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THE THIRD FWA LIVE EVENT WAS FULL OF FUN AND CONTROVERSY

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BURT: We forget how difficult at times Mourinho was to deal with, people look at him through rose-tinted glasses

DUNN: Sir Alex Ferguson should earn far more than he does…the Glazers have doubled their investment and he’s responsible for that

ALLARDYCE: Why does someone at Chelsea not say “give David Moyes the job?”

SHREEVES: Roman Abramovich doesn’t believe Moyes will bring him sexy football

WILLIAMSON: When you see the Suarez incident it’s more shocking than a leg-breaking tackle

HOLT: Some of the reaction to Suarez has been pathetic, the worst type of lynch mob mentality

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

THE third FWA Live event on May 25 was another huge success. A packed audience at the Soho Hotel in London were entertained by a panel which comprised: Jason Burt (chief football writer, Sunday Telegraph), Andy Dunn (chief sports writer, Sunday Mirror and chairman of the FWA), Geoff Shreeves (Sky Sports), Laura Williamson (Daily Mail) and Oliver Holt (chief sports writer, Daily Mirror) plus West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce. The MC was Paul McCarthy, executive secretary of the FWA.

McCarthy thanked Barclays, sponsors of the Football Writers’ Association, and said that donations on the evening would go to the Brian Woolnough charity for cancer. Brian, who was represented by his son Ben, was known to millions as chief sports writer of the Daily Star and presenter of Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement. He sadly lost his battle against cancer last year.

The Q&A session started with the 10-game suspension handed to Luis Suarez for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.

Holt: I think everyone accepts what he did was wrong. No one argues that he should not be punished…it was animalistic and shocking. My own view is that he should have got the standard three-game ban for violent conduct. If biting is 10 games, don’t ban John Terry for four for racism. Don’t ban Suarez for 10 games when Callum McManaman got nothing, don’t ban him for 10 when Pedro Mendes needed oxygen after being elbowed by Ben Thatcher who got eight. How does Suarez get 10?

Allardyce: They took his previous into account. I’ve been there. “Mr Allardyce about your previous disciplinary misconduct…”

Burt: He was warned about his behaviour when he was banned for the racial abuse of Patrice Evra.

Shreeves: To bite someone is revolting and reprehensible, but as Ruud Gullit said [on Sky Sports] he got a seven-game ban [in Holland] and didn’t learn a thing from it.

McCarthy: Is there a danger the Daily Mail has been leading campaign against Suarez which many people, particularly on Merseyside, will think has led to this? “Spineless” was the back-page headline. How much part do newspapers play in a decision-making process?

Williamson: I hope they don’t because that is the job of an independent FA disciplinary panel, but in reality those outside factors will be factors. When you see the incident it’s more shocking than a leg-breaking tackle…then you are hopefully trying to win the ball – it happens in football. Biting someone’s arm is unacceptable…

Shreeves: Which part of the body is more acceptable?

Williamson: Biting is not acceptable anywhere on the body and that is where my paper has been very strong.

McCarthy: Andy, you were astonished at some of the comments Brendan Rodgers made in his press conference today…

Dunn: What Brendan said basically portrayed Suarez as a victim and he is absolutely nothing of the sort. It’s really a six-game ban, the rest of the season doesn’t matter, Liverpool are going to finish seventh. When you start to compare the severity of penalties as Ollie did…I understand where he’s coming from and it was wrong Jermain Defoe was not punished [for allegedly biting Javier Mascherano], it was wrong John Terry only got four games for what he did…but if you set a bad precedent you ignore it and move on. You can’t say the FA weren’t severe enough on one player and when they are severe say “you only did that to him.” So would you say if Suarez had been given a three-game ban that would be the tariff for biting? The same as for an over-the-top tackle. Once you start setting tariffs you are on dangerous territory.

Shreeves: Where does biting sit with all of us? I think it’s the same as spitting. [Goran] Popov [of West Bromwich] got three games for spitting at Kyle Walker. So if biting is as repugnant as spitting it’s a three-game ban.

Allardyce: It’s no worse than that.

Shreeves: In the same game [Daniel] Sturridge went over the top [on Ryan Bertrand]…

Allardyce: A referee is asked by the FA if he saw a tackle. If he says he did, that’s it.

Burt: There is the “exceptional circumstances” rule, but a ref saying “yes, if I’d seen it and sent him off” means a three-game ban is not an exceptional circumstance. This summer there will be a drive among the stakeholders [including the Premier League, Football League, PFA and LMA] to widen that definition.

McCarthy: The McManaman tackle [on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara] was horrible, a potential career-ender. The FA went to the LMA and PFA and asked if they considered the tackle an exceptional circumstance – they both said “no.”

Allardyce: At least we have an independent panel now. It used to be you were sat before three FA committee members  – you were being judged by the people who had found you guilty.

McCarthy: How would you have handled Suarez?

Allardyce: At Bolton I suspended El-Hadji Diouf and fined him two weeks’ wages [for spitting]. The PFA said “one or the other.”

Shreeves: I understand why Rodgers said what he did [in the interview after the incident]. He said he needed to review it, but I think there is room for immediate condemnation of biting.

Allardyce:  You can’t say that as a manager, you have to be very careful what you do. Suarez is a major asset to Liverpool and that is always a key factor. You have to be very careful with emotions straight after a game.

McCarthy: Liverpool were criticised for the way they handled the last Suarez incident [with Evra], could they have handled it better this time?

Williamson: I think they were quick, but they could have been quicker, something needed to be said on the night. Then to say they think a three-game ban would be sufficient is like “I’m the victim, woe is me.”

Dunn: I still don’t understand why the FA had to say when they announced the charge they thought three games was insufficient. Surely, if you are going to have a hearing, you can’t say that? It’s like pre-judging a trial.

McCarthy: Or “would you  go and consider your guilty verdict.” Will Suarez still be a Liverpool player next season?

Holt: I hope so because he’s a fantastic player and I love watching him play. Sacking him is naive. In this hang-him kind of situation, what do we think is going to happen if they put Suarez up for sale? West Ham would buy him.

Dunn: They can’t afford Andy Carroll let alone Suarez!

Holt: There’s always someone who’ll buy him. Somebody bought Marlon King. Someone bought Lee Hughes. The way some people are talking about Suarez makes him out to be worse than them…for biting an arm of someone which didn’t even draw blood. Some of the reaction has been pathetic, the worst type of lynch mob mentality.

McCarthy: How do you handle problem players?

