Danny Mills: The pride & agony of watching son George at the World Athletics Championships

0:02Gabby Logan:This is a Global Player original podcast.

0:17On the Sports Agents today, we are dipping into the World Athletics Championships, which is currently taking place in Tokyo. yesterday Great Britain won its first medal thanks to Jake Whiteman the former world champion ran an amazing 1500 meters but what that race showed is that athletics is anything but predictable and our main guest today Danny Mills is on to tell us a bit more about that.

0:41Gabby Logan:He is the father of George Mills who has had a fantastic season could well be British athlete of the year and he will tell us the dedication that George has gone to to get himself ready for the world. But he will also talk to us about how it feels as a parent to watch your child compete on the world stage. And we just might dip into what has been so far a fantastic week of Champions League football. Welcome to the Sports Agents.

1:18The Sports Agents with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

1:24Gabby Logan:Hi, Mark. Hi, Gabby. In a moment, Danny Mills, the former England and Premier League defender, is going to join us on the podcast. But not to talk football, to talk being a proud parent with his son, George, getting ready to run in Tokyo. Yeah, looking forward to speaking to him about that. And we might get a little bit of football in as well. We had some really lovely messages because we did a tribute to Ricky Hatton earlier this week and you've sent in your thoughts about him. So thank you so much for that. And please keep getting in touch with the show at the sportsagentsatglobal.com or you can find us on social media or via the link in the episode description.

1:59And we do love it when you subscribe and follow when you're listening.

2:03Gabby Logan:And leave us a message as well, leave us a review if you would like. We're going to talk the world athletics in a moment, but we've really gone fully Champions League mode this week, haven't we? Between the two of us. You were on the Match of the Day highlights last night and I'm doing tonight. I enjoyed last night. I mean, I did live Tuesday, Spurs-Villa Real. They won 1-0 home goal. But last night was a much more exciting crop of games, it would appear. Well, there have been loads, not the one you were at, admittedly, but there have been a load of good games. The for all. The Juventus-Brucia-Dortmund for all.

2:42Gabby Logan:But even Bodo Glimt coming back to draw 2-2 against Slavia Prague with a sort of Tony Yoboa and Karabag beating Benfica. There are so many storylines with it. And look, they're not daft. I mean, they are daft at times, UEFA, but they're not daft in how they schedule this first week. And six games on a Tuesday, six on a Wednesday, six on a Thursday with some of the really big high-profile games first up because this format will allow them to, you know, sprinkle those high-profile games throughout the eight or nine match days, whatever it is. You had amongst your guests last night Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank, who is doing Strictly as well.

3:26Now, knowing you, you probably didn't ask him anything about Strictly, did you? You probably just skirted around it.

3:31Gabby Logan:No, I did. I did, not on air, but I did because people were mumbling about it in the office. So I just sort of said, and everybody always says, oh, you'll be next. and I'll go, it's never going to happen. It's never, ever, ever going to happen. Especially now you work Saturdays. As I work, yeah. And then he went, you will do it. And I went, no, I won't do it, Jimmy. He went, but it's so much fun. And I went, well, could you dance a bit? And so he went, no, I just sort of dance with my kids in the kitchen, but no, I can't. But it is so much fun. And then he went into kind of some position for like, I mean, I'm doing this.

4:08Gabby Logan:Holding you in his arms. No, he didn't hold me. He was sat on the settee. I mean, you've done it. What's that for a slow dance? What's that one? Well, that's just a hold for any of the ballrooms. I don't know, do I? Anyhow, he did that. And he said, that is so hard to maintain that position for the two minutes. Because you've got to have your chest out, your back in the right position. It is really tough if you've had no dance experience. I think he's got a daughter who's in musical theatre. Right. I think she might have. I'll check this, but I think she might have played the young Tina Turner in Tina Turner Music.

4:43Gabby Logan:Oh, wow. Yeah. And so, I mean, I'm sure he's getting a few times. I bet if you are that way inclined as a child and your dad is doing Strictly, it's the dream, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, that's the... Well, yeah. I mean, there's another bonus. I don't have any musical theatre-inclined children. So they're not walking around with jazz hands everywhere going, Dad, you should have been Strictly. It was difficult to choose last night, which game to go for, whether, you know, I was flicking between Liverpool and Chelsea. And when Liverpool went 2-0 up, you think, oh, this is job done. You flick over to Chelsea and having a look at Harry Kane.

5:17Of course, I'd heard you talking about him earlier in the evening. But interesting, Liverpool, you know, we were about to kind of head up to bed and Kenny went, you know, this is drawn now, it's drawn. I was like, no, they're going to win. They're going to win this. They're going to win this.

