted to paint my walls Tancock what feels Tancock out these three colours here that you're looking at it's a podcast so they're going to be too hard to describe I mean I think if you're looking at the one on the right that's not the one for me that's a Poon Army I think we've got to roll that one out that's like when you have a little baby and it's a nappy you're either going to see that it's yellow in a nappy or in your pants after an Indian I feel like we can rule that one out yeah this is a difficult one for me because I feel like this one here people that want to go for like a quite a distinctive room like I could see that being almost like an office or you know like something with big armchairs like a Chesterfields you're saying it's a bit of a statement colour I think it's a statement colour whereas this is safe I like that but are we a safe podcast?

6:20no yeah beige do you know what I mean true whereas this here for me is a statement tan cock piece I see what you mean they represent almost different podcasts so it's between overlap it does feel like you know this is this is very this is very beige this is it's not exciting you is it for me that's the one show after party

6:55I mean how have you even dreamt that up

7:01for me this is one show after okay this feels more us do you know what I mean yeah it's controversial because some people will hate it but some people will like it and I think that's true of our podcast so we're encouraging if you like this podcast and you're looking around your room and thinking, God, is this room a bit beige actually? Do we need to freshen things up a little bit? It's a difficult one to decide. I think we should leave this to the viewers, to the listeners. What we'll do, we'll get it out on our socials. And this is very reminiscent of some of the work we've done over the years.

7:37You will literally be able to see drying paint on our socials.

7:44Some of the episodes in recent history have been very similar to this. so so we'll put some dry and paint on our socials and please tell her the colour you prefer and and Valspar are incredibly going to put it out as Tancock is that just going to get left on set that's going to get left there forever now that's going to be our story yeah well it's just everything in this room has a story yeah and now we've got I believe it's some paint they're going to get left there right lads the scores on the doors were I got one point unfortunately Chris you got three which is disappointing for me and Sid you got the one so So Chris has just kind of extended away from me.

8:20He's challenging towards the top end now. I'm on 23 points. Chris on 26. And Sid, you are top of par on 27. Still close. Not ideal. My lads, I've got to say I'm excited for this one. And you know what a top fella he is? He's obviously a legend. He's a busy man. But I just reached out and said, if you can't wait, he said 100%. You know one of those? He was just bang up for it. I think he's travelled down from Stoke or Manchester or somewhere just to come do this and then he'll be flying back. So let's give him a good time. Yeah. Let's enjoy him. Enjoy him by being disciplined. Won't be a long time, but he'll be a good time.

8:57That's what we do.

9:02Well, welcome to the podcast. One Dark Heart. What happened? One Dark Heart. Pulton Pete. Pulton Pete. I forgot my name. I remember that one. Oh my God. Joe Hart, welcome. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. So just to fill you in, actually, I forgot I was called Potent Pete. You were Potent Pete, yeah. Yeah, basically, World Cup 2010, South Africa. Few of the lads, we ended up, there was a lot of downtime. We were in a compound in Rustenburg, so there wasn't much sightseeing really around there. But we were just in this compound. We didn't really leave it. We ended up playing a lot of darts.

9:38And one dart heart, we had nicknames each. I was Potent Pete. we had one dart from Dartford didn't we yeah the one dart dart from Dartford Bullseye Barry Bullseye Barry yeah Gareth Barry walkout songs was it not really walkouts no but we just after dinner on every every yeah enjoyed that you still playing darts no not really I would do I would do I see the board I thought it was on no it's the quadruple I do what's that is that it's just a specialist board yeah he mentioned that there was a quadruple balled out we was like there's no chance yeah we had to get one but how are you with your maths you strike me as someone who's good at maths that would be that would be quick maths I'm seeing Turkey Al-A-Sheikh if he's seen me laughing though he's not jumped on this podcast yet which surprises me you should have swooped him up at the weekend well yeah it would be an interesting one wouldn't it if he suddenly got involved in the podcast world surely we'd be the first to benefit from that you'd imagine so football heritage yeah but Joe you listen to us right you say on the way up to Glasgow yeah that's a long trip so when I when I've played when I moved up to Glasgow family wise they were the wrong age to take them the children up there they were set so I committed to going up and down up and down which was fine I lived up there when I was there but yeah podcasts like you boys you kept me you kept me chuckling I think I was there when you were just on the edge and then you became a mainstay that was my zone love it how good is that love to hear it as well, mate, you were on fire.

11:12It felt right. I'll just put it back to that episode with Idris Elba and you rapped in that episode. Yeah, that was my first episode. That was a keeper. The Notorious S.I.D. The Notorious S.I.D., yeah. He got straight in. Well, the rap battle. Straight in the first team, then. That was straight in, wasn't it? There was this lunatic behind the camera there. He wanted me to have a rap battle with Idris Elba. he backed out straight away, didn't he? No chance. That's his bread and butter. I'll do a rap but I won't do a battle anyway right Josh I'll give you a little initiation into some quickfire questions if that's alright right a couple of quickfires best striker you've ever faced best striker I've ever faced you must have faced some in training yeah I can't really think of any I'm not really no I'm joking obviously no I'd go striker is Messi a striker yeah we'll give you that okay yeah yeah god that was what's that like like you know he's over a free kick yeah do you know what it was the only thing I've said it before the only thing that I've noticed that he caused a stir wise was pre-game like the analysis because it was when he was at Barca and they were obviously incredible so you had so many things to worry about but then he just dominated every conversation I remember Pellegrini never really spoke about much pre-game it was all about what we did I think someone might have been on here that said was it Ox talking about Arsene Wenger talking about the quality so that was about what they did and he was very much like that but then we just went into 25 minutes of just seeing how good he was and didn't really come up with a solution so it was almost like a fan zone and then he played out mate it's hard with a player like him because he's not being dynamic he's not very much like give me the ball he's not in the centre of the field dictating things he's just kind of wandering around and then exploding into into character like he does and dealing with people.

13:10And then tricky, I guess, from your point of view, I sometimes think this with goalkeepers that it's not like you can follow him around the pitch to get his shirt at the end. No. I always think goalkeepers get... I'm really... You're very much in the goalkeeper. Oh, the one thing I did notice about travelling up and down, it's very much a goalkeeping bashing territory I'm in here. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I'm ready to scrap, by the way. I'm ready to... Yeah, we have given... It's a bashing territory. We have given him some stick over the years. GK Union sticking up for them. Yeah, yeah. Not even the Union.

13:39It's very much... I'm sticking up for myself. Very much a goalkeeping fashion situation until they're on the podcast. We very much refer back to shitting ourselves. Okay, favourite stadium you've played in?

13:58Obviously, I'll rule out anyone that are my own. Yeah. It's tough when you do it like that. Yeah, away stadium you've been to. The Bernabeu. Yeah. Love that place. I like it there. Proper arena. It is an arena. Okay. Pep or Postacoglu? What? For me personally? Yeah. I think it's going to be a Postacoglu quite simply. Okay. Fair enough. We can get into that a little bit after. Best England teammate? That's a good one. Do you know what? I went through everything with James Milner. He was right from 21s all the way through. So it'll be a James Milner. Yeah. I know he's a quick fire, but it's nice to elaborate on some of them like James Moolen like what an incredible career he's had like and sum him up as a person because he's a lot maybe you know people think maybe he's a bit dry but he's a funny lad isn't he he's a good person to be around do you know what he is he's just straight he's to the point he's very aggressive I love arguing with him he'll hear people out he's a brilliant player especially you know from your Villa days when he earned his move he's a brilliant footballer very team minded did but he won't he won't stand for any shit and that's what i loved about him okay uh would you say i mean the next question is most underrated player you've played with would you would you put him in that category i'm not no because me us three are sat around here respectfully chris sat around here who've had a great career and we all think he's brilliant so the man on the street might not respect him but the people that matter that's true the people that matter don't you mention his name in anyone that's been around james milner and they'll respect him it's a tough one for me underrated because I only kind of think like a player and I think everyone who I know has been brilliant anyone who's played with them thinks they're brilliant yeah I don't think Gareth Barry gets the respect maybe he deserves you think it's the most appearances of all time oh yeah yeah 17 to almost 40 in the Premier League but again you mentioned I know you speak to someone like Yaya Torre or David Silva who played with him and they've been Steve Sidwell play with him in the middle they'll be like Steven Gerrard yeah Steve he's brilliant they'll say he's brilliant so underrated doesn't really work in my head because I know the people that matter is it like rather than underrated it's almost under celebrated yeah I think that's fair yeah we almost need an alternative two swords yeah I get my back up because it's bad with the underrated shout because I know the people that matter that they rate them yeah geez he got tucked to Man City he played for England how many times he played for Aston Villa he played for Everton that's someone who's rated in Premier League maybe this is our new Sistine Chapel we we have our own two swords right but it's just with the players that we feel should have I mean it's I don't know how we go about making wax models of James Milner and that it can be done I'm sure we can look into it I'm sure it can be done this is an interesting question for me like gloves or boots like what because I remember you guys like washing your gloves in the shower I remember you washing boots and shower.