Allardyce: If you look into his background, where he comes from it probably wasn’t very nice, he probably had a huge experience when he was brought up to survive, and his survival instincts probably came out in that game which had been inbred in him from a very young age, because of the way he had been brought up in his particular country. Just because he is paid a huge amount of money and he is a very talented player, you can’t just lock that in and just forget about it because it will come out in extreme forms somewhere along the line, that is probably what has happened to him. In his upbringing, he has fought to get where he has, and how he has been brought up in life. Someone has seen that talent, and grabbed hold of him and nurtured that talent, moved on to be where he is. All that does not excuse what he did, but it is certainly a factor. Rehabilitation is the best word here, it is about talking him through it – why do you feel the need to do these sort of things? That is not a particular manager’s responsibility, that is for a psychologist.[But] if you make him a calm, tame boy you might lose the beast that is so talented. Within the PFA remit should be doing lots with players about what they could get into today, in terms of things like gambling, they can easily get bored so there is a lot which can be done in terms of prevention – and we would rather be out there trying to prevent it than cure.”

A show of hands from the audience was 50-50 that they thought the 10-game ban was correct.

McCarthy: Manchester United could win the Barclays Premier League with a record [96] points total yet no one seems to be giving them a huge amount of credit…

Burt: It’s been a triumph for Sir Alex Ferguson rather than the team. Even getting close last season was. Not many players are at the height of their careers. Maybe van Persie. There is an element of winning it by default, but to win it so convincingly …I think Fergie is getting better as a manager.  Over his period in charge he has not allowed any club to dominate him, Chelsea tried it, but he saw off Jose.

McCarthy: Is this a classic, vintage United?

Allardyce: You think the Treble-winning team [of 1999] was the best team of all because of what it achieved. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and who’s going to win the Treble again in this country? It’s a young team, and a good team, its efficient and successful by a canter.

Shreeves: They could break the Barclays Premier League points total so they cannot be that poor though there has been little challenge to them.

Allardyce: If they were challenged they’d go to the next level.

Dunn: There is every chance this team will lend up with 20 more points than the 99 side.

Williamson: They have won 28 points from losing positions which is phenomenal. It says a lot about the team, rather than individuals.

Allardyce: They had a poor start to season, too.  Coming back from a goal down is so hard and to do it so often is phenomenal.

McCarthy: How long can Sir Alex Ferguson go on?

Holt: As someone who wrote him off 10 years ago… I agree with Jason, he’s managing better than ever – maybe for another three or years. After the last time [when he announced he would retire in 2002] we’ll find out on the last day of the season.

Dunn: There really is no sign of him slowing down. And when you think of what the club is worth now compared to when the Glazers took over [in 2005]…what he gets back, if he was working for a big company he’d be earning three, four or five times what he does. These guys have doubled their investment and Sir Alex Ferguson is responsible for that. If he had a deal linked to value of the club…

Allardyce: When George Graham showed him his contract at Tottenham and he saw what George was earning, United gave him more. Alex sorted it out.

McCarthy: He’s had to make some big decisions this season, many around Wayne Rooney. Do you think Rooney will be there next season?

Holt: I find the Rooney situation difficult to read. I think he’s a fantastic player. Neil Custis [of The Sun]  said to me when Dwight Yorke was older he dropped back to midfield because he did not have the legs any more. Neil thinks that’s why Fergie is playing him deeper. He’s having more ordinary games than he used to. He was at his peak in 2008 and he’s not the player now he was then. There are always whispers about his weight and fitness…

Allardyce: I think he’ll rise to the challenge not submit to it.

Burt: He’s not a great athlete which you need to be these days…

Allardyce: He was never going to be a great athlete, a great talent yes, but not a great athlete.

Holt: There is an argument that he’s been moved around, playing in different positions, but he has always said it is more important for team to win trophies. You could say he’s a manager’s dream

Allardyce: A very expensive utility player!

During the second-half the panel took questions from the audience. If Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund meet in the Champions League final and it goes to penalties, when would the shootout end…?

Shreeves: If Goetze [who has agreed to join Bayern next season] or Lewandowski [rumoured to follow his Dortmund team-mate] step up to take a penalty – good luck lads.

Another question concerned money going out of the game.

Allardyce: The problem with the agent scenario is we are so far down the line it’s virtually impossible to control what’s going on. They are too tight with the owners. It is much more important to get a relationship with the owners than players. When renegotiating a contract it should only be one per cent or even half a per cent [agent’s fee] and not five per cent as when you bring a player in to a club. To get another five per cent for renegotiating a contract…no.

McCarthy: Do you think Jose Mourinho will be back at Chelsea next season?

Shreeves: Nailed on, nailed on.

Williamson: It would be fantastic for us. I’m already looking forward to a pantomime every Friday…

Burt: …if he turns up. We forget how difficult at times he was to deal with. He didn’t turn up for [press conferences] for six weeks at a time and in the last year or 18 months [at Chelsea] the football was poor. People look at him through rose-tinted glasses.

Dunn:  He called all the chief football writers together for a meal at Stamford Bridge because he couldn’t understand why he was winning titles yet we were always praising Arsene Wenger who was winning nothing. He didn’t think we gave him the credit he deserved.  As football fans we liked the way they [Arsenal] played. He didn’t help himself by abusing the ambulance service at Reading and playing pragmatic football.

Burt: The press conferences became more entertaining than the games. He became the centre of everything. People forget what he was like. The reason he went was that no one at Chelsea could work with him.

McCarthy: If he comes back, and apparently it’s nailed on, how will the relationship with Roman Abramovich change?

Holt: It strikes me he’s been working very hard to come back. He has friends in the written press who have said for two seasons he’ll definitely be back. I’ve never been able to work out whether he wants to come back or he if wants to extract more money from Real Madrid. I understand what Jason says, but I tend to lean more to the entertainment value he provides. He is fantastic box office and that transcends his achievements.

Allardyce: Why not David Moyes? He over-achieves year after year, he’s got better and better. Why does someone at Chelsea not say “give him the job?”

Shreeves: Abramovich wants to see beautiful attacking football and I think he doesn’t believe Moyes will bring him sexy football…I’m not saying he’s right but it’s what he thinks.

The evening closed with the panel saying who they have voted for to be the Footballer of the Year.

Burt:  Gareth Bale, he’s never failed to impress me, he plays with a joy and is driven to be the best he can be.

Dunn: Robin van Persie. Until Sunday I would have voted for Suarez because there has not been a single game where he has failed to make an impact. It’s a  shame he did what he did because it deprives us of a chance to honour him. Had he won the award it might have even helped him.

Allardyce: For me, Suarez, too, apart from incident, but now Bale because of the amount of exciting goals he has scored.