5:29Gabby Logan:We were sitting in the office and there were a fair few people in the office, people doing the analysis, Jimmy, Leon, Julien Laurent and it was they will score. They are going to score and they have that aura about them now that will get into the minds of the other team. You know, there have been late goals in every single game that they have played this season since the Community Shield that has got them out of a hole and the other team must feel it and you could still sense it coming last night. It feels like something that you, you know, you want to look deeper into and, you know, thinking should we talk about what is it, you know?

6:05It's like, it's that belief and that sense of kind of we're not going to be beaten you just can't you know can't create that can you it

6:12Gabby Logan:comes through winning yes and that we had that on and then but the other thing i just flagged from last night which wasn't involving either of the the english teams involved parry sanjum looked really good last night and i know that's a fairly obvious thing to say when they are the sort of reigning champions of europe but they look really really good uh lewis enrique um i did see this on one of the rugby um accounts i follow on instagram he's he started watching the first half from on high basically in a box why would you not do you know do you not i mean which is what they do in rugby yeah which is the link yeah i asked uh i talked to jimmy floyd about it last night about why would you not do that and back in the day big sam did it all the time didn't he some allodice chelsea's a really good example of this so there are two different um presenting points for for radio at Chelsea there's one high up in the stand and there's one in the lower press box and it depends how busy it is and a little bit look at the drawer I think where you are but when you're on high obviously you get an amazing tactical view of everything that's going on in the game when you are low down the tactical side of it is really harder is much harder to follow because you're so low but what you do get is a real sense of the pace of the game and how fast it is so you do get a different perspective on it but I talked so many managers this why do not just go and sit up there and get a real tactical feel for it particularly in the first half and jimmy jimmy floyd has a bank poo-pooed this a bit but i still think i i slightly disagree with him on this i think there are a lot of managers who worry about what their own fan base think of their body language and what they're doing so they want to be and also do they affect the referee by being yeah i would say diego simeone probably did last night before he tried to chin someone.

7:58I don't know in a good way. He's only ever a few seconds away from combusting Italy. He's got that look at him. Which is brilliant.

8:06Gabby Logan:But so many managers, I think, do though, Gabby, don't they? They worry about what they can influence from sitting up there, what their own fan base will think of them if they're not stood in a technical area pointing or shouting or whatever it is. Luis Enrique probably now doesn't have to worry about what the fan base think about him because he's won the Champions League with them and now he can sit up there with his sort of massive headphones on. Before we say hello to Danny Mills about his son, George Mills, who's about a day away from racing his first race at the World Athletics Championships, just a word on Jake Whiteman yesterday.

8:41I ended up having to watch this on my laptop because I couldn't get the TV to open for some reason. Yes, I was working at home and all our system went down. I was like, no, I don't want to hear this on the radio. I want to see this. I know the radio commentary is brilliant, but I love Steve Cram's commentary. I mean, on a 1500 meters, who wouldn't? It's his event, right? It was an incredible race. And Jake Whiteman came and sat with us in the studio in Budapest a year after he'd won the World Athletics Championships. He was reigning champion from Oregon, had terrible injuries that year. So that's two years ago.

9:08This is the first time he's raced in a global championship since he won because he's missed two championships with injuries. He's had a terrible, terrible time. And one of the things I'm getting tinkles about it now that he said post-races on his way on the bus to the first heat he said to himself if you blow this that's it you're done you're finished you've got nothing left and he was really kind of giving himself quite negative talk almost which obviously you know he was feeling quite like I've had three horrendous years of injury and this is the end he's 31 years old and he threw himself at the line and he just missed by like you know I think it's 100th of a second I mean he was incredible and got a silver so I was so pleased

9:46Gabby Logan:such a great guy so imagine having to sell to say that in your head before the first i mean that's so hard on yourself yeah and if you know the backstory he was coached by his dad until last year he's changed his coaching setup his dad is the announcer in the stadium jeff and um so he announces his races and you know it's it's really lovely when the good guys come out not on top but silver but it feels like yeah yeah yeah on top for him on top for him exactly did you just have to turn your TV off and turn it back on again? Is that? Pretty much. Oh, we've got a stupid system. We've got a stupid system.

10:22I'm not going to go into it here, but if anybody can fix it, please go in touch.

10:27Gabby Logan:We're going to talk about another of our great British middle distance hopes in Tokyo. George Mills, son of Danny, he's arguably been British Athlete of the Year. After the break, we'll catch up with his dad, who will be watching nervously from the stands this weekend. The Sports Agents. The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

10:52And there's more forwards and Mills has gone down. I do not believe it yet again. This ridiculously so early tempo has led to chaos in this 5 ,000 first heat. And big names have gone down and are out. And that is very, very unfortunate.

