Every now and again in my job I am fortunate enough to meet people who I once admired and respected from afar and Andy Cole falls firmly into that category.
I also get to meet people who, had they chosen to enter the kitsch, tacky world of Saturday evening light entertainment, might be considered to possess the X-Factor. It is a perk of the job but it doesn’t always make doing the job properly easy at times.
I have a childhood confession to make. When I was growing up there were three players who, if I did not quite worship, their posters did used to cover my walls.
The first and by far the most important given my age was Gary Lineker. I saw him make his England debut against Scotland and that was it, I was Lineker crazy from that day on. I followed Leicester City (team of my parents), Everton when he played for them, Barcelona when he played for them, then Tottenham (I know it makes me feel dirty as well) and even Grampus Eight!
When Lineker scored I went mental, when he missed a goal or played badly I sulked. I even cried in the 1990 World Cup when he scored against Cameroon because I was so relieved he hadn’t missed the vital penalty kick. I was 11 at the time and really shouldn’t have been crying at such things, but there you go.
In fact, as sad as it is, I even have a signed picture with the message “To Luke, Best Wishes, Gary Lineker,� somewhere in the spare room gathering dust next to the head of my favourite cuddly toy Green Bunny, some old comics, my first top-shelf magazine and the hymn sheet from my Gran’s funeral.
Unfortunately, to this day, even though I have been at several England games, I’ve never met Lineker or even interviewed him on the phone. If one day our paths do cross, I’d like to think I wouldn’t be star-struck, but I fear I would be. I’d certainly ask for another autograph because the one on the Shoot! poster from 1987 has faded a little through the years!
There have been other players, the former Nottingham Forest defender Des Walker and, perhaps strangely, Andy Cole, whose ability I’ve defended in countless arguments through the years, particularly when the media made him a joke figure when he first went to Manchester United from Newcastle almost 12 years ago. For the record, he didn’t need five chances to score, absolute rubbish.....
When I first sat in a Press conference at Newcastle United I couldn’t believe I was sitting in the same room as and listening to Sir Bobby Robson. It took me several weeks to pluck up the courage to ask a question and even longer to feel totally comfortable in his presence. Bobby was a legend to me so to work closely with him took some getting used to.
I’ve even told him this when I was drunk at a Durham County Cricket Club awards dinner a few years ago, he just smiled, poured me another glass of wine and said “didn’t stop you slagging me off when we lost though did it lad!� I’m afraid not Bobby!
There have been others. I met Pele when he came to Newcastle to promote some rubbish Fifa were doing about the world’s best players. The legendary Brazilian wears a protective cast on his hand whenever he attends events like this, not because he has an injury, but so he has an excuse not to sign thousands of autographs everyday. Clever, but rather selfish!
He will, however, pose for photographs. Sadly, I rather ruined the moment by looking like a vagrant with wild windswept hair (yes I did used to have some) a scruffy coat and a supermarket carrier bag!
Then there was Roy Keane who, having always played down his importance as a player, instantly changed my mind the first time he breezed into his first Sunderland Press conference with an aura and a presence I’d never seen before.
Someone who has a similar impact on people is Alan Shearer and he did just that at his book signing at Waterstones yesterday, although I have to be honest, having dealt with him so regularly as a player, you become immune to his star quality after a while.
But still it happens and when Cole agreed to an interview at the Stadium of Light this week I suddenly found myself face-to-face with a man who had got me thrown out of the Three Bulls pub in Newcastle for jumping on the furniture when he scored his first and only goal for England against Moldova!
Ten years ago, I would have simply thrust a pen under his nose and mumbled something about autographs! This time I had to actually ask some pertinent questions about Sunderland, goalscoring targets and helping Michael Chopra.
Throughout the interview I had to fight the temptation to say something like, “Andy I used to think you were really great, fantastic to meet you, can I have my picture taken and can you just sign this, yes to Luke please, he’s my friend’s son....� Not very professional and my peers would have sneered at my behaviour!
At least it’s out of the way now and from now on I’ll treat him with the same cruel objectivity as everyone else...honest!
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