Transfer Window Special with Carra, Gary & Wrighty! | Sky Mobile x The Overlap

0:00Once you've agreed a deal, your phone should be off. I've already agreed a deal to any other club. That doesn't happen. We see loans now as a really good thing. I think when I was younger, it was seen as like, yeah, you're not ready. They said he could be the most expensive substitute ever. I was petrified. I mean, it happened once with me, with an agent, and I just snapped. I'm offering you£2.5 million for Ian Wright. You're overpaid. LAUGHTER

0:29This is a transfer window special brought to you by Sky Mobile. And the best person to start with is Ian Wright. How are you doing, James? I'm doing really well, mate. I think about you transfer-wise. Yeah. I mean, the big move. Yes. From Crystal Palace to Arsenal. Yeah. Talk us through it. Well, it's really strange the way that came about because I wasn't at any stage in that time from the time I got there in 1985 to when it happened. in 91 ever wanted to leave or heard anything or anything was going on and so literally one weekend the Sunday I got a call from Ron Node saying you need to go and see Steve Copeland in the morning and I went in to see Steve Copeland and it was literally you know I went in the room and he was he's really quite solemn and sad and said go for everything all right and he just just went in he said just add a two and a half million bid from Arsenal for you and we've accepted it.

1:25So you knew... We didn't have a clue. Did you have an agent then? Yeah, it was Jerome Anderson at the time. But like I say, I never knew anything about it. Obviously, David Rodecastle were really tight. You know what I mean? I used to go and watch a lot of Arsenal games. And there was never any link between me and Arsenal, like in the papers or anything like that. Nothing. Was it Everton? Because I was an Everton fan as a kid. I remember Everton's name being mentioned. After the 1990 FA Cup final with Palace, there was a lot of stuff with Liverpool. There was a little chat about Tottenham as well.

1:59Tottenham was a massive one with Tottenham. And there was Man United. But I didn't actually know of anything, what was coming. I didn't expect anything. You know what I mean? Because I was so late to it. Remember as well, James, I'm 28 then. Yeah. You know, I'm 28. I'm actually thinking, Palace, we just got into the first division. So I'm thinking, I just want to do well. 28 when you went to Arsenal? Yeah. Do you think that transfer would happen today In terms of the age. I'm just looking at it and I'm thinking about the fact that the club would approach the club and make a bid without actually going to the agent to go to the player.

2:30It was David Dean. But the fact that the club would go to the club, that would never happen now. It would always go through the agent first. I mean, obviously, I was dealing with transfers at Salford. I used to ring up the other club, CEO, sporting director or owner, whoever it was, to try and say, look, this is the deal we want to try and do, to try and bring back that idea of speaking to another club about a transfer. I think it's mad the way in which it goes now. Because then, I mean, I'm not saying it was right then, actually. You finding out off your manager that there's been a bid for you and they've accepted it without you knowing doesn't sound right either, does it, probably, in some ways.

3:00But you've gone into Steve Koppel's office and basically you didn't know anything about that deal. Bro, I remember it so vividly, simply because that week I was meant to be buying my mum a television and it was going to be that Monday or the Tuesday I was going to do it. And when Steve Koppel said, like, we've accepted the bid from... And I had to go... I had to leave then. So I said, what do I do?

3:25I actually said to Steve Koppel, I've got to go and buy my mum a telly. You know what I mean? He said, you've got to go to Arsenal, you've got to go to Llewellyn and wherever it was. But he was telling you you were going rather than asking you whether you wanted to go. Yeah, it was done. It was done. You know something? Mr Dean's the one who tells the story unbelievably in respects of how it came about. Oh, Mr Dean. Fucking hell. Hang on a minute. Look, say hello to Jamie Carragher. Hi, Mr Dean. Jamie, how are you? Hi, Mr Dean. Gary Neville. Oh, we got the first team out tonight. Yeah. You know what, Mr Dean, it's just quickly.

4:05You know what it is? We're just talking about the move from Palace to Arsenal and how you went about it with run nodes. Yes, it must have been the summer of 91 before the Premier League was formed and George Graham said to me he had an interest in Ian Wright and he'd like we should buy him from, if we could, from Crystal Palace. Well, Ron Nodes, the chairman of Crystal Palace, sat with me on the Football League Management Committee at the time. Of course, I knew him very well. And he was a good football man and a very tough negotiator. So I gave him a call and I said, Ron, it's David Dean here.

4:45We're interested in one of your strikers, maybe and I tried to diffuse it so I said Mark Bright or maybe Ian Wright what do you think he said no no no they're both not for sale they're both not they're too valuable to me they said come on Ron you you must have a price just give me a figure give me a figure so he thought for a minute and he said two and a half million pounds so I paused I said Ron I'm offering you two and half million for Ian Wright. You overpaid. What did he say? So there was a silence. Then he said David, done. And that was it. And the rest is history. And 288 appearances later and 185 goals later, I think that was money well spent.