McCarthy: Including one against West Ham…

Allardyce: In the 91st minute…

Shreeves: I probably lean to van Persie. He left Arsenal to win things, he said “I listened to the little boy inside me.” You will never, ever hear him say a bad word about Arsenal or Arsene Wenger. There should also be space in the discussion for the likes of Leighton Baines and Pablo Zabaleta who are worth an honourable nod.

Williamson: Bale because when I go to a match I want to be thrilled.

Holt: Juan Mata for the same reasons as the others. I love watching him, Mata has been phenomenal and does something in every game that excites me.

*Additional reporting: Jim van Wijk

See images from FWA Live by clicking here…

FWA Q&A: Gavin Hamilton

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GAVIN HAMILTON on sending a cheque back to Gavin Hamilton…dinner with Cristiano Ronaldo…and a honeymoon nightmare in South Korea

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
I worked elsewhere in newspapers and magazines before switching to football. I also worked in a library (Camberwell not Highbury) where the main job was stopping people nicking the books (and that was just the staff).

Most memorable match?
My office complain that I only attend games if sliverware is being handed over. Not strictly true but I’m lucky enough to have been to almost every major final, domestic and European, since the mid-1990s. If I had to pick one game, it would be the 1999 European Cup Final in Barcelona.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
Alan Pardew’s header at Villa Park, Palace-Liverpool FA Cup semi-final, April 1990. Hopeless Al became Super Al in an instant.

Best stadium?
I love the walk from Lotto metro station in Milan to the San Siro at night. The stadium emerges from nowhere, lit up like a giant spaceship.

…and the worst?
Every stadium is special to somebody, it’s what makes the game unique. But I don’t miss Plough Lane.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Nothing career-threatening, usually to do with my lack of ability to connect to wi-fi.

Biggest mistake?
Nothing I can admit to in public.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Only the cricketer Gavin Hamilton. I once got a cheque for £500 from The Sun for a column on the Cricket World Cup, which was nice. I was working elsewhere at News International at the time and I actually sent the cheque back, thinking it would help my career. It didn’t, but I hope he got his money eventually.

Most media friendly manager?
One of the first managers I had dealings with was [Crystal Palace’s] Alan Smith, who used to give out his players’ home phone numbers. It’s been downhill since then, though I’ve always found Roy Hodgson very agreeable. In Europe, the Dutch managers – Van Gaal, Rijkaard, Hiddink – have been great value. It’s partly a language thing – Dutch-English makes people sound more interesting than they probably are.

Best ever player?
In my lifetime, Maradona, though Messi is pushing him closer every season. Imagine if Maradona had played in the Champions League every year… I also loved Van Basten, such an elegant striker. Those old enough to have seen him play swear Di Stefano is the greatest.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
The Barcelona side that won the European Cup at Wembley two years ago was sensational. Brilliant individuals but a wonderful team ethic as well. Again it’s hard to compare different eras, but Brazil 1970 would give Spain 2010 a run for their money.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal shade it over Chelsea. It’s the Ben and Jerry’s.

Best meal had on your travels?
A seafood extravaganza in Madeira with my colleagues from A Bola when we interviewed Cristiano Ronaldo. We were presenting him with the ESM Golden Shoe and he insisted on receiving the award in Funchal, his home town. Not only was he away from the watchful eye of Man United, so we got a great interview, but we also had a slap-up meal afterwards.

…and the worst?
Fortunately nothing poisonous but there have been plenty of rough burgers, late night at train stations.

Best hotel stayed in?
I have the English vote in UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award, when UEFA put us up in the very lovely Meridien Beach hotel in Monaco. But, generally, at FIFA and UEFA events, I get to spend a lot of time in the lobbies of top hotels, watching how the other half lives.

…and the worst?
On Jeju Island for the 2002 World Cup. The Koreans had the bright idea of hosting matches there to promote the island as a “honeymoon paradise”. But I pity any marriage that spent its first night at this place. There was no mattress, just a wooden bed frame and a plastic sheet, and everything reeked of disinfectant, it was like sleeping in a pub toilet.

Favourite football writer?
Brian Glanville is still an inspiration, for remaining so enthusiastic after all these years and for his ability to swear so eloquently in so many different languages. I’m always amazed at the hours put in by the daily correspondents, Henry Winter and others.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
John Murray is a fantastic commentator, informative and emotional without imposing his own opinions on a match. Martin Tyler and Clive Tyldesley are rightly top of the TV tree. I’ve been impressed with Sam Matterface for talkSPORT.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
If clubs made a different player available for interview after training every day, they would soon see the benefits. Unfortunately, Barclays Premier League clubs smell money even where it doesn’t exist. Launching their own magazines and TV stations has made them think they can control the media when actually the opposite is true.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
I’d like to try the Cricket World Cup, I’ve got an idea for a column.

Last book read?
Capital by John Lanchester, a terrific state-of-the-nation novel. Most of the best football books of recent times seemed to have been written by Jonathan Wilson although Dave Conn’s book on Man City was brilliant.

Favourite current TV programme?
Curb Your Enthusiasm. There’s a bit of Larry David in everybody.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
Nothing much though I’ve kept the teamsheets from the 1998 World Cup Final, with and without Ronaldo in the starting Xl.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Learn a language, it will always give you something extra, and if you can spend some time in another country, it will give you a different perspective. Embrace change, half the jobs we’ll be doing in 10 years’ time don’t exist yet because the technology hasn’t been developed.

Gavin Hamilton is Editor, World Soccer.

LUIS SUAREZ – WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO THE LIVERPOOL STRIKER?

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By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

IS BITING AN OPPONENT IN THE LAWS OF THE GAME?
Not specifically. Thankfully it is so rare the International Football Association Board, FIFA’s law-making body, have not seen fit to include biting in Law 12 (fouls and misconduct) but it would come under violent conduct and if a referee saw a player bite an opponent it would be a red card offence

BUT SPITTING WAS MADE A SENDING-OFF OFFENCE, WASN’T IT?
Yes, the offence was included in the Laws in the wake of AIDS. In Law, “a player, substitute or substituted player is sent-off if he spits at an opponent or any other person.” While the chances of infection through saliva or biting are minimal it is obviously a health risk. This is why players with blood wounds, usually the head, must have the wound covered and if there is blood on the jersey it must be changed. In 1999, the Football Association banned Patrick Vieira for six games after the Arsenal midfielder spat at West Ham’s Neil Ruddock. At Euro 2004 Alexander Frei of Switzerland was banned for three games for spitting on the neck of Steven Gerrard during England’s 3-0 win.

WHAT POWERS DO THE FA HAVE IF A PLAYER IS FOUND GUILTY OF BITING AN OPPONENT?
Without being pedantic, it is an Independent Regulatory Commission appointed by the FA that is responsible for any punishment. Basically, there is no limit to the sanction they can hand out.

