![]() But Martin is such an easy target because he bites. We all knew Igors was nowhere near the standards set by Tony Adams, Martin and Bouldy. That night we went for dinner and laughed about it as we were only trying to wind Martin up. Martin’s muttering: 'He’s not that good.' He started to point out where he missed a tackle or a header. 'Great header! Unbelievable tackle!' Igors kicked this one ball 20 yards away from where it was meant to go but it still went to one of our players so we all stood up clapping. Dennis Bergkamp was sitting behind Arsène and kept doling out these compliments about this defender. Stepanovs is out there and every single pass he made, the boys started applauding, just because we knew Martin would be getting a bit steamed up by it. He was a unit, but seriously, he was not up to standard.Ī few of us were on the bench watching as he played in this trial game. This big guy from Latvia, Igors Stepanovs, turned up. If we had a centre-half on trial, Martin would say he was useless. Now, Martin Keown was always worried about people coming in to steal his position. In the summer of 2000 a player turned up on trial at our pre-season tour. But there were one or two gambles that didn’t quite come off. "Arsène was so clever at identifying great players to come in. He had loads of great tales about Stepanovs entire signing being a jokeįor anyone who hasn't read this story, it's completely hilarious: Ray Parlour said it was a really intense atmosphere and you could cut the tension with a knife - no one knew entirely what so say, so Parlour said he thought he'd try and lighten the mood by breaking the silence with "Alright then, big nose." The way he said it was "I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not but a week later I was driving a removal van back down the M1" Southgate called all the club (including tea ladies, etc) into a huge meeting and gave a serious speech about how he was the manager now and had to be referred to as so, so not "Southy" or "Gaz" or whatever players called him when he was a player. Gareth Southgate had just taken over as a manager, making the step up from player. He turned round and said "four back and sides please, love." Everyone fell about laughing and didn't take it seriously after that when news got back to Hoddle, he never picked Parlour for England again. Parlour had a knee injury at the time, so went along and she told him to sit in a chair - he did so, she walked up behind him and hovered her hands over his head. My favourite couple or Ray Parlour stories are when Glenn Hoddle got Eileen Dury involved in the England squad. His mate’s name? Ian Wright, who went on to score 238 league goals.” “Anyway, three goals later I realised Carl wasn’t much of a scout, either. ![]() ‘My mate, the one who wanted a trial, he’s playing for Palace today,’ said Carl. “The following Saturday, we went to play Crystal Palace. “‘Well, tell him not to f***ing bother then,’ I snapped, and that was the end of it.” ‘No, he’s not as good as me,’ he said, ‘but he’s decent.’ “‘And is he as good as you, Carl?’ I asked, suspiciously. “After about four games of this, he came to see me. We played about six games, couldn’t win one. “So we took Carl and he was absolutely useless. ‘I can’t buy you, I’m buying him,’ I told Carl’s mate, ‘but I’ll keep an eye out for you, don’t worry.” I’ve got 26 goals this season, he’s only got 12. “‘What are you signing him for?’ said this kid. “I bought Carl for £10,000, went to pick him up from Enfield and while he went in to say goodbye to his manager, he left me with his mate.” Here's one from Harry Redknapp about how he missed out on signing Ian Wright and signed Carl Richards instead: ![]() Persepolis win the 2022-23 Persian Gulf Pro League The Special one does it again as Roma go to the Europa League Final Unhappy Al Ittihad fans throw slipper on the pitch after conceding last minute equaliser vs Al Hilalīig Dan Burn on the scoresheet as Newcastle edge closer to a CL qualification in the Premier Leagueįiorentina overturn a first-leg deficit to Beat Basel in Switzerland and qualify to the Conference League final. ![]() Martinez puts Inter Milan in the Champions League Final The scenes from the stands of the second leg of the Milano derby in the CL Semi final Sam Kerr celebrates scoring her fifth goal in three FA Cup finals for Chelsea, who defeated Man United 1-0 to win their third consecutive FA Cup The FA Cup final at Wembley, between Chelsea and Man United, sets a new attendance record of 77,390 for a women's domestic game News, results and discussion about the beautiful game.Ĭhelsea Women lift their third consecutive FA Cup, having beaten Man United 1-0 in the final
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