5:42Mr Dean, can I ask you a question? You may. What would you have gone to? 2.6.

5:54So there you have it. That's the story. You want to ask him anything else for you guys? One more question. What would he be worth today in the transfer market? What would Arsenal pay for Ian Wright at 27 today? In today's market, well in excess of£100 million. You heard. I didn't say. That's big money, that. Well, to be honest. High praise. I'd be devastated going for less than that. Mr. Dean, thank you very much. My great pleasure. Have fun, guys. I'll see you soon. You're the best. I love you.

6:27Transfer Window Special is brought to you by Sky Mobile. The network that lets you roll your data and keep it longer than anyone else. For more information, visit sky.com forward slash shop forward slash mobile. Righty, how important was Mr. Dean? in terms of your success and the club's success at Arsenal. It's obvious how highly you're regarding it. You're still going to Mr Dean. Yep. You know, the thing is, is that George Graham, I hear when Mr Dean tells a story about how he didn't want to go to 2.5. You know what I mean? I think it was, when Mr Dean tells a story, it's 2.3, 2.350. And he said, if there's anything over that, you're not doing it.

7:07And he said, listen, I'm going to just go to 2.5. And then that's why it's a good question, how much would you have gone to? Because George Graham was adamant he's not going to pay any more than what it was. So Mr. Dean, he just done that. But without him, it probably wouldn't happen because I think I didn't meet George Graham for maybe four days or something once it was done. I didn't see him. He was doing all sorts of stuff. First time I saw him, he absolutely just hammered me about how I turned up for the first interview sitting with the manager. And I came in a leather jacket and an AFC hat.

7:42And he was just, he's just outside before, remember, I've been there four days, absolutely tore a stripe off of me about how my attitude and my dress, how can you come? This is the Arsenal now. This isn't Palace. And so when you look at that picture, you see I'm just sitting like that, thinking, I'm actually thinking, it's over for me. Simply because he already said in the newspaper, you know, he's still going to have to try and get into the team. God rest his soul. Kevin Campbell's there, Alan Smith, Merson, you know, where all they said he could be the most expensive substitute ever. And I was like, I saw this on the Vox Box as well when all the Arsenal fans were saying, what are we buying him for?

8:21But when I read George Grahams saying that, I was like, I could see how forwards go somewhere and it doesn't happen. I was petrified. George Grahams and that manager of that ilk, Sir Alex and people like that, they were tough men. They were brutal men. They would not pay a pay. They actually treated the money. Like theirs. They would literally, I'm not paying more than$2.5. And they would hold in there. Now a manager would say, they wouldn't really bother that much. Obviously, Alex Ferguson, a huge influence on your career, and you're a one-club man, so we're going to come to you on transfers.

8:52Was there ever a stage, because I think Manchester United are quite famous for putting people out on loan. Was there anything with you in your early stages of your career where you maybe did move to another club or on loan, or maybe later on was the club sniffing around you? I'd never heard of anything and never thought of anything at all. I mean, the only thing that happened in our youth team when we were younger was that Keith Gillespie was part of the Andy Cole transfer, which was a big thing at the time for us because he was part of our youth team. And Bex went on loan to Preston. And that was like a big shock.

9:24You know what I mean? That he was let out to go out on loan. That was to toughen him up because he was seen as being quite wiry. But I honestly never had anything at all. And if it was any interest in me or everyone thought that because I was a United fan, I wouldn't leave. Was it interesting to you? No, I was pretty similar. A few players, as you said, David Thompson went on loan. But it's interesting that we see loans now as a really good thing. I think when I was younger, it was seen as like... Rejection. Yeah, a little bit like... Sorry, it's rejection. Yeah, you're not ready. You're not ready to sort of play for the first team because I always had the mentality, and I think when I was coming through the same era as you, we both won the Youth Cup.

10:01I think if you played in a team that won the Youth Cup, there was always a feeling that three or four of these players will go on and play in the first team. but it wasn't a case of the way it is now where you finish with the U team at 18 and then you go to the under 23s for two years and then you go to the it was like no the U team's done it's under 18s now you're ready for men's football and it was like I was straight into the first team or being on the bench and stuff like that I played reserve games but then would travel with the squad of the first team as well did you buy your mum a TV by the way you did not wrong bought a great TV in the end still got it bought a great TV so Gary mentioned obviously your situation with the club not too much sort of interest from other clubs.