BUT WHAT IS A LIKELY PUNISHMENT?
It goes in a player’s favour if he apologises and the club are seen to be pro-active with internal action…

THIS DIDN’T REALLY HELP ERIC CANTONA…
True, Manchester United banned him until the end of the season, four months, after his kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace fan and the disciplinary commission extended this, handing Cantona an eight-month suspension. The FA weren’t too happy, but strange as it may seem, they have no hands-on control over such bans. A difference is that what Cantona did was against the law of the land while what Luis Suarez did is a football matter (so far).

SO FAR?
Anyone who is aware that a crime has been committed can report it. It is not essential for them to have been personally affected by the crime. Since 2011 the same procedure has been followed in criminal cases in every canton. The police investigate what has happened. At the end of the investigation, the public prosecutor’s office that has jurisdiction over the case decides whether there is enough evidence to bring charges. This is what happened with John Terry.

OK…BUT WHAT IS SUAREZ’S LIKELY BAN IF FOUND GUILTY?
He has “previous” and was suspended for seven games for a similar offence while he was an Ajax player which may be a yardstick for our FA. The governing body will be keen that the disciplinary commission ensures any sanction acts as a deterrent.

NO ACTION WAS TAKEN AGAINST JERMAIN DEFOE FOR ALLEGEDLY BITING JAVIER MASCHERANO SEVEN YEARS AGO…
The video evidence, while damning, may not prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Defoe bit the Liverpool player. Referee Steve Bennett cautioned Mascherano for a foul on Defoe who reacted, so under the FA regulations the incident was dealt with and they were powerless to take any further action.

BUT IF THE POLICE…
This is unlikely especially as Ivanovic told Merseyside Police he does not wish to make a complaint. But still a possibility.

ALL RIGHT, BUT DUNCAN FERGUSON WAS GIVEN A THREE-MONTH JAIL SENTENCE AFTER HEAD-BUTTING JOHN McSTAY OF RAITH ROVERS WHEN HE WAS WITH RANGERS…
Ferguson was neither sent-off nor cautioned for the offence by the match referee. However, the Scottish Football Association took action after viewing a video recording of the assault. The striker was on probation for a previous offence at the time of his latest indiscretion which broke the terms of his bail.

LIVERPOOL HAVE FINED SUAREZ “AN UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT” – WHY DON’T THEY MAKE IT PUBLIC?
Football still operates in a secret world and many feel supporters, who are told by clubs how important they are, should not be kept in the dark. Under Professional Footballers Association rules a two-week fine is the maximum apart from exceptional circumstances.

HOW EXCEPTIONAL DOES IT HAVE TO BE?
Manchester City wanted to fine Carlos Tevez four weeks’ wages after he was found guilty of five breaches of contract after refusing to warm up against Bayern Munich. The PFA refused to back the four-week fine and City, who were not best pleased, had to reduce it to two weeks.

VOTING FOR THE FOOTBALL WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION’S FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR OPENS ON APRIL 25. DOES LUIS SUAREZ HAVE ANY CHANCE OF WINNING THE AWARD NOW?
It will make for a lively discussion at the FWALive event later that day.

FWA Q&A: Rex Gowar

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REX GOWAR on Maradona being called fatty…a dodgy Tiger in Seoul…and missing out on Messi

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
Paint shop manager, teacher, photographer. I was almost 30 when I started my media writing career at the Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina’s English language newspaper.

Most memorable match?
Two, the 1978 and 1986 World Cup finals. I watched the first from “la popular”, the higher banks of terraces behind the goals, in this case the one where Kempes scored both his goals, Naninga headed the Dutch equaliser and Rensenbrink hit the post. Victory ended years of Argentine agony watching big rivals Brazil and Uruguay lift world titles and the need to give substance to a belief of superiority.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
The match when a teenage Maradona put four goals past Boca Juniors Hugo Gatti playing for Argentinos Juniors days after being called a fatty by the goalkeeper. That and other moments of Maradona magic before his first big money move to Boca Juniors. He was to the modest Argentinos side in the late 70s what he became for Napoli and Argentina in the mid-80s.

Best stadium?
River Plate. Apart from being the stadium where I saw my first matches (and bias because they are my team), I have great memories of “shooting” matches there and at many other Buenos Aires grounds in my earlier career as a sports photographer.

…and the worst?
Platense in the Honduran city of Puerto Cortes when on a fact-finding trip three months before the 2010 World Cup finals though I can’t complain about the atmosphere. Good thing I didn’t need to file anything from there.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Luckily nothing major.

Biggest mistake?
Not interviewing a teenage Messi in Geneva in 2005 when Argentina played England and he was suspended. I didn’t have an appointment but I’m sure I could have talked to him when he’d finished with another journalist in an empty lounge at the team’s hotel if I had had the sense to wait around.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Depends what you mean by mistaken. I was at a match at the small Atlanta ground, during the 1978 World Cup, between European and South American media but featuring lots of golden oldies — Di Stefano, Kopa, the Charlton brothers and Ian St John in the European side, Sivori, Artime, Onega for the South Americans and someone in the stands shouted “Tarantini” as I emerged from the tunnel in that exalted company… I regret not taking up the offer to fill a gap they had at full back for the Europeans but I had a bad knee that was sure to give way again at Onega’s first swerve past me.

Most media friendly manager?
Carlos Bilardo… and I recall Bobby Robson being very approachable in Montevideo during England’s 1984 tour of South America.

Best ever player?
Maradona.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
That I’ve seen live, Ronaldinho’s Barcelona team with a young Messi, the Independiente side which in 1985 won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup and Brazil at the 1982 World Cup.

Best pre-match grub?
At a rugby match, laid on by the organisers at the Heineken Cup final in Bordeaux between Brive and Bath in 1997, a French feast.
Best meal had on your travels?
A barbeque at Conmebol president Nicolas Leoz’s ranch outside Asuncion on occasion of a South American Football Confederation general assembly.

…and the worst?
Korean fast food at the Tomorrow Tiger in Seoul during the 1988 Olympic Games. We were two Reuters journalists writing for the Spanish Language Service until all hours of the night and this was the only place we found open… night after night.

Best hotel stayed in?
The Aloft in Abu Dhabi for the 2010 Club World Cup, great buffet breakfast and superb pool.

…and the worst?
A flea pit with sheets for walls between rooms in some remote part of the south of France while covering the Tour de France in 1997. The contrast could not have been greater when the next night we stayed at a chateau with its own wine label and ate like dukes. Don’t remember the names of either of them.