17:02Yeah. Do you know what I mean? No, no, that's fair. And. Well, that's because we're pampered princesses, aren't we? So boot-wise was always pretty much taken care of. Taken care of, yeah. So no one washes your boots. Glove-wise, I wouldn't, I wouldn't trust a kit, well, none of the kit men that I work with are to do it how I'd want to do it. You know, when you just want to take control of a situation. Yeah. They were my things. They were things, gloves all day. Yeah. Gloves all day. So it's all linked to that. Sid's asked an interesting question of Mick McCarthy a couple of podcasts ago and it was at what exact point do you think the game the game was gone or the game has gone yeah it's an interesting question actually I do wonder is there something with goalkeepers perhaps for me it feels like the game changed a lot when goalkeepers stopped wearing jogging bottoms Gabel Karai yeah is there a serious lack of Son Dico bags in the goal I had seen it with a Son Dico why is it yeah there is there is isn't there that was a thing growing up caps what's the matter why can't you wear a cap anymore I rocked the cap yeah you did never too cool for school mate the sun was shining the cap was on that was my old man he was on it he was like and I just felt like it's a quite responsible position right as a goalkeeper so you've just got to kind of put to the side what people think you're right why the sun's still the same isn't it exactly right why is the modern goalkeeper not I think you would see it more but in the stadiums now they're that big but if you played away you know I'd imagine at Brentford or something like now or Craven Cottage for example you're going to get you're going to get that glean that's my check embarrassing I sound like a geek here 12.30 kick off I'd be straight in with the analyst boys what are we saying sorry mate he's just getting me some tickets for something who is it who is it I used to do abroad no no no it's my it's my brother-in-law it's my tickets no but that'll be one of my first checks what's the sunlight what time of year because obviously with the autumn and the spring and stuff like that very geeky Henderson I'm sure I saw him yeah he rocked Henderson with the cap so he went on loan to Shrewsbury Shrewsbury town and their new stadium because I played against him in the cup had a proper low so he would have been pulling that out weekly are our field players not allowed to wear a hat just for clarity is there a rule that says you're not allowed but isn't that wouldn't that be incredible why are goalkeepers so different if I went into a game or you know you watched I don't know Virgil van Dijk just had a little cap on.

19:30That was true, because you're still classed as a player. Why is a keeper now? We're second class champions, on that pitch, and we know it, so there's got to be some... But that's such a great point. Like, if someone did want to wear, imagine someone like, with that much ability, just Neymar, just had a cap backwards, skills and people. And then what's the limit? I mean, you're already tall. Imagine you could get another couple of inches with a hat on. Yeah, like a Russian hat or something. With a little bit of padding in it. I don't think you're allowed to wear, you weren't allowed to wear beanie hats, or warm hats.

19:57so I don't I don't even think there's a technicality on it mate oh yeah he was rocking if they took snoods away then there's no chance you can wear a hat no no it's just it's all interesting discussions isn't it now that the podcast is having I actually don't think there's a rule I don't think you'd be able to go to a technicality it would just be what the ref felt like just a quick one sorry the keepers still put towels they carry a towel out now I did and I would yeah do we see it now this is what I'm saying these are things that are slipping out of our game it's like losing you know like tigers and stuff do you know what I mean you gotta keep you gotta keep it exactly like losing tigers you said that there just resonated with me no these are things are slipping away and and and without us knowing or without us because we don't it's our climate change yeah but has the game just gone relatively speaking because when I was younger when I was you know 19 the game had gone to the older generation then and we're just not the older generation moaning now because you wouldn't speak to a 19 year old say has the game gone they'd be like no it's fucking love it yeah it's fantastic it's all relatively speaking yeah I totally agree with that and also I always vow that I'll never be one of those old players but you know is there I mean what did you have in that bag drink you had a drink you had a spare set of gloves you had a towel why the spare gloves though because that could just come from the bench couldn't it if you need it if you need them straight there like if you got a hole in the glove when I pack for holiday I pack a ridiculous amount of boxes as if I'm going to shit myself or they're going to get torn or someone's going to wedge you and rip them because like I say I think goalkeeping is a responsible position you don't really want to I don't know but it's my mindset I never really want to rely on anyone else you're right stuff could happen and the game has to stop but I don't know you just got to prepare for the worst it's the position you prepare for the worst having hand luggage as a player is mad entering the frame of hand luggage it's your safety blanket as well I knew it was in the goal that was my goal you guys are wandering all over the pitch that was my spot if needs be I can go in there and have a little rethink it's interesting that though really interesting alright well you mentioned Shrewsbury there that's where it all started for you right but you were still a kid when you kind of went to City what was it like at Shrewsbury?

22:15it was quality for me it was quite a small time relatively speaking in terms of cities and stuff like that so I think the closest big teams were Wolves and Birmingham so we never that felt like the other side of the world but like we didn't feel part of that so it was Shrewsbury Town trained didn't really know much else about anything else and I didn't realize that I was getting pushed you know at 14 I was 14 or 15 I was on the bench and that wasn't down to me being a unbelievable talent but at that level at League Two I think one of the goalies was on a driving ban or something like that he was in he was in trouble but those sorts of circumstances these things can happen they thought I was the best young goalie so I was on the bench not because they thought I was brilliant it was just I was next in line so training with the first team from a really young age you know I just I just presumed that was normal but it wasn't but it was brilliant for me and I was playing by the time that I was just turned 17 and does that do you reckon that kind of draws attention to bigger clubs you know you being up 14, 15 you know around the first team I mean that straight away that will flag up various scouts being like, hold on, there's a kid here.

23:23Let's have a look at him. I think so. And I played for my county. So I played for Shropshire. And if you're a good club at that age, you can't play for your county. You never did. It was like schoolboy football. So I presumed I was performing well in that. And there was always, your local paper is like your Bible back then, isn't it? And I was kind of being linked with a lot of people, but I was always under the thought process that unless I see it and feel it, it's bollocks anyway. So I just carried on. But it turns out that speaking and being longer in my career, a lot of people were looking at me, yeah.

23:56How does it come about at Man City? I think Stuart Pearce was really keen. He was the manager at the time. I got it in my head that I felt like it was the right time for me to leave. I don't know how I'd got that in my head at 18, 19 years old. And my manager at the time flipped it on me real quick, told me that I was not dictating the terms. because I was quite naive. I just presumed everyone was nice. And if I went in and said, look, I think I've had enough here. I think it's time we move on. That'd be like, oh, brilliant. I'll sort that for you. He was like, fuck that. You're out of the team.

24:30So anyway, I thought, oh God, I've ruined it. But I continued to play. And it turned out the club were looking to move stadiums at the time. So it all made financial sense. And City were willing to put, I think they put 600K down, which was massive for a League Two young goalkeeper. But Tim Flowers was, he was really keen on it. And yeah, they let me make the move. Wow. Okay, so when you walked through the door at Man City, what kind of club, because obviously we know how things progressed. Yeah. What was it like when you first arrived? Who were the main players in the team at that time? And were you training with the first team straight away?

25:07Yeah, I was straight in, but the plan was, you know, they were very, I think they had J-Mo at the time. They had Casper. They had Nicky Weaver. And they were like, look we want to bring you in and we want to use you as as best we can but we see it as an opportunity for you to be around first team and then maybe we get you back to league one or championship i was like whatever i'm i'm i'm absolutely down for it if i can train in the premier league so it might not be the club that it was it is now in terms of globally but to me it was it was fucking everything like i couldn't believe that i was doing sylvan distan and richard dunn were the two center halves uh was it straight into the city of manchester stadium at the time then it wasn't Manchester was there but we were um we were training at Carrington the old training base which again was a you know I was used to a port cabin and washing my own clothes and making my own food so the fact that you got breakfast and lunch I couldn't believe it you know uh and Casper Schmeichel credit to him he was my he's my age and he was part of the Man City youth set up and progressed and I don't know there was always kind of a bad a bad air around his name at the club and I couldn't work out why.