10:38But there's definitely interest from other clubs in Salford players, maybe managers and vice versa. I mean, how have you dealt with that? I, to be fair, obviously the first eight years for the club, I was sort of the operating shareholder. So I was dealing with Karen, the chairman, and Chris Casper. I was actually taking off transfer dealings about a year. I took myself off it almost as well, a year and a half before. I did deals with an agent or I did deals with a player. And then literally, you've done a deal. You agreed the deal. They're coming to sign for you. They agree a medical. It's happened to Salford actually in this window twice.

11:13Well, that should count for a lot, shouldn't it? That's it, yeah. If you say, you know, the deal's done, we've agreed it, the players agreed it, and then they back out on you a couple of days later or a day later by basically refusing. You know, someone else comes in and then they say they change their mind. Now, I get it. You know, a player wants to go to the club and someone comes in late. But if you've said, and I just, I mean, it happened once with me, with an agent, to be fair, from your part of the world, the guy, And I just fucking snapped. I snapped. But the problem is that agent had three of our players in the dressing room.

11:41He had a couple of other players that we wanted to be interested. So it wasn't good for club relations, but I just could not get my head around it. You know what? I find this strange, I think. If someone agrees with me, this is obviously over the phone. Oh, yeah, it's always over the phone. So what I'm saying is, there must be a fear in the back of your mind that this could happen. Isn't it a case of, I'm travelling where you are now, in the car, I've got the phones with me, and you're signing them straight away? What happens, Kerry? You've met the agent two or three times face-to-face. You've met the player.

12:09And then basically you have to then do the deal. You don't do the deal in front of the player or in front of the agent face-to-face because the agent will always say, I've got to go and discuss it with the player. So you can never get them in the room and pin them. Very rare. He'll come back to you and say, look, the deal's done, the player's agreed. At that point you arrange a medical, and that can take 48 hours. You say it can be the day after, it can be two days later. So you think, hang on a minute, it's only 36 hours, it's only 40, no problem. and then that deal can change in that period and you can then be let down and told that they're going somewhere else.

12:38That's happened two or three times for me in Salford. Can it change where the player says, because they know they've got you, you've agreed, the medical's sold, maybe something's come out in the press and then at the last minute they say, we want more money? That hasn't happened, to be fair. That hasn't happened. I can't think of that happening to me at Salford where a player's then come and said, I'll tell you what has happened with a player. We actually took his money down because his medical was shocking. Wow. But we still wanted to sign him and he had a half-decent record, but we said, look, it was decent money for Salford at the time.

13:10And we said, look, we just can't pay you that money. You're medical. And he must have known and he accepted the lesson. How old was he? He was probably 33, 34. And I felt uncomfortable because I thought we've agreed a deal here and the cash and the medical. And you hear that, don't you? The club's eye behind the medical and try and reduce that. I was really uncomfortable with it, but our doctor was saying to us, don't, whatever you do, you cannot pay that money. He wouldn't sanction it. The doctor would have a veto in the sense of, I can't sanction that two-year contract on that money. So we had to reduce it.

13:39I'm just thinking, we reduced it to a one-year deal with a one-year option if he played more than a certain amount of games, and the money reduced. And I was uncomfortable with that, but there was a reason behind it. You know what Mr Dean just mentioned there about the negotiation? It always fascinates me how that works. Is it a text sent? Is it a fax? Is it a phone call to another owner? It's a phone call, but they'll always say, put it in writing. They'll always say, put it in writing to me, text, email, and then you'll have to follow through with it and put it in writing. I've never known an agent not say that to me.

14:09You know the sort of pantomime we have around bids and fees and we'll start low and everybody knows it goes on. You just go straight in. I go in. I do that for property. I do that for players. I think you go in a fair level. I'm not saying you don't go up from that a little bit, or you'll try and say, well, there's a relocation fee or there's a goal bone, so you might tweak it around the edges. but I wouldn't go in and offer like 1 ,500 quid a week if you're thinking you're going to pay two and a half because all you do is you will insult them to hell. They'll just tell you to go away. I mean, players are not that.

14:40Especially if you end up starting 15, then you get to there. So why don't you just offer me in the first place? Yeah, it is hard, you know. I mean, when I see clubs have recruitment problems, I do think it is getting tougher, it's getting more difficult. It's about relationships. It's about the manager. It's about the success that the club's got. there's a lot of factors in play. Some managers have a great track record of attracting players. Some managers have a great track record in terms of knowing the agents. Some clubs do. Sometimes you've got mates at other clubs who loan your players, you know, all these things that happen.

15:12And we found it quite difficult in League Two at times. We had a couple of players this summer, I think, that we found it difficult to get over the line where they've agreed deals. And you think, hang on a minute, it's not right. Once you've agreed a deal, your phone should be off. No, I've already agreed a deal to any other club. That doesn't happen.