Favourite football writer?
In England, I’ve always liked reading David Lacey of football and Rob Kitson on rugby, in Argentina Ezequiel Fernandez Moores who writes a weekly column in La Nacion.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Martin Tyler, who I’ve known since the 1978 World Cup when we compared university notes and found he played as striker for East Anglia U against me in goal for Essex U in Norwich. I forget the score but have to concede it might have been 2-1 to them.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?
It’s a pipe dream in modern football but let us arrange to speak to players when we want without having to go through a press officer who rarely answers the phone.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
I’ve been lucky to get to top games in a wide variety of sports but none of the major American sports so of these I’d go for a NFL Super Bowl.

Last book read?
A biography of Juan Sebastian Veron in Spanish called “El Lado V” and I am now reading Jonathan Wilson’s The Outsider on goalkeepers.

Favourite current TV programme?
French police drama Spiral.

Your most prized football memorabilia?
A tape recording of an interview with a 19-year-old Maradona in 1980 before he travelled with Menotti’s Argentina to Europe to play England at Wembley. I did it for Shoot magazine but it was never published because of a printers’ strike in the UK. Talk about exclusive!

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
None that has not already been given in this column by people far better qualified to give such advice.

REX GOWAR is a Buenos Aires-based Reuters sports correspondent for Latin America.

Next week the Q&A’s world tour ends with World Soccer editor Gavin Hamilton.

Michael Calvin on Millwall and FA Cup Violence

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What distresses me is that people had taken their children to Wembley for their first big game and the kids were so terrified they don’t want to go to football again – Michael Calvin

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

NOBODY saw it coming, not least Michael Calvin who spent a year virtually living with Millwall to write “Family – Life, Death and Football.” Families may argue, but fight?

The images of violence at the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley were a chilling reminder that while improved stewarding, policing, all-seat stadia and CCTV have done much to make English football safer, hooliganism is still bubbling below the surface. What Pele called the beautiful game showed its ugly face over the weekend with 12 Millwall “supporters” arrested plus 29 at the Newcastle v Sunderland Tyne-Wear derby.

Calvin refuses to call those who disgraced the club, the FA Cup, English football and the sport in general “fans” or “supporters”. “They don’t deserve that dignity,” he said. “They are louts.

“It is wrong to even attempt to defend the indefensible. The starting point for any debate must be to condemn the behaviour of those in the Millwall end who chose to fight among themselves, before rounding on the police. As we can assume that Wembley has almost as many CCTV cameras as the CIA headquarters hopefully it should be a relatively simple process to identify the troublemakers.”

Millwall’s history has given the club an image that will be difficult going on impossible to change despite the sterling efforts of the club. South-east London, where I grew up, was the last part of the capital to be modernised, a hard-nosed area with the Old Kent Road and Walworth Road still stuck in a tenement time-warp.

“It’s a very complex club,” said Calvin. “It’s tribally driven and in many ways it’s a generational thing. The people who formed Millwall’s reputation during the Seventies and Eighties are now fathers and grandfathers who take their sons and grandsons to matches.

“Millwall’s attraction to me as a journalist was its very nature, it’s a proud working-class football club in an area that is slowly becoming gentrified. The reputation does attract a certain type of person. The images of fighting, terrified children and baton-wielding policemen are damning and demoralising for everyone who has a genuine feeling for the club.”

There have been inevitable calls for Millwall to be punished by the Football Association and Calvin said: “My early journalistic training taught me perspective boils down to the man on the Clapham omnibus. What would that reasonable person make of a libel case, or something like this? Reasonable people would surely say Millwall, as a club, did everything they could. I don’t believe they are in denial. Sadly, the majority have once again been tainted by the minority, perhaps as few as 50 people.”

Millwall’s average attendance at The Den is around 11,000, yet 35,000 followed them at Wembley. Calvin said: “Where did the extra 20-odd thousand come from? The statistical probability is that some of those had absolutely no affinity with Millwall at all. They were mates of mates or whatever.”

Football can no longer accept sponsorship from tobacco companies, though alcohol, the product that is responsible for making so many people turn to violence, still promotes itself through football, even the FA Cup. The early evening kick-off allowed more refuelling time than usual, the official Football Association Twitter site, unfortunately but blamelessly tweeting an hour before the kick-off of Saturday that 75,000 pints and 50,000 bottles of Budweiser will be sold at the two semi-finals over the weekend.

Calvin said: “High risk league games are invariably played at lunch-time. Television, understandably given the money they pay, want FA Cup semi-finals to kick-off at a time when then can maximise their ratings. What we have is a commercially driven kick-off time, but the fact remains the likelihood of that sort of trouble would have been significantly reduced had it been played at lunch-time. Also, had the semi-final been played earlier the Wigan fans would have been able to take a train home afterwards.

“Saturday was the car crash, the worst case scenario, a game watched by a massive global audience and it developed into a media frenzy. I don’t criticise anyone for writing the story, but some of the comments, calling for Millwall to be thrown out of the FA Cup, are just knee-jerk, intellectually flawed nonsense.

“What particularly distresses me about the whole scenario is that last Sunday, four or five people contacted me to say they had taken their children to Wembley for their first big game. The kids were so terrified they don’t want to go to football again.

“To say it was an internal squabble almost dignifies it. Those responsible were a bunch of drunken invertebrates fighting among themselves. It just happened to be at a football match. It could have been in a pub car park, a street brawl…anywhere. But football attracted them on Saturday and the fact they had been drinking all day compounded the issue.”

Ticket restrictions should ensure only verified supporters can buy them, though those who can remember easier access to watch a game will bemoan a society that must now be segregated.
The trouble involving Millwall followers could hardly have happened at a more high profile occasion, but there is a worryingly amount of football-related violence that is not reported nationally. Wembley and Tyneside were far from the only scenes of violence over the past year.

In February, 10 fans were arrested during and after the Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic derby. Several rows of seats and the toilets in the away end were damaged while troublemakers smashed cars and damaged residents’ property as they made their way home. Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, who led the operation, described their actions as “mindless destruction.”

Six men were arrested on suspicion of affray thought following violence that erupted in the city centre after the Newcastle v Chelsea game on February 2.

Police made 19 arrests when Sunderland and West Ham supporters clashed before the game on January 12.

Last month 87 people were arrested in the build-up to the Blue Square Bet Premier match between Nuneaton Town and Lincoln City.

Thirty one arrests were made following violent scenes in Huddersfield on May 19, 2012 – the day of the Championship play-off final. The trouble continued in the railway station before spilling on to the tracks. Several men chased each other through the platforms and eventually down the track towards Deighton, causing 61 trains to be delayed and seven to be cancelled altogether. The disruption caused nearly 15 hours of delays and cost thousands in lost earnings.