26:14Anyway, he welcomed me. We were potentially, you know, same age. I shouldn't have really been there and he was brilliant. Was he really? Oh, brilliant, brilliant goalie as well. Obviously, you see it now, but he's always been unbelievable. So maybe his name hindered him when he was younger and he really had to prove himself and he has done credit to him, but me and him were just two maniacs training like, like kids on the side. J-Mo came, I think that's when he came to Portsmouth to you. he decided he wanted to leave they brought Isaacson in Swedish number one at the time who suffered with a few injuries and I was straight on the bench in the Premier League couldn't you know I couldn't believe it Nicky Weaver was playing I was at I was at Stamford Bridge actually my first game and I was on the bench and it was I think Drogba scored too and I was like what the fuck am I doing here really yeah did you have that you were like it just happened so quick yeah but not I didn't it wasn't like a what am I doing here scared it was like a laugh like Mourinho's on the well I might have been I don't know there's fact checkers now but I think Mourinho was in the dugout next to me it was 06 Drogba was playing Lampard, Terry and I was just like this is unbelievable I did not see this coming Is that a strange situation where especially from a goalkeeping point of view because you're there but you probably know you're not going to be used in that situation so you don't know how long you're going to have to wait for that first game I imagine No that's true but I think when at that age obviously I'd know that in hindsight sat here now I'd probably know that I probably didn't even need to get changed but at 19 the adrenaline and everything that was running through my body I was still kicking and saving every ball even though I wasn't on every situation scenario I was running through what would I do there how would I do that differently or how's his car will I be coming on will they need to use me will they change their mind that's how you well I don't know about you boys but yeah like I say you can sit you can sit here and I've never thought of that's how that's how you're sort of watching the game every single you really are kind of every single moment especially then because it was you know i had to be on my in the warm-up i had to be on my toes you know balls are flying past me at a rate that i've never you know felt before changed to the new nike ball all those sorts of changes and um bigger stadiums everything i was taking it in and taking it in and just i'm just absolutely living it so like like you say i think you'd look at it and think maybe a substitute keeper is chilling.

28:37And I imagine, to be honest, I was later on in my career. If I was on the bench at the likes of Burnley, I watched it differently. You know, I kind of had my eye on it, but at the same time I wasn't. But at that age, oh my, you couldn't tell me anything. There's no way you could tell me to chill out. I worked, I would come off just as tired as I would have played because I just was living it and wanted to do my best. And I realized that I needed to be at my best to even be there. Were you the same? Yeah, I was intense because I couldn't be, I was one of the players that didn't have the, I couldn't turn on and off like a tap.

29:11So I felt as though I trained how, I played how I had to train. Train how you play? Train how you play. And I felt as though if I just took my arm off the ball, ever so slightly, then that would make an impact in how I performed. So I was quite intense, to be fair as well. I see that at one point, you know, it's a point in your career, you want to be, why am I not a little bit more blessed? or you see being at the levels where you see some incredibly talented people, right? But now I look at it like I'm not that talented. I'm good. I'm good enough to get in the door. But I could never lay off, ever.

29:45And I love that I couldn't lay off because I knew that there's loads better players than me, loads better goalies than me out there, loads. And if I laid off, then someone would take my spot. So that's why I was just always on it. Sorry, but that drive as well, that goes through other players, doesn't it? and that dictates the level and it dictates the standard and where you sometimes, like the coach might come up to you or certainly with me, he was like, listen, I need you to just get into it today to raise the level. This was before training because he knew that obviously where I was at and I had to be at it every day, probably the same as you.

30:18Like, listen, you need to just get everyone at it today. But I feel like I watched that from you quite early on and, you know, certainly with England because it was a period where you weren't playing, right? It was, you know, where you were consistently there and then but not being the number one it must be hard for a goalkeeper especially if you're maybe third choice not even second choice you know you're not going to play really but I remember looking at you coming off and you were like drenched like muddled over you and that was every day I do remember that so I can first hand say that the mentality the way he was training was definitely different to a lot of players that turned up with England Do you know what helped mate?

30:56I just loved it I just loved getting the opportunity that I was getting and every opportunity I got I just felt like it felt like every time a phone call was happening or a conversation was happening I was getting a mega opportunity and I just loved it so you know I came in with Capello where it was very much training was it would be 11 v 11 a lot of it which therefore means what in a squad of 26 he'd take I'd be one with three other lads and you would have the you'd have the game which would be being focused on and then you know he didn't do it in hindsight obviously angered me at the time and it angers everyone when you're in that the four people but it'd be like you lot go over there and almost do your own shooting drill and i'd just be i just love it i just have england quality players who are angry so because they were angry that they weren't in so the levels were high and i thought let's fucking have it i thought i couldn't even care i couldn't care less what was going on the 11v11 and that was how i always thought and how i always worked i just saw it as a war that I loved, you know, an enjoyable war.

31:57So amazing, that kind of, so where does it happen at City? When do you get in the, when do you get in the, when's your first game? When do you become number one? So I got a sneaky game. Weaves called me one morning and said that I'm not going to be able to make it. He was brilliant with me, Nicky Weaves. Was he? Wicked, brilliant guy. Old school pro. And he got a bit of a second life when I was there. And he did really well and he rung me one morning and he said, look, you're going to need to play today. I'm all right, but I think it's right that I stay out of the team so just be ready. So I was like, shit, 19, I made my Premier League debut.

32:32So that doesn't come from the manager then? It was going to, I know it was going to, but he, that kind of goal union that he talked about, and he got to know me well enough, I think it was a couple of months in, to just give me the heads up. That's nice. It's a good thing to do, isn't it? it was nice. And he also knows, you know, he remembers being a kid you can get on the phone to your mum and daddy and you can make your debut in front of your friends and family yeah that's cool do you know what I mean so I was like that was a lovely touch from him so I played against Sheffield we drew 0-0 couldn't believe it City and Manchester it was not a memorable game but I played in it and I remember it do you know what I mean and then I came out and then I was on the bench and then I went then Isaacson got fit and I went on a few loans that season because I was just I said to Stuart Pearce he said you're not going to be in the squad now but I think it's right you're going on I was like don't care cool I think I went to Trammear for a month I went to Blackpool for a month back in the day when you could just dot around and then who came in Sven came in then and he had myself Casper and Isaacson Nicky Weaver went down to Charlton and he and he very much was you worked with Sven didn't you yeah you worked with Sven lovely man great guy very What an amazing person.

33:53And he was very much like, I rate all three of you, show me what you've got and we'll work it out from there. And then it worked out that Kasper had seven games at the start of the season. Started really well. Then I'd been playing in the Carabao Cup, whatever it was then. Then he decided to give me seven games. Then he gave Isaacson seven games. Like this is so very Sven thing to do. And then he said, I'll have a discussion. and I'll decide who plays the rest of the season from there. And then I played the rest of the season from there. It's like, that's such, I've never heard of that happening.

34:27No. Like equal amount of games. Yeah. At least he was true to his word. We'll have a look. It's like, come dive with me. Come dive with me. But yeah. So then I got in and then I think I snuck an England debut at the back of that. It was a Trinidad and Tobago away. Oh, played in that one. Late, late May. Dropping like flies. I was like just I was in the same boat snuck through the back door Chilera and Tobago end of season yeah they're not going are they give me a cap in there and they didn't fly out half time I snuck on there I made an England debut I was like what am I doing here I was feeling the same way little sneaky one take it though I take it all day I remember I did the same thing in America we went to America my England debut 2005 loads of people didn't go I actually half of my England career I remember the under 21 or the under 20 World Cup was in Nigeria and at the time it was a bit it was war torn there was a civil war going on loads of people pulled out and I went get me on that England shirt not a problem was that when Kira Richardson scored three kicks yeah that was the America games yeah Kira Richardson scored two there was a few of us that kind of sneaked in there and I thought you know what one cap wonder that'll do me and then that is kind of the mentality really and then obviously thankfully I stayed in but I just remember waiting for the referee to blow the whistle to start the second half and I thought fuck it no matter what happens I'm an England player so then I came back Sven left so we'd already had a tax incinowatera takeover, a tie takeover that all fell to pieces then Sheikh Mansour came in at Manchester City so that was the Abu Dhabi money and we were all like is this just another farce or whatever.

36:17So Mark Hughes came in and it was real. Like, you know, that was when they signed Rubinho. I remember Rubinho being the first one. That was, the Rubinho one was like, that was, oh, hold on a minute. Caca was heavily linked. Buffon was heavily linked. And that was when I felt like my number could be up here. And I know Mark had a very good relationship with Brad Friedel as well. At Blackburn. He was trying to bring him in. Trying to bring him in. Which at the time, like I say, I speak from two points of view. I think I was 22. I'm ready to fucking rip his throat out. What are you doing to me? How dare you do that to me?

