| No. |
Who |
Details |
| 1 |
George Best on Wogan |
Of course it's tragic to see a man in the grip of alcoholism making a fool of himself on
national television. But it was also hugely entertaining. Wogan: "What do you like doing?"
Best: "Screwing". At 7pm! Good old George. Best took a silly amount of criticism after the
event from sanctimonious pundits, but the real culprits were the BBC who knowingly put a
completely inebriated man on a live chat show.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 2 |
Keegan loses it and loves it |
Geordies imploding, Fergie's mind games, emotional Kev, Richard Keys' gentle questioning.
Play clip. Sky's equivalent of the elephant crapping on the Blue Peter studio floor or
Richard Whiteley being bitten by THAT ferret. Car crash TV at its best and is there a
third rate comedian or tabloid editor who hasn't commented on it during some lame clips
show? We think not.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 3 |
Foulmouthed, sinister Walter Smith |
Walter Smith has rightly got a reputation as one of football's decent men. At least until he
ran out on Scotland. Still this interview should be required viewing for anyone who doesn't
care for Rangers. In it Smith is absolutely poisonous. I know football management is a
stressful business but there was no excuse for the abject rudeness he subjected his
interviewer to. Admittedly the interviewer is Chick Young, who is a standing joke among most
football supporters in Scotland. Watch the clip and judge for yourself.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 4 |
Jim McLean punches John Barnes! |
Yes, that John Barnes. The one who reports for BBC Scotland. Not the former Footballer of the
Year. Anyhow, McLean is a legendary but explosive figure in Scottish football. A former
manager of Dundee United, he used his eye for a player and mental toughness to fashion a
team that nearly took the European Cup to Tayside in 1984. As chairman of the club though
he fell well short of his managerial standards. The game was moving on and old school
bullying was only going to get him so far. Still, shortly before he resigned as chairman he
managed to punch a reporter live on television. Which was nice.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 5 |
Fergie v Geoff Shreeves |
In March 2007 Fergie managed to get riled by the usually tame interviewer Geoff Shreeves.
Shreeves had asked Christiano Ronaldo about the controversial penalty he had won at
Middlesbrough's expense in a cup match. Sir Alex wasn't happy and let rip with his foul
mouthed Glaswegian invective. Shreeves to his enormous credit refused to be intimidated after
being called a "Fucking Bastard". He told Ferguson to conduct the interview in a professional
manner, which sparked Sir Alex off again. Sadly no one at Sky has ever leaked this clip to
the outside world or even YouTube so we'll have to settle for the clip of him saying
"Bollocks", again to his nemesis, the man he's had more aggro off than Wenger - Geoff Shreeves.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 6 |
Prawn Free |
Roy Keane is usually good value when his gives interviews. Outspoken is the modus operandi
for our Roy and he didn't disappoint back in 2000 when he laid into the corporate troughers
at Old Trafford. His words are worth repeating at length. "At home they have a few drinks
and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch.
I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell 'football', never mind
understand it." The 'prawn sandwich brigade' is now embedded in football's lexicon as the
definitive term for corporate fans. Keane has ranted on a range of subjects from players
wife's shopping habits, to Mick McCarthy's suitability as a manager, through to whether
Diff'rent Strokes was better than The Cosby Show. There must be an MD Top 10 in there
somewhere...
|
| 7 |
Glenn Hoddle on reincarnation. Come again? |
Glenn Hoddle's strange views on life after death were the final straw for FA bosses back in
early 1999. His main blunder was to suggest that disabled people had done something bad in a
previous life and their disability was the consequence. "I never said them fings".
Hoddle's defence of his remarks in an interview to the Times' Matt Dickinson was not especially
watertight. Especially when Dickinson had them all on tape. Yet a certain amount of sympathy
has to be extended to Hoddle. Having ga-ga views on religion is unlikely to hinder the
skills required to coach a football team. Perhaps the truth was that Hoddle's stupid book, which
was far too explicit about the 1998 World Cup, had lost him the dressing room. This interview
was simply the excuse the FA was looking for. Tony Blair waded into the debate, suggesting
he should be sacked, which didn't exactly help. We couldn't be bothered to reprint the full
article, but as a consolation check out this great clip of his classic pop hit 'Diamond Lights'
on Top of the Pops.
Click here to watch it.
|
| 8 |
Eduard Malofeev at Hearts. |
Malofeev is a highly respected and experienced coach who has managed the Russian national team.
Yet he was ringmaster for a fortnight or so at the Romanov Travelling Circus, or what was used
to be called Heart of Midlothian Football Club. In an absolutely comical radio interview with
the BBC, conducted via an interpreter, he managed to convey little more than a Pythonesque
inability to make any sense. A bravura performance of good old fashioned Soviet double speak.
Click here to hear it.
|
| 9 |
Ronnie Moore 'gets' the Ipswich job |
Back in October 2002 Ronnie Moore was the highly rated manager of Rotherham. He had performed
near miracles on a tight budget to get Rotherham into football's second tier and keep them there.
But with a small, ageing ground and little financial support he had taken then as far as he could
go. When he was told by Radio Sheffield that he was to be offered the vacant Ipswich manager's
job, he didn't hang about. He enthusiastically threw his hat into the ring stating that he would
basically jump at the chance. Unfortunately, there was a hitch. The 'approach' from Ipswich was
nothing more than a cruel hoax caller. Moore had basically pledged his future, live on radio,
to another club that didn't actually want him. Though he continued to give everything for the
Millers, his relationship with the club possibly never truly recovered and he left the club
in January 2005 after 8 years of loyal service.
|
| 10 |
Fat Freddy the Rickshaw Boy |
Newcastle's former chairman, the delightful Freddie Shepherd, dropped his own clanger when he
was 'interviewed' by some Liverpool supporters in the summer of 2007. With speculation rising
that Owen was to be sold for a figure determined by a contract clause, Freddie was caught with
his pants down. Though thankfully, not literally, unlike the poor sod from the News of the World
who spent an afternoon in his company, with him wearing little more than a nappy during a sting
in the 1990s. Asked by the Scousers if they could have Owen back for £9m, Shepherd replied
from his car that he would "fookin carry him back" for that. Before of course blaming Owen's agent
and disappearing off for his next lesson at Lady Cumberland's Finishing School for Splendid
Young Fellows (Jarrow branch).
Click here to watch it.
|
The anodyne post match interview is a staple of modern football coverage.
But occasionally, it all goes horribly wrong for somebody which means it is going horribly
right for us supporters. Below is a veritable feast of football's Parky v Emu moments...