15:31Transfer Window Special is brought to you by Sky Mobile. The network that lets you roll your data and keep it longer than anyone else. For more information, visit sky.com forward slash shop, forward slash mobile. Right, so you're at Crystal Palace for a long time. You get the move to Arsenal. You have a long time at Arsenal. But then towards the end of your career, you're moving on quite quickly from different clubs. How did you find that? I wanted to finish my career at Arsenal. But then what happens is that I end up going to West Ham. And then that was an eye-opener because of what I was used to at Arsenal and the way Arsene Wenger was.

16:15What the standards you mean, right? Yeah. And I'm not saying it disrespectfully. With the way Harry was, with the way the training was, with the way things were, obviously there's some great young players Rio was there and obviously Frank and Michael Carrick, Joe was coming through Joe Cole, so it was very exciting to go there but it was a massive change to go somewhere as the experienced player, I think I went for like 750 grand or something Did you enjoy being the experienced player and sort of passing on your experience? No, because I'm that guy I'm the guy who's I'm not the leader in there You know what I mean?

16:55I like to be led by the lads and the thing that they're doing. I like to example on the pitch how I'm playing. That's how I kind of get my example over as an experienced player in there, Jane. But I'm not that one who's going to be up there talking in the meetings and stuff unless people are wronging people. When I had the problems with Riyak, it's because he was bullying and he was really being rough with people. And I felt like you stand up for that stuff. But I never jumped into Ari's team meetings or stuff like that. have you got anything to say? I'd say, no, not really. I wasn't that kind of senior pro.

17:30I was just the senior pro that went in and just tried to get on with doing my stuff. What would an agent take off your... Because I never had an agent, to be fair. So at United, I did my own contracts with my dad. He probably took... What did your agent take off you when you moved to clubs? Do you know what your agent took off you? Did he take any of your money, your wage? No, he didn't take any of my wage. What happened with me with Ron Nodes, though, because I had a clause, which kind of really eye-opening experience I had is I had a clause in my contract that if I went for anything over a million then you get like 15 % of it and I remember when I was in the room with David Dean and Mr Fryer Ken Fryer I think it had to be done by five or something yeah it had to be done by five and I remember everything was going well, they were to and fro the facts, everything was going through.

18:24And then it was like 20 to 5, and this is when I knew that the game's ruthless and how ruthless it could be. And it was a call from David Dean. David Dean had to leave the room when he came back in. He called me and he said, listen, there's a clause in your contract about... I know what you're coming, I hate that. Right, and it was like, he said, listen, he said, if he doesn't relinquish that, then, you know, send him back. An agent tried it on with me at a championship club a couple of years ago. It's just a no. I mean, it's just a no. Fuck off. You cheeky bastards. No, but the thing is... You know what I mean?

19:02You've agreed a deal, 20%, 30%, whatever, sell on. You pay your way, you know what I mean? That was a massive disappointment to me because you can imagine... That's a lot of money, right? It's a lot of money. Not at all. A lot of money then. Imagine the TV his mum would have got then. I'd have bought it in a cinema. Writing back then, you know what I'm saying? Working that out, 15 % of one and a half million is 225 grand. Do you know what I mean? And back then, that was a monstrous amount of money. This is what I'm saying, Gal, and this is why, again, you know what I mean? I said, I just, by then, you know, I'm talking about I've got 20 minutes to make a decision.

19:32It's like the nerves and everything that I've gone through just to be sitting in that room and then, you know. They've abused you, haven't they? Well, in the end, you know what I mean? It was something that you think to yourself, like, Jerome made it clear how this is what happens in football. You know, this is how he is. is, you know, to be honest, and to be fair to Ron knows, he offered me three or four times more what Arsenal were going to pay me. But in that moment, when he'd done that, and I had to relinquish that, you know, Jerome's doing his bit by, you know what I mean, because obviously Mr.

20:03Dean and everybody's saying, well, you're going to have to try and get him to get rid of it. They weren't going to, it's not like Arsenal saying, don't worry, we'll give, they're not going to do that. So it was something that I had to make a decision in 20 minutes. that kind of life-changing money for me at that time. It was massive money. And I'd say, yeah, OK. Where was your biggest contract writer in your career in terms of quantum of money per annum? West Ham. West Ham? Yeah. I was very excited about it. Very excited about West Ham because the young players, I was going to play, you know what I mean?

20:35There's some really good characters in there. It was really nice, so I was excited about it. But then after the first season, finished fifth, it went brilliantly. and then after that it just Harry just became Harry I always remember on the pitch on the last day of the season Bex whispered to me if you remember Real Madrid the one that sort of always stands out for me is Luis Suarez because it was a case of how did we get him you cannot hold that force back that's a force my contracts were all done within 48, 72 hours did I tell you you never asked for enough Van Persie was that was a dagger