36:51Very entitled. I look back now and I think, well, he had someone who played 20 games in the Prem or he had potentially Buffon or Brad Friedle, who was just so consistent. But anyway, that didn't happen. So I managed to carry on playing. And then I think in January, they bought Shea. They bought Shea in. So I kind of had a few false starts. They bought Shea in, binned me, and then Shea played, rightfully so. Brilliant goalie, brilliant guy. And then I went out on loan to Birmingham because I thought that's me. City had the money, so I signed a five-year deal as a young goalie, young English goalie, and then they got rid of me.

37:30So I'm kind of tied in on this big contract, but I want to play. So I went on loan to Birmingham. Had a good year at Birmingham. Hughes got sacked. Mancini came in. Him and Shea didn't get on. and I'm trying to like plot my move elsewhere see what they want for me money wise because I want out of it because they didn't want me and then he said would you just come and have a conversation maybe start pre-season so I was like right okay agent and everyone's telling me that's the right thing to do if not and they promised me a worst case scenario if it doesn't work out we'll let you go and then I played from there Right we've got we've got an amazing guest on today so we're going to keep this nice and short this next part of the podcast is brought by Paddy Power incredible game this Arsenal versus Tottenham Arsenal 4-11 strong favourites Tottenham are 7-1 I don't think that's it's not an awful bet no it's an awful London derby 7-1 there's value in there yeah you'd expect Arsenal to win I think Tottenham have have struggled in recent times obviously before the international break I was actually at the game the Manchester United game where they got it back and then they let it slip again well I think actually away from home Spurs have been been much better than at home yeah they're home for and they've struggled with haven't they but they are away to Arsenal who you know they're going for the title this year and they do look good Chris have you have you put it out to the public I have yeah it's not long been up so we'll have a quick look we'll have a quick look one second someone actually called me out for saying I've been going first quite a bit no I don't think that's true no I don't think it's true but you know I think it's made me think I'm going to go third on this particular one.

39:11Really? I reckon I know someone's going to go for 2-1. Oh, yeah. Standard. Well, it's a legitimate score. I don't understand that. Oh, spiky. I didn't like that. No, it's just, you can't block me from going 2-1. I just said. You're stirring a narrative. I just said I think someone will go 2-1. I didn't look at anybody. It might have been, Crouchy, you had a big weekend last weekend. All right. Henry Gibbons, Graham Barry, the bald golfer. Should we have a look at the bald golfer? Let's see what he's saying. What does he look like? Says one ball, regards to the family, regards to the bonfire on Bahrain.

39:53Bahrain. When is the crouch open? I'll await my invite plus one. I was thinking about that. That's bizarre. I was thinking about that on the way in today. We should have a golf day. Oh, yeah. Have we talked about this thing? Because we must have, because the bald golfer seems keen. In the meantime, here's nine points for you. he's gone Arsenal 3, Tottenham 1. I do like that. I had that in my head as well. Did you? Well, you might as well go for it then. Go first. I'm stealing it first again. All right, 3-1. Do you know what's tricky? Where it's tricky with the predictions with this is, because it's a derby, obviously Tottenham fans can't say that Arsenal are going to win in this.

40:34Do you see what I mean? So you've got two big fan bases here. Ah, right. It's hard to know. it's almost like I need to know what team they support when they do their predictions. I know what you mean. And they'll only be blinded by their team. They're blinded by their hatred. I'm going to go Arsenal 3, Tottenham 0. 3-0. There's a lot of shit about anti-Arsenal on this podcast as well. I'm all for them, so I'm going to go for Arsenal 2-0. Okay, Arsenal 3-1. We do have Paddy's boost. We each pick a leg of the Crouch Pod. Bet builder. The odds are that bet builder and then boosted by 20%. They put on the Party Power special section of the website and app.

41:12Player to score first, Saka. Player to be carded. This is a downed on. Halina. Nice. I suppose. I'm going to go player to have two plus shots on target, Eze. Love him as a player. Yeah. I've got to say. Okay, the odds are correct at the time of recording. Please gamble responsibly. Moving into the lunchtime kick-off here. Saturday, this is Burnley versus Chelsea. Interesting game, this. Are you doing this one? I'm actually not. Oh, Weekend off for Crouchy. Cool one. Fill your boots. Love it. Weekend. Love it. This is a big game for Burnley. I think they need to get back on track a little bit because there's others that are running away with that sort of bottom end of the table.

42:04Like, you know, they need to sort of get a confident performance and a win. A little bit leaky, aren't they? Yeah. Sorry. Why is he laughing at that? There's a few goals going. I'm not wrong, am I? How many are? 22. No, he just enjoyed the word leaky, I think. Yeah. It is at home, I think which would give them a slight chance in this game. Depends what Chelsea turns up. I've watched Chelsea a couple of times this season and they look great in some games. they look a little bit average in others. Especially when they're about to break teams down, which I think Burnley will be that team. I still fancy Chelsea to win this.

42:45So I'm going to go with a slim, slim victory of 1-0 to Chelsea. All right, okay. Anyone you want to shout out, Chris? Basher McGreal. Oh, Basher McGreal. Drawn to his name. He's gone big on the score. He's gone Chelsea away win 3-0. which I don't know I don't know if that's just a bit rich for me I can see that I might go with the Basher though yeah go on why not I'm going to go Chelsea 3-0 okay I'm going to go Chelsea 2-0 1-2-3-0 oof moving on to Wolves versus Palace Wolves I think are in a similar position to Burnley they need to get they need to get things going Rob Edwards he's been working with them through the international break Exactly, yeah.

43:33So they need to get their season going. God, that's a point, isn't it? I fear for them. Yeah. New manager bounce, though. Is there going to be a new manager bounce? Bit of controversy, isn't there, with him going there with Wolves? But they are up against Palace, who look pretty steady this season. Got a good record against Wolves Palace as well. Yeah, I mean, listen, I am going to go first this time. I'm going to go for a Palace 2-1 win. Yeah, I like that. You go missionary on that one. You can't beat it sometimes. I'm going to go Palace as well. Did you say 2-0? 2-1. 2-1. I'm going to say 2-0.

44:152-0 Palace? Yeah, I don't see Wolves. I'm going to roll the dice a little bit then because someone's got two. Otherwise, it's all a bit samey. Could be a draw. Yeah, I'm going to go Desmond, I think. I'm going to go Wolves 2, Palace 2. Right, okay. Well, enjoy the weekend, guys. come on Wolves do something here were you aware that Mancini and and Shea were were not getting on like does that filter to you at the other club not really and I not really I don't think it wasn't like a a terrible relationship but you know looking back now there's absolutely no reason for that change for me to come back because I wasn't that much better than Shea so something something had gone on and they didn't feel comfortable with each other and then I was knocking on the door Mancini for whatever you want to think of him was was willing to make big decisions um and I'd had a really good season at Birmingham and they you know I'd got on well with Man City as a club so they said come back and we'll we'll decide who we play at the start of the season and then that was start of that season they decided you know I had Worldi against you actually yeah and it was against Tottenham and then like Shea was on the bench it was like couldn't have been written any better for me and then I didn't really look back from from there until uh is that all that stirring this up is is that awkwardly she's on the bench at this point like how do you what's your mindset with it and and your your relationship with she so I think it is potentially awkward but she's such a brilliant person and I'm not saying I'm not I can't claim to be a brilliant person but I'm quite an understanding person and when she came in it was the same situation and it was like he's he's not personally coming for me he's just looking for his job and a great opportunity and shit happens sometimes so as long as you you're respectful to each other and he was brilliant with me uh and he you know he let the the sore period go of us not necessarily talking like that and then eventually you know he couldn't help you know i was 22 or 23 so he started to help me little things that you can help when he realized that the the frost had settled and I loved him for that and I do to this day so when the shoe was on the other foot if you like it was nothing but respect we communicated as much as we could you've got to hold your cards a little bit of course you have but we didn't want to make it about us it was about who the manager chose and then if anyone had a problem or anyone was happy it was with him and it played out nicely At what point at City did you realise that it was going to be the real deal obviously you said at the start that, you know, it's another takeover.

46:54It's going to be one of them. Then Rubinho signed, but still that doesn't really concrete anything because, you know, anything can happen. Was it the new training ground? Was it your first, like your big contract? Was it a few signings? When was the moment where you just thought, do you know what, we could actually dominate? I think the window that I went, so it wasn't a thought process of we could dominate. It was they could dominate. It was, you know, that was when, did I go that window? But they were making mega signings. I think they signed Millie, Silva, Aguero, Yaya, Kolarov, maybe all in one window.