Calvin said: “Occasionally football holds up a mirror to who we are and what we have become. This is England, our England. Every Friday and Saturday night pubs and night clubs can become battlegrounds. Wembley was a manifestation of the society we’ve become.”

*Family – Life, Death and Football by Michael Calvin (Icon Books, £8.99)

NEW DATE FOR MANAGERS’ LUNCH

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Please note that our annual NORTH WEST PREMIERSHIP MANAGERS LUNCHEON, sponsored by BARCLAYS, at The Manchester Thistle Hotel, Portland Street, Piccadilly Gardens will now be held on WEDNESDAY APRIL 24th, 1pm for 1.30pm. The change has been forced upon us because of re-arranged Premiership matches on the original date.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers, Tony Pulis and Roberto Martinez have all been invited along with a number of former managers and prominent personalities and, as usual, part of the event will involve interview opportunities for the Dailies and Sundays.

Please confirm your acceptance to the secretary by email.

FWA Q&A: MARK GLEESON

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MARK GLEESON on a free Camel in the press box…a rat-infested room in Brazzaville…and some Hot Chilli Peppers in the bar

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?

I started my journalistic career covering the courts, schools fetes and the ladies society’s tea parties but thankfully that did not last long. I got a chance to cover football very early on in my career, first as a substitute and quickly thereafter full-time.

Most memorable match?

Growing up in apartheid South Africa and the international sports boycott, it was always the subject of furious conjecture as to how our teams or individual sports people would do on the world stage. For many years I wrote frequently about how a possible national team might shape up, who might play and how it might fare. So the night South Africa’s first ever national team played its first international, against Cameroon in Durban in July 1992, was exciting, emotive and strangely surreal. It was not a great game and played in the rain with a soft penalty to give South Africa a fortuitous home win. But it was a game of such significance, marking the start of a whole new era. Football in the country has not looked back since.

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?

Maradona’s mazy run against England at the Azteca Stadium at the 1986 World Cup and his semi-final effort against Belgium days later. I was at the stadium for both games, having been sent to the World Cup in Mexico by my Johannesburg newspaper as a green-horned 22-year-old. I remember just as keenly the Camel girls who dished out free cigarettes in the press box and the pizza they brought in at half time.

Best stadium?

After decades of covering African football, traveling from one rickety stadium to the next with little or no facilities, the venues built in my own country for the 2010 World Cup still take my breath away. The stadium in my home town Cape Town looks, from far, like a giant bath tub while I have not missed many major matches game at Soccer City in Johannesburg since it was first opened in 1988. But the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is really special, iconic almost.

…and the worst?

Across Africa there are many, a lot unsuitable for the game. But they also have a quixotic charm. And in many places, it is all they have. In Blantyre, Lilongwe for example, there has been teargas fired off by trigger-happy police every time I’ve been there, a nasty experience. People storm the gates, causing a suffocating crush that invariably always causes injury. But they never seem to solve the problem.

Your personal new-tech disaster?

Fortunately I have a decent understanding of laptops, wi-fi etc. But I have a habit of losing written notes, invariably long interview where I have not used a recording device.

Biggest mistake?

Many, but I prefer to push them to the recesses of my brain and move on …

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?

Gary Bailey. Often. It’s because we both do a lot of local TV in South Africa and while many people have seen me on screen they don’t know my name and so blurt out the first football name they know and in South Africa it is invariably Gary Bailey.

Most media friendly manager?

Delia Fischer at FIFA does a brilliant job. She was embedded in SA before the 2010 World Cup and is now doing the same for Brazil.

Best ever player?

I’ve unfortunately never seen him live but to live through the career of Lionel Messi I think will prove a special honour of those of us who sit back on the couch late on Sundays to take in a Barcelona game on the telly. Not sure there will be another like him for generations to come

Best ever teams (club and international)?

The current generation of Barcelona and the Germans for their incredible consistency. I’d like to mention Cameroon of 1990 too because they did much to elevate the profile of African football, even if they kicked everyone off the park.

Best pre-match grub?

At Cape Town’s Athlone Stadium, they do a cold crumbed chicken that melts in the mouth. I had a wager once to try the cane rats on skewers, which they served outside stadiums in Malawi, but despite plenty bravado could not bring myself to try it.

Best meal had on your travels?

On my way to a 1998 World Cup game in Paris, I had a lamb kebab at a little hole in wall off the Champs Elyse. I went back almost every day after that.

…and the worst?

The local Reuters correspondent in Mali threw a welcome party at his house for the reporting, photographic and TV teams that went to cover the 2002 African Nations Cup. It was a oily peanut stew with fish, including a head in it. We ate so as not to offend to our host but were all sick for days after.

Best hotel stayed in?

During both the 2005 Confederation Cup and 2006 World Cup, I stayed at a hotel on the banks of the Rhine, not far from Cologne’s cathedral and railway station. Opulent luxury, sumptuous food and a regular diet of rock bands like U2 and Hot Chilli Peppers to hang out with in the bar.

…and the worst?

I went with the South African club Jomo Cosmos to Kinshasa to cover an African Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final tie in 1993. There were no direct flights so we flew to Brazzaville on the other side of the Congo river, to take the ferry across. An incredible journey. But we got to the harbour after closing time and had to spend a night at a hotel/lodge/bordello next to the crossing point. The rooms were rat-infested so the entire night was spent in the bar [The best excuse I’ve heard yet – Ed].

Favourite football writer?

My favourite journalist for his style and use of the language is Robert Kitson, but unfortunately he is wasted on the oval ball game. I enjoy Jonathan Wilson’s enterprise and Simon Kuper’s views on the game. I was a big Frank Keating fan as a young journalist but in those days the Fleet Street papers were over a week late in landing in the office.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?

Peter Drury. I’m not sure whom he works for the UK but he commentates a lot of the English premier matches we see in Africa. He is always thoroughly prepared, not only with interesting information but with clever descriptions and phrases. His voice does get a little falsetto when excited but he is class.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers what would it be?

Access to players. It is not as bad in Africa as it is in Britain but more and more doorkeepers are being engaged to keep reporters away from talking to the real actors of the game.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?

A cricket test at Lord’s between South Africa and England and the Super Bowl.

Last book read?

A book on the history of settlement in the Caribbean, an area I intend to travel once my kids are out of the house. The last sports book I read was the autobiography of Springbok rugby captain John Smith and the last football book was Once in a Lifetime: The Incredible Story of the New York Cosmos by Gavin Newsham.

Favourite current TV programme?

I rarely do current TV but a night in with a box set of the Sopranos, Wired or Mad Men is a rare treat. I’m behind on the last two. I always make as point of watching Telefoot, the Sunday morning French programme which always does such clever and interesting inserts.

Your most prized football memorabilia?