11:09Gabby Logan:George Mills' Olympic Games comes to a crashing end. You are often, Danny, thank you very much for joining us. You would often have been asked this as a player. So as a dad, how are you feeling? Very, very nervous. It's always this way with athletics. Massive highs, massive lows. It's tough. Football's a lot easier to watch, you know, 100%. So much, you know, there's second chances, there's opportunities. Athletics, as we know, we've seen already, you know, in these championships, it's been crazy. Some really strange results, some freak results, if you like. And, you know, for a lot of these athletes, a year's worth of work comes down to one race or one event.

11:55You're quite right. Your son Stan plays, obviously, as well. So you get to, you know, you get to dip in and out of both of their careers watching them. You make a mistake in the first five minutes of a football match, you can end up being man of the match. Oh, you can score an own goal, give away a penalty to go and score a trick. You make a mistake in a 5 ,000, 1 ,500 metre race and it's done. And that's the problem. We saw it in London. Unfortunately, on St. George got trips in London, broke his wrist. That's handled his training a little bit. At that point, he had to have an emergency operation, if you like.

12:26Several screws inflates in his wrist. But it is what it is. You have to deal with this and you have to get ready. He's as ready as he can be. He's worked incredibly hard this year. But I think, you know, you've seen from what happened in the 1500s, surprises happened left, right and centre, you know, in athletics. You know, Jakobs been injured. Josh Kerr obviously, you know, limped out of the final. Goal Hockey gets disqualified. It's probably one of the most open 1500 metres rope I've ever seen. Has George said to you that he maybe should have gone for the 15 when he saw what happened in the 1500 metres?

12:58No, not at all. I mean, it's bizarre because I think George has got the third fastest time in the world this year at 1500. abandoned it's been a strange jump 10 000 meters uh was quite strange um as well the way that was run i think the humidity is playing a huge part in the heat which is not easy george has put himself in the best muscle position he's fit he's ready to go we just need a fair wind and a bit of luck to get through to the final you said you were nervous at the very beginning when mark asked you how you're feeling um and obviously you know you really know the sport now you know you can hear that the way you're talking there you know you you really follow it you understand and every time I've spoken to you about it kind of you know off camera if you like you you could see you appreciate just how tough it is to be good at this sport and to get to the very top you must be so proud of what George has done over the last few years and how he's applied himself and and he's so singularly focused as you have to be and when you compare that to a footballer's life does that make you appreciate even more what these guys are doing yeah 100 it's way harder to be an athlete than it um you know and his brother will admit that you know it's the training process is so much more difficult i mean george is running on average 200k a week you know at altitude you know that that's that's enormous that's 15 miles a day six days seven days a week every single day most of them are on that split between two sessions you know he'll be running at the moment about three or four percent body fat you know which for most people you're in hospital because you know that that's way too low to live off but equally he's eating about 6 000 calories at the same time his resting heart rate when he had his operation they had to turn the machine off but it kept thinking tired of stops because his resting heart rates at about 32 beats a minute and of course you know if it drops below sort of like you know 45 the alarms start going off you think somebody's gone wrong so you know and this is all this is all these 5k guys with the under guys they're all at that level you know what it takes to get to this level and george will say there are no sacrifices there are no there's no magic this is about hard work consistency he's been doing the same thing eating the same thing running the same running the same tracks doing the same thing day in day out for the last three or four years and that's all it is and that's that's the dedication that's the hard bit that's the relentlessness and it's away from you know the attention that other sports get because you only have those short periods don't you where you are in the spotlight oh i mean so you know john just probably had six or seven races this year.

15:42European indoor silver was magnificent. Then got flu and couldn't make it out to China for the World Championships. Indoors, came off the back of that, had some good races. Obviously then had his eyes set on Mo Farah's record in Oslo, which he broke, which is no mean feat in itself. And then two or three days later, ran again and then on the Friday ran 3.28 for the 15 in Paris. It's relentless. You know, you have to learn to peak at the right times. I always say that for any athlete, the stars have to align. Look at what Jake Whiteman did last night. The stars have to align. The race was perfect for Jake.

16:26If it had been a ridiculously quick race, then it might not happen. But, you know, who took his opportunity? And he was so unlucky, obviously, not to get that goal.

16:35Gabby Logan:Can he ever give himself some time off? You know, when you talk about some of those stats there and the body fat, can he ever give himself, you know, three weeks of whatever he wants to eat and whatever he wants to do? It's quite interesting because obviously this is now like, this is the last of the season. Previous World Championships, there has still been Diamond Leagues afterwards and he's still got to carry on running. So his planet is after this, he'll have two weeks off probably and he'll eat ice cream and he'll eat what he wants. He'll probably have a drink and then realise he either doesn't like the taste of it or he's got a headache.