47:27It's a decent window. I think that must have been something, couldn't it? I didn't know enough about European football. I just like playing the game. So when they brought David in, no, I was back by then. They brought David in. I was like, what's he going to do in the Premier League? I was like, left foot, slow, not really got a right foot. No real, like, anything about him. what a player what a brilliant man as well you'd love to have a team yeah I did hear and then Aguero yeah he fitted right in and then obviously Aguero and likes of Yaya and then I just got the idea then and people started playing differently against us and the conversations were different about us and when we beat we beat United 6-1 that was quite a big statement early on in that first title winning season what was the what like Yaya Toure especially there was always one that like obviously He was brilliant at Barcelona.

48:20It was kind of like a holding... I thought he'd be a brilliant holding midfield player. And then he came and just like started roasting people. Like running through people and scoring 20-odd goals a season, three kicks, everything. What was he like? Was he that good straight away in training, first day? He showed you what he wanted to show you of him. He was very much... In fact, we had really, really, really high standards and very few people would we allow anything to slip. You know, it was like a player group. you kind of had to just let him do his thing. He'd frustrate you sometimes because some days he didn't fancy it.

48:53But when he decided, and it wasn't on his day, it was when the day was required. He went, he just took care of business. Phenomenal. Phenomenal player. And probably we only saw a smidge of what he was capable of. Really? Did you think he had more to give? I remember him scoring like an Alan Shearer-like header at the back post one time. I went, where's that been? He was like, I don't really like heading it. us so he's capable just didn't want to do it yeah fair enough I mean in that era of of the players there I mean who Yaya we mentioned there David Silva I'd love you just to talk us through in training what they were like like Guero they're the ones that spring to mind do you know what it was like at that time we had such a congested squad because we'd had the we'd had the Thai takeover Shinawatra then we had you know it wasn't perfect straight away there was a lot of people getting bought for a lot of money mancini was quite a volatile man so people were falling out left right and center we you know the bomb squad as it was was big and it was just it was chaos it was organized chaos like every day you're on your toes there was something like you couldn't wait to come to training was there a fight brewing was there would you see one of the best players in the world shine that day would you see an argument between a coach and a player coach and another coach it was just it was to be 24 25 it was like i look at it now and it looks stressful but then I fucking loved it man it was just everyone was at war with each other but still pulling in the same direction it was uh yeah it was a good time to yeah I mean how did like the kind of English Irish boys that were still there at the time I don't know if Richard Dunn was still there but you don't put a Joey Barton Stephen Ireland players that were you know still doing well like you know they'd come through I mean how did that dynamic work with these kind of Galacticos if you like coming in and the players who've come through and stalwarts in the English league it just shifted that's the unfortunate thing about you know when the money you know I can't even remember I remember Stephen Ireland under Mark Hughes was one of the best players unbelievable right yeah and then Roberto came in and I think Stephen had some difficult injuries and I know it's because they wanted Millie so they just went they just made like oh you can have Stephen Ireland as part of the deal yeah that's it like no conversation it's just and it's tough but like we're not on I can't I can't do the whole unfair stuff because unfair things have happened to me but shit like football is brutal and the higher up you go the more the more you see it so you could waste your time getting you know upset and frustrated about it or you can just look around and think well you've got the same you've probably got the same story as me you will do but I've just touched on obviously your period when when Pep comes in it's must because at the time you feel like you're flying right your Manchester City's number one your England's number one you know the manager comes in and I think everyone in football was like whoa that was a big decision big call yeah big call fair play he made it he stood by it they've done alright since but yeah look it was kind of brewing and it was a weird situation in terms of I think he was announced in the February Manuel still had a year left on his contract which went without saying that he wasn't going to have that extra year and you know the conversations were brewing, he kind of transformed the game with Valdez and what he was doing with Neuer.

52:17Was I capable of it? I don't know, because I'd never been asked to play like that. And obviously pretty quickly, now I've got my hindsight head on, I think he's thought he's a good goalie, no getting away, he's a brilliant goalkeeper. Have I got the time to teach him to do what I want him to do? or I've also got the war chest to go and get someone who I know can do what I want to do. So is it like, do I have to focus all my attention on making Joe Hart a good goalkeeper or do I just stand up strong, make a statement, say, look, you're not going to work for me and bring someone else in? Because he believes in what he's doing.

52:54He believes in the system and he didn't have full trust that I could do it. I actually talked it through with him since. It wasn't your horrendous get out of here. I always heard that. I never really listened to the noise. I always heard that it was never your horrendous it's just I haven't got the time to make you the goalie that I want to make and I've got the I've got the budget to go and get someone else so tough so you don't you don't harbour any animosity about that I mean it must be hard because you're leaving a club that you love it must be a hard situation to deal with and it must be a difficult time for you personally yeah look there's you flip between two I don't know about your personalities but I flip between two all the time I've got someone who understands and has been in the game but there's also the maniac in me like of course I want to rip his head off and he knows that and we know that and everyone knows that and everyone at home knew that everyone knew that I was frustrated and I was hurt and I was angry but you know life goes on like I say I look around and everyone would have a similar situation to what I've been in and then as soon as I realized that it was done I still you know football doesn't stop there my world doesn't end there that's why I love Manchester City and I will forever loved them.

54:04They're my club. They took me from 19 to 29. I'm not going to let one bad situation, you know, mar that. So... You did all right. Yeah, we did all right. I had loads of fun out of it. Look, they've given me everything. I started my family there, everything I could have ever asked for from a football club. And it didn't work out in the end, but that doesn't define my feelings towards it. It was just tough, again, being in the middle of a big contract and going out and, you know, being a 30-year-old loanee is not the place you want to be. but it was what it was but let's talk about I mean what was such an amazing time for you at City in that transition obviously we did one of the most iconic Premier League celebrations is when Aguero scores and I don't even know I mean the producer of that deserves a lot of credit as well how he goes look at Joe Hart bang and then goes to you running with that kind of like both arms in the air in a world of conspiracies you could even imagine that that was all planned yeah unreal talk us through that day i mean i've got so many questions to ask you about that day but you know that that particular moment like that is an iconic yeah celebration the line from aguero the cut to you the shirt off from aguero the the scenes afterwards you know phil jones in somewhere else yeah the commentary everything and but you're iconic in that and that would be forever more well see Chris to say that that could be like if the cameras weren't there if that was just a Sunday league game I wouldn't have I zoned out I don't know what happened I have no idea if I didn't didn't see it I wouldn't have known that it happened because there was such tension that day like it was a horrendous day awful like to go from we'd set it all up and been through what we've been through that season in terms of we were flying and then we fell fell to pieces and United came strong and then they fell to pieces and then we kind of dealt with them a couple of weeks before and set up just to beat qpr which we were more than capable of that's not being disrespectful we were more than capable of beating them that day like we turn up we win and it just how it transpired was horrendous like just remember being stood watching waiting thinking we fuck this we've absolutely fucked this when we've set it up to do something special and you know the Manchester City tagline isn't typical city anymore it's very much you talk about Manchester City you talk about being awesome taking care of business but that line was there we were kind of in that kind of mode and I thought oh no and then for Edin to score late and then the Aguero moment and then just all hell just broke loose mate what does that look like from a goalkeeper's point of view like you've got the best view in the house really yeah right behind right behind it thinking i just saw qpr bodies and they were down to 10 at the time but they've gone from you know their survival was on the line actually their survival was on the line that day but i actually do remember because i i was that redundant after they'd gone 2-1 up i could talk to people behind the goal he was keeping me updated with united score yeah and they went so you were asking yeah yeah i've done that especially during title races i've always had someone that someone that i've picked out or a ball boy would always keep me updated with the scores always so you say someone like you could be a fan or someone literally if i'd be a home fan or it would be um like quite often ball boys especially at celtic in my i'd have the boys that i'd always they knew that if i looked at them they'd refresh the the rangers score because usually we'd be a rumble with them so they'd Give me little signals or whatever.

57:37Love title races. And then they'd gone, I think. I love watching title races. Me too. I think it was Bolton and Stoke might have drawn to all, which relegated Bolton. And someone's gone. And I saw it filtering to the QPR bench. And they went from defending with their lives to just, you could just see them all. They didn't stop playing, but they were like five minutes to go. we don't really need, we don't need this drama. And Edin scored. And even when Edin scored, they took the kickoff and just kicked it and no one, no one went over the halfway line. They were just kind of camping in, but that kind of energy just dropped a little bit from them.