I have the captain’s pendants that were handed to South Africa’s soccer teams by Portugal, the Netherlands, Bolton Wanderers, Dundee etc. from the 1920s to 1950s. I rescued the archive of the old Football Association of South Africa before it got tossed out and have since passed onto a university archive.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?

It’s a privilege to cover soccer, a daily joy. Football reporters frequently moaning about their plight, meals, travel etc. get my back up. The best thing I ever did as a young reporter was go to the daily training sessions of the clubs I was assigned to cover. I suppose that’s not possible in Britain anymore but it is still the best source of stories and, more importantly, relationship building.

Mark Gleeson covers African soccer for Reuters, World Soccer and many other titles worldwide; he also works for the South African television channel SuperSport and is a partner in a domestic sports news agency, all from the shadow of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

‘Those who work for Millwall must pull their hair out at times at the way the club are depicted’

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TOBY PORTER on the public perception of FA Cup semi-finalists Millwall

By CHRISTOPHER DAVIES

NO ONE may like Millwall, but Toby Porter certainly does care about how others view the club.

Porter is the sports editor of the South London Press and has covered Millwall for 11 years. Millwall have a stigma, mostly outdated and based on events from 30 or 40 years ago, but it is an image that the club will find difficult to shake off even though they have done everything to eliminate violence and racism with success.

As the Lions prepare for their FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley, the perception most have about Millwall does not affect the way Porter goes about his job, but on a personal level it is a different story.

He said: “In the first season I covered Millwall there were 187 arrests for football-related incidents. Since then there have been no more than 20 or 30 [a season] and consistently lower than that. Basically about a tenth of what it was.

“The 2002 playoff semi-final against Birmingham City [at The Den], where there was a lot of unrest, was significant in Millwall moving forward, making a decision to ensure anyone with a criminal background was not allowed in the ground or allowed to go to away games with the club.

“The reality is that the violence is much less than it was. There are still some elements drawn to Millwall because of the past, but the club could not have done more to eradicate violence or racism. Those who work for Millwall must pull their hair out at times at the way the club are depicted in a quite out-of-date manner by lazy journalists.

“Millwall’s main claim to fame was the 59-game unbeaten home run ended in 1967 [by Plymouth Argyle]. Most people would not have heard of the club apart from the bad stuff.

“For the media, there is no other hook to hang on Millwall. It doesn’t affect my job in any way because I know what the truth is. But inaccuracies should hurt any journalist and it affects me personally when I see the club depicted in an unfair manner, though that’s an emotional reaction.”

Bradford City of League Two reached the Capital One Cup final on the crest of a media wave with most neutrals hoping the Bantams would add Swansea City to their list of Barclays Premier League scalps, underlining the British affection for the underdog. Should Millwall overcome Wigan they are unlikely to enjoy such support, even against Chelsea or Manchester City, whose Russian and Middle Eastern financial backing causes such resentment.

Porter said: “The crucial period for Millwall’s reputation was the Panorama documentary in 1974.”

Millwall had invited the TV cameras into The Den for a programme about their supporters. Over the previous three years there had been a considerable drop in hooliganism, which was rife in English football at the time, and the club hoped the programme could show the benefits of responsible stewarding.

It backfired spectacularly with the BBC concentrating almost exclusively on the alleged thug element that followed the club. When Millwall and the police saw a review of the show they implored it should not be broadcast. Denis Howell, the Minister for Sport, met with Sir Michael Swann, chairman of the BBC, because of fears that the programme would succeed in encouraging rather than discouraging unruly behaviour. And so it proved.

The horrendous scenes at the 1985 FA Cup tie at Luton gave Millwall a scar for life and it is the image many people still have of the south-east London club.

That was then. When Millwall reached the FA Cup final nine years ago, there were zero arrests among their fans at the semi-final against Sunderland at Old Trafford or in Cardiff where Manchester United won 3-0 at the Millennium stadium.

Millwall are no strangers to Wembley in recent years – they made their debut in the Auto Windscreens Shield final in 1999, losing 1-0 to Wigan, the Lions cheered on by an estimated 47,000 of the 55,000 in attendance. They also reached League One playoff finals in 2009 (losing to Scunthorpe) and 2010 (beating Swindon).

This is their first FA Cup semi-final at English football’s headquarters and Porter said: “It means more to the older generation because for them Wembley was a long wait. Millwall have now been to Wembley four times in the last decade and a half whereas there had been none previously to that.”

Porter and the South London Press have enjoyed a close relationship with Millwall over the years and it would be difficult to find any football writer with a complaint about manager Kenny Jackett’s commitment to the media. “They give me all the co-operation a journalist needs,” said Porter. “It’s a very good, positive relationship and works best that way.

“Kenny is a considerate man. He likes to keep his cards very close to his chest when it comes to giving out information on the club purely because it makes his job more difficult if this becomes public. I understand that even though as a journalist I want every bit of news possible.”

Porter will be writing the bulk of the eight-page supplement ahead of the Wembley match which should boost sales of the SLP. “Since I joined the paper the only time sales increased drastically and were sustained was in 2004 when Millwall reached the FA Cup final.”

To paraphrase Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, Wigan are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. They are as likely to score three goals as concede three, though Porter does not see a goal-feast at Wembley.

He said: “In recent games Jackett’s made it hard to score against Millwall. They have had five clean sheets in the last seven matches and I think they’ll be difficult to break down. Wigan have some very talented players and I think it will be close.”

FWA Q&A: MARCEL VAN DER KRAAN

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MARCEL van der KRAAN on watching Jesus in football boots…being mistaken for Lance Armstrong…and paying for toilet paper in Belarus

Have you ever worked in a profession other than football?
When I was 17 and still at college, I had my own little business in polishing cars. I was making more money than my dad. People would bring their car and pick it up at night. The boss of a major company asked if I could polish his wife’s car. He insisted that I would pick it up at his house in the country on a Saturday morning at 7 am. There was one slight problem, I had no driving licence. He said that it didn’t matter. I could drive, couldn’t I? So I did. Unfortunately it had been snowing and people were skating on ice in Holland, as it had been minus-10 for a week. Not used to skiddy roads, on the way to my little business I skidded, hit a tree at 50 miles an hour on the side of a river, the car went through the air and landed upside down on the frozen river. It went straight through the ice, sunk and until this day I still don’t know how I got out. I walked back through the fields and told the guy I had given the car a good wash, but it might be time for his wife to buy a new car because the engine was not running so well any more. He laughed, thank God. He wasn’t short of money and his wife had a new car a few before lunch. Farmers got the car out and police were never involved. Good job, not only did I not have driving license, it was not my car and I was not insured.