17:16And then he'll be back into it. The plan is already set out for next year. Obviously, there's indoors and then Europeans next year. Bizarrely, the Commonwealth's come a week before the Europeans, which I think is, that's a bit weird because I think most athletes Leeds are going to have to prioritise, and they'll choose the European type of thought. Obviously, that's in Birmingham. But he loves what he does. He's no Ian Dennis Jappers, put it that way.

17:47Gabby Logan:He'll love the fact that he gets a mention on a completely different... that his diet spreads through different... even different companies. And his diet does spread. when you watch a race how do you watch it and and when i ask that i'm thinking of i know some parents who have seen their son play test match cricket and be on the verge of a hundred and have still stood out the back of the pavilion because they they can't bear to watch those last few runs be accumulated? First, it's like, right, okay, you know, touch wood, just get around safe. That's the most important thing, stay out of trouble.

18:33You know, that's not easy. And we've seen in this championship, you know, definitely not easy. You know, when there's big bunches of groups together. And then it's, of course, about, okay, how's he looking? You can tell from the way he's running sometimes, whether he trusts his body, what sort of shape he's in, how he's feeling. and then you know the last few laps is you know when it starts to ramp up and go for it I will be there you know shouting as best as possible banging the hoardings if I need to um you know I've come away with a sore wrist sore hand have you got a t-shirt that says George Mills dad or anything no nothing like that um but yeah I mean the family are out here uh the whole family's here apart my brother um obviously who's playing at the moment we've got friends out there as well do you hang out with the other athletes families because i was at the olympics i was sat near georgia hunter bell's family and obviously she was something of a surprise bronze in that 1500 she's going in the 800 their heat start today actually don't they um and uh her family were t-shirted up so i could see it was her family her dad just kept pacing up the stairs and i don't think he actually watched the race he just paced up and down we are one of the most nervous families watching athletics.

19:48You know, it's like, as it starts to ramp up a couple of hours, no one speaks to each other. His mum gets sort of like, very excited. I go very, very quiet. I don't speak to anybody. The heart rates start to go up. And I think if you put the right heart rate on monitors on all the family, or to your brother and sister here as well, it'd be through the roof. You know, but we're here to support. So far, he's had a fantastic year. but he wants more. That's not enough for him. Just being here is like, I'm not turning up to be here. I need to do well. So, like I said, it's a world-class field.

20:27Gabby Logan:When you go quiet and don't talk to anybody, can anybody tell the difference between whether the race is... Not really, chap. People just think I'm even more miserable than normal. That's probably why no one mixes with us either. It'll be morning in Tokyo when City get their Champions League campaign going against Napoli. Danny, will you be able to watch that? Have you been dipping into it? No, we're 7 o 'clock here now. Flew in today. Just might have a little local bite to eat. Just pick some random restaurant that was full. But therefore, it must be half-eating. And it'll be sleep tonight. And then it'll be a long wait tomorrow.

21:06It'll be a tough day tomorrow. There'll be a lot of anxiety, you know, floating around from the family. you know we people say oh you get to see george you go no we won't see george until it's over you know he's he's locked away he's in camp his coach is there touch wood and he gets through we won't see him um you know we won't see him until until it's over uh yeah yeah there's no i mean this is not this is not holiday camp you know this is he's here to do a job and that's when they talk about chappers when they talk about footballers you know is it difficult when they have to be locked away for a certain amount of time.

21:44Have you seen what athletes pick? You know, they live at altitude for six months. They're in the middle of South Africa where there's like 300 people living in the town. There's not even a track there. They eat, sleep, run, repeat. That's it. You know, there's almost no contact with the outside world. So now he's in his zone. He's got an amazing team around him. You know, one of the most supportive team that I've ever known. in athletics. They are absolutely superb and we'll just leave them to do their thing.

22:19Gabby Logan:Right. Well, thank you for giving us your time. Get back to that restaurant. We wish you well, him well. Manage those nerves as best you can. I will do my best. I appreciate it. But yeah, I mean, hopefully athletics is about the stars of the line for people. You can do everything possible. It all comes down to one race, effectively. and that's not easy for any athlete. So, yeah, my heart goes out to all parents, all fans of athletics, watching somebody because it's tough.

22:55Interesting, Mark. Danny Mills had no time to chat football then. It was all athletics, wasn't it? You could just see how completely... He talked about George being in the zone and he's in the zone.