58:17Do you think that's kind of percentage? Yeah, I think maybe, you know, like I say, there'll be no conspiracy again. They didn't throw it, but just there, you could just see them take a deep sigh of relief because it didn't meet, they didn't have to like die to stay up. And then obviously it unfolded and the peace of mind and brilliance of Aguero to kind of jink round him, that was all set up for a penalty. Like Mario was on the, Mario would have took that penalty in the night, after everyone had argued and fought in the 95th minute, he'd have wandered up staring at Paddy Kenny in the eyes. Oh mate.

58:48And rolled it in one of the corners. So it could have gone to another level. Well, so now I began with like, it's sliding doors, isn't it? Like that would have been an incredible moment as well, wouldn't it? Yeah, that would have been, I don't know if I'd have been able to handle that one. that would have been a tough one he would would he would he have relished that would he have he'd go I'm going to stroll up to this and look him in the eyes and place it for all the enigma and for all the shite that surrounds his name I'll credit him he would have stepped up in that moment and he would have rolled it he would have rolled it he would have rolled it the celebration would have been different I reckon a bit of swagger yeah I think there would have been a serious swagger but yeah it's a different thing isn't it I mean what did you do what did you do that night you just won the league in one of the most dramatic fashions of all time do you know what I remember going back to my family and my dad kind of just he was trying to like get me to zone him but I couldn't I don't really remember it and we were out of drinking on the pitch and I think we went to we went to Manchester City Cathedral or Town Hall or something like that massive party in there and then we had the open top tour bus and it was just a massive party it was just mega it was just blue everywhere and we were just we were just living like there was no tomorrow I ended up DJing the Man United end of season awards that season wow it was a really rogue that season would that have been had the season finished because sometimes yeah because it was it was so it was very close afterwards as I remember it a week a week something like that and it had the feeling of awake yeah it was so odd like when I turned up like later on in the evening for one it was a surreal thing for me anyway just looking at who was on the tables and everything but the way Alex Ferguson talked to the players it was like almost a glimpse into what I imagine being in the dressing room was like and no one was answering back no one was, it was so dour the whole thing the team's so used to winning and obviously doing it how it unfolded I can only imagine and that's why they did what they did the season after coming back so strong that was a yeah we yeah we were messing with some big dogs then I've got a touch on England Joe right you talked about you know right at the start kind of thinking oh you know I've arrived you end up with 75 caps is it is that right yeah I mean that's incredible to have only one position available and you to hold it for that long it's a real achievement yeah yeah I again a tendency with me I look at it two different ways I'm ridiculously proud to represent my country to represent my family friends school you know you know the feeling like it's fucking it's wild when you really think about it especially that one position and very proud enjoyed every opportunity I got but we didn't do I didn't do anything with it nothing didn't you know I think we had one quarter final that I played in didn't get out the group stages in the brazil world cup um didn't you know lost to iceland in the in the euros didn't do didn't do anything with it mate so i had an amazing time like i say i'm very proud got to captain a couple of times as well and i know i was an important player in something that means a lot to our country but i just wish we just wish i had something to show for it yeah okay there was a kind of transitional period I felt when Southgate came in and I thought you were one of the probably leading voices in the dressing room yeah around that time what was it that he did that kind of felt like when we first got when you first got in our we were at a crossover I would have been in the squad as well it was quite fractious wasn't it felt like it was we wasn't harmonious it felt like a team really yeah although we had great players whereas Southgate I felt changed is that true?

1:02:48I think that's fair he came in off the back of chaos you know Sam Allardyce was our head coach for one game that was a big decision for the FA it was a big decision for us as a team you know the one camp that we had with him he spoke really well and he was very very strong and we started the World Cup campaign and then you know you know what it's like just all chaos unfolds and newspaper and who's coming in and Gareth obviously was the 21s and got promoted so he was very much just kind of sitting in. So we didn't really impact it that much. We had a good group of lads who kind of governed it and we were waiting for the next news and it seemed like the right decision eventually for him to stay in charge.

1:03:28It wasn't revolutionary what was done. It was just very calm and very proud man. Put a lot of power, had a good number two who was very much his backbone in the setup. And we just started to edge our way towards qualification. it was no drastic moves it was no big statements it was no like this is how we're going to address the country it was just I think he let people be how they wanted to be and there was a good group of people in the England team really good group of people who just were starting to find their way Who was it in the squad that you I mean who's the best players that you've played with in the England squad?

1:04:09When I first came in and there was obviously the Beckham factor which I'd imagine everyone felt and I couldn't believe that I was in a dressing room with him. You know, like, I've told the lads about when I sat there once a couple of times and just watched him take three kicks. You would have been probably the goalkeeper to face them, right? In training. And he'd just do 10 at the end of training. You must have faced that. Well, I was so lucky because I went in when... So one of the things that really humbled me was obviously I'd gone in thinking he's David, like, couldn't believe I was being around him.

1:04:43I forget that he's around people who are around him like Rio and Gary. They just treat him like another, like a mate, you know, rude to him, disrespectful to him, but in a funny way. And I'm like, Oh, right. Okay. And then that was the same with the goalies at the time. I think the two goalies, whoever they were, they'd faced 300 David Beckham free kicks. They didn't care. I was like, I'll fucking do it. Take as many. So I always got to go in at the end. The whip, the fire, it was just everything that I wanted it to be you know you make that save like I say without that Aguero moment I wouldn't remember it but there was no cameras there but trust me I remembered every single moment you've got because you never know you're going to get it you never know if you're going to get called back to England I was third choice at the time I didn't know that I was going to establish so who was first choice at that point was it David David it was changing quite a lot it was off the back of no one could hold on to it could they really it was Scott Carson at the disappointing disappointing moment against Croatia Croatia because it was his, he was top keeper and he was at Liverpool.

1:05:45Rob Green came in. Ben Foster. Green, David James came back. Yeah, Ben Foster. Kirkland was there with his back problems. Paul Robinson was still in and around. It was just a revolving door, but that's one thing that I could always offer from a career point of view. I never got injured, ever. So I was always going to be in the reckoning. I never had a sustained period out so that was one of my strengths again with not being as maybe talented as people I was robust so I was always available even when I came in as a you know a third choice that because the other third choice had dropped out I think a few times Chris Kirkland struggled with his back being away from home they pulled the under 21 goalie up so I managed to train with England and be with England so yeah but then there's Lampard, Gerrard it feels like you just say these flippantly but they're brilliant yeah I mean like facing that it must improve you as a goalkeeper right if you're doing a shooting session you've got like Wayne Rooney Jermaine Defoe Steven Gerrard Frank Lampard Peter Crouch yeah you know me as well you know it must improve you as a goalkeeper it does and it really humbles you just when you think you're getting I found it progressively in my career no matter how when I got to what I thought was a really good level I'd get I'd unlock another one that I got to go to and I'd gee you'd be like gee I don't know did you have it as a striker but I felt England shooting sessions the intensity was unreal for me it's the best I've ever seen like of any club I've been at because you can kind of just if you're a top striker at a club you can kind of have the day off right and sometimes a top striker wouldn't even do finishing but in England they'd do it and they'd want to show how good they are it was unreal I think it was almost like like who's the who's showing each other who's the best give me the ball let me show you this if you're cocking that it's fine 100 % I thought so you've not got a strike you've not got the strike of a club you've got the best strike well yeah the midfielders are also you know top goal scorers in the league you know Lampard Scholes even you know I was a little bit before a little bit after Scholes so I didn't see it but yeah the finishing was just ridiculous even like at a club crossing even the crosses crossing you'd usually have to get a young lad up wouldn't you because the wingers are like fuck off I'm going in but England they wanted to show how good they were at crossing so you had the best crosses best finishes you'd have the best and it was it was art like I say you must be like a fan you must be like a fan in the goal if Bex is whipping one in like this is this is how I'd imagine it if I'm in goal and I've seen David Beckham do it like watching him live didn't play against him but I've seen him obviously do it then if I'm in goal and then he whips one in if I'm getting the butt back of the net I'm going to say under my breath I'm going oh my fucking god like that was ridiculous and then all of a sudden he's done it again or then Skolls he's just like rifle one there you must be just saying it all the time but no they wouldn't they wouldn't do it mate because I didn't I wanted it you're saving some like you're making saves as well I wanted it I loved in shooting I loved arguing I loved fighting I loved causing chaos with people I loved taking the piss out of people but you want goalkeepers like that because quite often you'd have goalkeepers now I'm not doing it today whereas goalkeepers like you David James was another one like we'd do finish it and then he'd be like come on bring it on we'd have a bet against each other but I remember like Gary Neville saved David Beckham on the right hand side like I'd say it was Ashley Cole maybe Stuart Downing or Joe Cole on the left hand side they'd have almost like a bet who would score which delivery would be better to score the most goals so if you missed one or you were off it it's like fuck it as a striker you're getting like screamed at you've got to finish that you know what I mean I'll put it on the plate for you and then you're like it just breeds what you know a top level club should be at should play at I loved it I absolutely I absolutely loved it love putting myself in situations scenarios working out how different people finish because i'd have a different position for a certain like for a strike or sorry a default or a crouchy all right i i absolutely i do you know what's good about that joe as well is the players sometimes who you know we've all been there right someone who gets called up to the first squad and you're a little bit nervous and stuff like it's a dog eat dog situation right and you could see straight away like a certain player might have got 15 goals in the first 20 games or something get called up for England doing really well straight away in a finishing session or always in that little box you can tell a player within a couple of touches and you can see if I'm looking around he's not going to be here long it's horrible horrendous but that's unfortunately what it is I loved it for that and I loved yeah looking back now some of the things that I've said and shouted and screamed I don't regret them because it was fun at the time but like oh you like the shout yeah that reminds me I think Nob's has said a story was it about deck because you were training where sort of decks put one past you he said don't go for them one's heart and then you've gone listen you do that again like I'm going to come to you did you lose it I didn't lose it he said you do it he's mint decking yeah but he was just a dopey 18 year old and he just like a Labrador mate just happy all the time did not know his talent like he was phenomenal and he whipped one and I think he's gone I think he might have sunned me off and I was about sunned I was about 100 years old at the time I think nobes have been encouraging and I've just gone is this at West Ham?