Most memorable match?
Holland v England (2-0) in De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam, the 1994 World Cup qualifier where England were knocked out for the finals in the United States and Graham Taylor saw his reign coming to an end. This was such a bizarre match. I still don’t know how Ronald Koeman managed to stay on the pitch. He could [should – Ed] have been sent-off for fouling David Platt. Instead he scored for Holland. But I also remember this match for the crazy press conference 24 hours earlier. I have seen some verbal fights between managers and reporters, but all my Dutch colleagues fell off their chairs when they attended the major confrontation between Graham Taylor and the English press in the Novotel. I still have to laugh now, when I think about Taylor shouting at Rob Shepherd: “Come on, Rob, don’t be silly! What is up with you English lot of the press?’’

The one moment in football you would put on a DVD?
George Best playing in that same stadium in 1976 in a World Cup qualifier. He ran the show against a team with Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Wim Jansen, Arie Haan etc. That same Dutch team went on to play in the 1978 World Cup final in Argentina, but they were held to a draw (2-2) in Rotterdam that night. I was a young kid, at the match with my dad, and all I can remember is watching George Best for 90 minutes. It was like watching Jesus in football boots. Absolute magic.

Best stadium?
I hate to say this as Dutchman, but it has to be the Allianz Arena of Bayern Munich. A prime example of the modern football arena. At last year’s European Championship the newly-built Warsaw national stadium was almost as impressive. Not all football reporters visited that stadium during the Euro’s but I was there for Poland v Russia and it gave me shivers down my back. Incredible atmosphere. I have been all over the world in football stadiums for 32 years now, but this stadium is brilliant.

…and the worst?
In that same European Championship the stadium of Kiev for the final. Everyone needed binoculars to see the players.

Your personal new-tech disaster?
Leaving my phone with 1,200 contacts in football in a Glasgow taxi. And no back up on the computer. I still blame Keith Jackson (Daily Record) for that. He took me to that Glasgow pub five hours earlier…

Biggest mistake?
Accepting a lift from Paul Smith (Match magazine at the time) in Rome during the World Cup in 1990. He had hired a nice car and during the first 10 minutes, trying to get out of the city of Rome, he shouted at every Italian man and woman that they did not understand the rules of traffic. It did not quite occur to him that their way of driving around the Collosseum was slightly different from the English on the left side of the road. We ploughed into a car on the next cross road and we never did get to Italian training camp that day. We have laughed about that many times since.

Have you ever been mistaken for anyone else?
Yes, Lance Armstrong. Until they heard my strange, English Leicester accent. Then they realised I was not American. I have been married to Kathy from Leicester and used to live round the corner to Gary Lineker in the early eighties.

Most media friendly manager?
In Holland Ronald Koeman (Feyenoord) and Frank de Boer (Ajax). They are both a breath of fresh air. Open and honest all the time. They don’t duck any questions and are always available for the media. In Britain it has to be Terry Yorath. I had never met him, went to meet him in Wales when Holland were going to play his team. We spent hours talking about the game. These days a manager does not give you that much time when he does not know you.’’

Best ever player?
Johan Cruyff. I have loved every match I have seen of him in my life.

Best ever teams (club and international)?
The Holland team that played total football in 1974 and lost the World Cup final against West Germany. At club level the AC Milan team with Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Ancelotti etc. in 1987.

Best pre-match grub?
Arsenal. I can’t believe the food they supply there for journalists. It’s similar for most Barclays Premier League clubs. In Holland all we get is a sausage roll and a cookie with a cup of tea. English clubs seem to spoil reporters with food, but access to players is really, really hard. In Holland it is the other way round. The food is terrible, but the working conditions at games are terrific. We can talk to every player and manager. It might be a good idea to spend less money on all these hot dinners in the Barclays Premier League and supply a few more players in the mixed zone.

Best meal had on your travels?
In a Pizzeria in Napoli at the 1990 World Cup finals, but only because of the conversation with two other Dutch journo’s and Paul Smith again. It was so hilarious, I wet myself that night. This Dutch TV commentator was talking about having to dig through the snow in Calgary. He had been to the Winter Olympics earlier. As we had just spent two weeks in Cagliari with England and Ireland on Sardinia, where Jack Charlton pronounced the city all the time as Calgary, Paul got funny with the Dutch commentator. He said: “Are you taking the mickey? Snow in Calgary? It was 100 Fahrenheit there. ‘’ The Dutch guy then went mental too. It took five minutes before they realised they were talking about two entirely different cities.

…and the worst?
A BBQ with Holland in Brazil. The meat had been on display outside in the garden of the hotel for hours. I would not touch it. The players did and so did many Dutch journalists as they would, with it being free. Everyone spent the next 48 hours on toilets and in bathrooms. The players had to be substituted on the pitch for having the runs in the game the next day.

Best hotel stayed in?
Sopwell House! There is not a more comfortable and real English hotel which breathes football than this place in St. Albans. Arsenal chief scout Steve Rowley recommended it many years ago for the sausages at breakfast. I love staying there.

…and the worst?
Some awful hotel in Belarus. I slept in my clothes, on top of the bed. But I remember it more because I had to pay for toilet paper.

Favourite football writer?
Jonathan Northcroft of The Sunday Times. Wish I had the space he has for his interviews, but he does fill it with great stories.

Favourite radio/TV commentator?
Mark Pougatch. Just so multi-talented.

If you could introduce one change to improve PR between football clubs and football writers in England what would it be?
I would invite press officers [of English clubs] to attend one Dutch league match with the mixed zone structure afterwards we enjoy in Holland.

One sporting event outside football you would love to experience?
The World Championship naked women water skiing.

Last book read?
Tony Adams’ autobiography Addicted. I read it years ago and have just read it again. Can’t think of a former footballer who has developed into such a great person as Tony. Can’t think of a player these days with so much character in the game either. A natural leader, honest, fantastic professional and Arsenal should have him on board in any kind of technical role.

Favourite current TV programme?
The Voice on the BBC. I love music, and in my opinion Britain produces more good singers than any other country in the world. Well, the history of pop music proves that, doesn’t it?

Your most prized football memorabilia?
I give everything away that I receive from players or managers to kids and friends. I love writing about football, I absolutely love my job, but I don’t care about material things or fans’ stuff.

Advice to anyone coming into the football media world?
Don’t be a fan of anyone because you’ll just be disappointed when you know what happens behind the scenes in football. More than 90 per cent of people in the game are driven by money. Players, managers, agents. That is my only bitterness about the job.

Marcel van der Kraan writes for De Telegraaf in Holland. He is a regular contributor to talkSPORT.

Next week’s Q&A visits MARK GLEESON in Cape Town who talks about [Arsene Wenger look away now] eating rats.