1:11:17yeah say that again I'll fucking I swear to god I'll hurt you and obviously because I got on well with him and Dex obviously gone he's gone I've overstepped them out there like I didn't mean it like that and Nobes you know what Nobes is like he's gone you're gonna let him he went do it again do it again I could see him say do it again I was thinking fuck if I let him score that **** is gonna do it again and he did it and he said it no yeah I just bolted he went don't go after them son and then I just I've just fucked training off and just chased him did you you chased him you chased him you've got to back up I'm chaining him you can't threaten someone and then not do it but but the shout was you chased him for literally like there was no way you can't not back your word right did he got an engine on him to be fair I don't know how I got I think he just felt sorry for the older boy I'll take a few digs I adore Declan Rice I was lucky enough to play with him at 18 and I just loved everything about him even that I loved about him because he's just mega there is something about him as a lad as a player as well like I just just looks like he's enjoying himself he's completely his own person and he's absolutely brilliant to go with it yeah he's a top player isn't he yeah great okay so I mean after City you kind of bounced around a bit I remember there was a lonely Torino wasn't there yeah what was that like it's just it was a proper random part of my life that to say from Sid's talked about like so set so established to just being a 30 year old lonely just trying to find somewhere to go no I was on a I was on a mega contract like I was I was in the middle of a mega contract and City didn't want me but they couldn't sell me because they wanted too much money for the England goalkeeper of which people like now didn't want because I had I didn't I had a bit of a stain on my name so I was just taking what I could get I was lucky enough to go on loan to Torino last thing in the window What's Italian Italian football like?

1:13:22it was good it was do you know it was really pragmatic and organised of which you'd expect until someone scored they had a great plan for 0-0 and then as soon as someone scored all the shit hit the fan and it went off but I adored being out there I lived in Turin enjoyed being a foreigner in a new city something different yeah it was it was I think the main kind of resurgence I felt with you was Celtic you had a good time up there didn't you yeah When I speak to people who have played for Rangers or Celtic, especially, I don't think you realise the size of the club until you go there. No, you don't.

1:14:01I was close with Fraser Forster, who had many good years there. And I knew Stan Petroff's of this world. I knew the boys who'd been up there. When I was bouncing around and doing my loans and football wasn't really happening for me, I always thought it would be a great opportunity. that was something that really appealed to me. And when I did get the opportunity, because I was ready at 34, Nuno had come in at Spurs and made it very clear that he didn't even want me on his bench. And I was like, I don't really need football anymore. It's not doing anything for me. If anything, it's just making me frustrated and not a good person.

1:14:41But then I got the opportunity to go there and I thought I've got to. There's nothing else that I really want from football. I could have easily walked away but I thought I've got to go and do that Were you completely disillusioned at that time like were you like this is hard work now training not playing or being around bouncing around clubs When I went to Tottenham I went there during Covid as an opportunity I thought nothing really was coming and I had an opportunity to go and work under Jose and support Hugo there was no you know I got it in my head I am not going there to challenge him I'm going there to support and try and help the club because there's no point in me going there thinking oh what if he gets injured I was too old I was too experienced I thought accept your role there's a best case scenario of course there is that I play I'm ready to play but saw it as an opportunity whatever Hugo did well didn't play Nuno comes in tells me that I'm not even fit to be on his bench and I'm like I didn't agree I'm not stupid I know football I was more than capable of playing let alone being on someone's bench that sort of blunt yeah it was that blunt it was that blunt but it was and I just thought I don't need this anymore I've done everything I want to do there's nothing probably out there I can do that's any better than what I know I can do so there's no point in causing myself harm and just kind of hanging around like a bad smell I felt like I was starting to do that but then I got this amazing opportunity to go up there and Ange was absolutely perfect for me in how he communicated what he wanted from a player like it turns out he wanted someone to go up there with pure passion and be a leader and be a senior player and do everything he possibly could to win.

1:16:17Because Celtic had actually just, during that COVID period, they'd lost out on the title. They were going to win 10 in a row and they didn't. And things had fallen apart a little bit and they needed someone like me. I thought they did and he did. And I got to go and be me and kind of really, really establish myself at an unbelievable club with my family with my young son watching who hadn't really seen me play it was perfect We had Fraser Forster on actually he was talking about that night where he played against Barcelona and Messi said that he was unbeatable what would you say was the best night at Celtic Park that you had the buzz I mean you look at I unfortunately never got to play there but I would love to just experience that so obviously I went through it was just on the back of COVID so it was like 60 % stadium straight away and then it was up to 100 % pretty quick but away fans, they'd had this problem with away fans coming, especially with the Rangers game and we started the season badly we were a few points behind but Andrew was implementing his style and we were struggling anyway, we really got going and we managed to get to a really important point I think you always play a a derby first or second of January.

1:17:40COVID had been a resurgence again. So they just took two weeks off. They said, take your winter break early. So the game got rescheduled for February and it was a night game. So we got to play a derby of a night game, which is unheard of. And it would have meant that we'd made up the points that if we won, we'd overtake them in the league. And I've never felt anything like that in the stadium. We played 3-0. We were unbelievable. Old firm night game. and the intensity on the line and that kind of energy and passion to go past them it was something that I'd never felt in a stadium before in my life apart from then we qualified for the Champions League and we played Real Madrid in the opening game and I've played Champions League and the music goes and there's a bit of a buzz the music went and I swear at 36 seeing everything like I emotionally teared I went what the fuck is going on they just scream we got beat eventually but it was an unbelievable experience and I just thought I've felt somebody in football there yeah we had Rod Stewart on the pod random he's brilliant though isn't he well yeah and like we went to his house and he's what do you call it a gym or like a games room it's kind of the clubhouse for his pitch isn't it I think it's like a gym but he's got changing rooms because he's got a Sunday league team that he runs it's just totally Celtic and he's so passionate with it I've seen him up there he's got that kind of diamond encrusted chain the Celtic he's always there he's a big character I've found that everywhere I've gone in the world since and I've done a bit of globetrotting recently Celtic are everywhere yeah absolutely absolutely everywhere just out of nowhere like where was I recently I don't know I've been in like Malaysia just in the streets and obviously it's a different atmosphere to what we used to in London and you just hear I need a big man where the fuck are you coming from where have you come from I'm on the hoops and just walk along fair enough didn't see that coming it is it's tribal isn't it like I remember walking through Glasgow airport with Chris Sutton and just every every two minutes it was like no interest in me whatsoever yeah I love I was like that's got to be a first I've got to ride around Glasgow airport I've got a robot you know

1:20:06it's fucking amazing it really is it's tribal but you know also I remember it's not just football it's like music as well like I spoke to like Surgeon he's like if you play in Glasgow or you know Scotland the crowd's just different I've been to Barrowlands to watch The View believe it or not and it's just a different experience to anything I've ever I saw Jerry Cinnamon in Glasgow wow and it was mega bouncing yeah mate proper are you enjoying what you're doing now Joe so when you finally you know retired and yeah you know what was your plans did you ever think about going into coaching or no no really I never even crossed my mind I kept thinking it was the right thing to do because I was kind of had an exit strategy but it just never felt right for me it never I never felt like I could do what I wanted to do in coaching because I feel like at some point you're always going to have to answer to someone you're always going to have to screw someone over you're always going to have to try and get the best out of what you want from a situation and I thought I don't want to and I'm not knocking coaches for doing that because you have to do it as a manager you have to, you know, I look at my situations that I've had and at the end of the day it wasn't a personal put down on me it was just what they felt they needed to do and it ended up hurting someone, ended up changing someone's life and I thought fuck that, I don't want to be a part of that bit of cricket love a bit of cricket you could have been a cricketer I had a path I don't know whether I could have done but like at 16 I had a path that I could go down similar to the football so I put I loved it and I was decent I had a talent I think we might have played cricket together I remember Gareth Barry used to do it at his house and he loved his cricket as well but James Milner's good as well you're good I'm not Team's ready anywhere I've taught cricket there's a team out there yeah I mean that was a good squad of players there yeah yeah it was good GB just had one at his house he did yeah it was a mega house I can imagine cricket is so good so we went around for a barbecue I remember I think I had my little girl at the time and you know she was on the it was like a bouncy castle and then it was like right so we all just want to move round to the pavilion and what?

1:22:31and we all went round and played the game of cricket all his boys they'd cut the strip and everything Gaz is the godfather he's got people who do things for him and he's very understated and I would never talk about him on camera because he's not the kind of person you talk about true that he's an absolute G what a legend about becoming an umpire I can see you have that sort of like nah not enough not enough hostility in it not enough hostility I want to be playing I want to be playing there's no way I could referee do you like to go out and watch cricket like now would you go to the Ashes or something would you Balmy Army I would love to be in the Balmy Army I would absolutely love it do you never do that for a day you just go there because you can bring in your own wine I didn't understand it for years and years and years and then I went with a couple of friends who were very much involved in cricket and I get it now top day in it yeah oh my god I mean my first match I ever went to was in South Africa is it Newfoundland and table mountains in the background in South Africa we can like sit on the bank around the outside unbelievable right so I've strolled down and I get a couple of jars I was sat and I was like in the front row table mountain there the sun was out a bit of game of cricket and I was just sitting there having a beer going life's good I totally get this now life's really good with the weather and that yeah unreal yeah have you enjoyed the media stuff you were on match of the day I see you doing various bits what gives a day match of the day match today is a long day I didn't realise that you're there for the early because I say it's Saturday it's 12.30 kick off luckily for me it's in Salford it's in Manchester but yeah you're in for 12.30 watch the games you've got like an analysis person with you discussing what you want to talk so you'll watch with your fellow pundit the first game because it's the sole one on then you'll take two of the six they'll take two and then the analysis boys will have to take two and then you'll kind of work it out little takeaway yeah little oh there's always food rolling always you've got to be careful some job there you've got to be careful you could get a right fatty watch yeah but you're sitting there basically like doing what a lot of other people are doing as well big takeaway you've got every single game on yeah but then you're trying to put it together and work it out and obviously I I'm kind of an all-in kind of guy I think you probably could chill out a little bit but I'm just I'm wanting to see things and work them out and I didn't realise how I see football till I finished it because I used to just see it how I played it and what I thought was right but now I realise I've actually got a decent eye because it's been my fucking life and I'll watch and Have they done away with the crisps now?

1:25:08No they're all there but they're in the back you have to get up and go and get them they're not there but if you've got 10 yards in you you can fill your boots

1:25:18That's why you can get a fatty Yeah So you can so you've got a podcast as well Jai right I have yeah what what is it tell us about it so right I always thought I wanted to get into the game and I know you boys are absolutely founders of this game and I would never I would never try and come anywhere near your territory but it's very much I've always been as much as I like to have fun I'm a bit of a bit of a psycho bit of a focused guy yeah and the concept was put to me mind over everything what does that mean to you I was like I like that I like that so I don't want to just do football so the podcast is mind over everything concept is I'll go and live a day in the life so for example I've gone up to Inverness with Luke Stoltman one of the world's strongest men ate his breakfast been in the North Sea with him been lifting the big heavy Atlas Stones earned his respect if you like interviewed him had a mega interview what an amazing person like is he one of the brothers yeah so Tom's his Tom's his younger brother that's it Tom's actually better than him autistic but Luke very much protects him he's like he's the spokesman of the brothers because Tom doesn't feel as comfortable in front of the camera these guys are huge but when you say earn his respects were you moving boulders yeah I was in my Atlas Stones 100kg could you get one of them up no comment you have to wait and see when's it out Joe when's it out it's coming out first in the summer you're not in the summer but um you always see those fellas around christmas time don't you because yeah for me world's strongest man is is like a christmas day channel five yeah jeff capes was the original for me i don't know if you're too too you might be too young for jeff capes i was magnus magnus that was my guy that was when i first come in yeah nice but basically trying to live and trying to get into his head and what makes him special because being being an elite sportsman i don't really sacrifice and that doesn't really mean anything to me i'm like well you you have to do that you have to be all in i want to go one step further in terms of like his mind turns out we're all interesting people when you really delve like all had problems and had to overcome things and then we got around to dakota ditch of her who's um a ufc fighter from sale she's got uh i think it's bulgarian heritage that's where her name comes from but mom was a thai kickboxing champion she's in the pfl which is the the one before you go into the ufc 27 really quiet calm girl fucking absolute savage mate she's knocking people out kneeing their teeth out so lived the day in the life with her had a bit of a scrap with her she's choked me out but a good i had a good deal with her in in the gym sounds like a good Saturday night yeah it's post football stuff is oh yeah it's all gone a bit roguelike so then interviewed her but I'm just finding I'm getting the interviews because I've kind of danced a little bit with them they've given me a little bit more do you feel like you've probably earned their respect a little bit first and then the interview goes better but I also want to I want to say like I'm a pretty capable athlete I want to celebrate how amazing they are so I'd say I can go low level on most things which I think I've proven but then it just it's when they give when they'll I was with an ex-Olympic gymnast and I had Wilson the other day.

1:28:41We were trying to get me to do a backflip. I was going through the process and I could just see him just getting a little bit frustrated. And he went, all you've got to do is do this. Just landed on his feet. He was like, do you see what I did there? Just watch again. I'm like, mate, I get it, but I can't just do that. That's what I mean. I want to be in there, try and show how elite they are and then try and get into what they're doing. So yeah, it's coming out soon. Really excited. Got an amazing production team behind me. I don't know where we're going with it, but just want to hopefully, not just in football or sport, maybe branch into other things.

1:29:17But it's been fascinating. It's interesting. Sounds great. Where's that going to be? So that's going to be YouTube because we've been filming a mini documentary of the day. So you'll be able to see of the day. Like, for example, Luke, it's when we're in the North Sea at 6 a.m. up in Inverness. then you know with the drones flying and then eating his breakfast trying to eat what he does with the 10 eggs and toast and then in the gym so that film a little mini documentary and then go into the podcast so it'll be youtube dominant um and then wherever you get your podcast from to listen but um yeah we're very much starting on our own so we'll see where it goes yeah brilliant i think that's where i went wrong on this interview like i didn't earn your respect in in any way before I started.

1:30:02No, you've more than earned my respect because of your podcast game, mate. Like I say, I respect I'm in royalty right now. Does that mean you choke him out now? Yeah, I'll choke him out. I'll choke him out after. Yeah, Joe, really, really appreciate having you on, mate. It's always a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for having me. It's an amazing career when you re-talk about it. It's an incredible career you've had as well. Yeah, it's mad to relive it because I don't know about you, but I don't really talk about me much. So it's funny when all these things starts springing to bed. But thank you for having me.

1:30:31No, thank you. You're doing a mega help. Thank you. Nice job. I enjoyed it, mate. Thank you. This episode is brought to you by a load of pricks.net. We are the experts in selling houses. Chris couldn't sell his house. What did you do, Chris? I couldn't sell my house for love nor money, Crouchy. Three different offers I had, all at the last minute, fell through. I turned around to my wife and said, what can we do to sell this house? Every estate agent is failing us. Then I told her, Let's go to aloadopricks.net But Chris, what did aloadopricks do for you? They were brilliant, Crouchy They sold my house right away The sign had barely gone up When a well-dressed gentleman came along And offered me twice the asking price Chris, would you use aloadopricks again?

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