Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former footballer and England manager who guided the team to World Cup semi-finals and two Euros finals, and reshaped national team culture.
On the island
Eight records
This is Bruce Hornsby and the Range, the way it is. Anybody of my age... I love the record. I do like piano as a background.
When I was growing up, one of the house moves we had... I particularly like Rainy Days and Mondays. That would be my favourite of their track.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
This is a track that I went on a football tour... Tears for Fears, the album was Songs from the Big Chair. Everybody wants to rule the world... it sticks with me when I hear these tracks.
We talked a little bit about Crystal Palace... So it's The Whole of the Moon by the Water Boys... we all know the words so we're all going to join in...
I mean I loved the whole Joshua Tree album but I've chosen one and I actually like the version with Mary J. Blige in it as well and I like the message in it of basically we've got to find a way to get on and live together.
Shape of View, I think, is my favourite track of his. And I've gone for the version with Stormsey because I think he's another amazing British artist.
Another amazing British artist who I got to see in one of those nights with, so Adele, and the track I've chosen is someone like you. And I kept playing it towards the end of the last Euros because I knew I was going to be leaving.
ExperienceFavourite
We pieced together a montage for our players... the music that played was Ludovico Ainaudi... I just find it stirring and quite often on the way to games I would have had this playing in my earphones on.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:07I wonder what that feels like when you put that [England shirt] on for the first time?
Oh, incredible. It's not just what it means to you, but there are all the people that have worked with you along the way... I remember it was in my room, went to my room at Burnham Beaches, put the training kit on, and then just looked at it in the mirror, looked at the badge, and yeah, it was quite a surreal moment.
Presenter asks
3:07Do you have a favourite England memory as a coach?
Well definitely beating Denmark in the semi-final at Wembley... just that feeling and that understanding that this was going to be the first final for 55 years and that we were creating another bit of history... amazing thing to experience really.
Presenter asks
13:12How did you perform in the classroom [at school]?
Not bad. I mean I've got [O] levels, so and I used to love things like history, geography. I wasn't so great at math, sciences, but humanities I really enjoyed. I was determined, so you know, if ever there were setbacks... I always wanted to prove people wrong.
The keepsakes
The book
Steve Peters
The book that had the biggest impact on me, and actually little book club that I'm part of, Steve Peters wrote a book called The Chimp Paradox, and he basically explains how the brain works. So he was the psychologist that worked with British cycling and had such a big impact on some of the Olympians. And I just thought it was a brilliantly simple way of explaining why we react in the way we do at certain moments. And it definitely helped me to deal with other people and their little outbursts.
The luxury
I've also become a bit of a coffee snob. So I, some sort of, you know, a coffee machine where actually you can get to that moment mid-morning where you've done your chores, whatever they would be on the island. A bit of whittling fishing. Just sit back and a little shot of caffeine. But now I have to have it with like some sort of frothy milk.
Presenter asks
24:24What are your memories of that [Euro 96 semi-final penalty] match?
Well, that we played well during the game... I just remember Brian Robson coming to me in the gap at the end of the game saying, you know, if the penalties goes to number six, are you happy to take a penalty? And because I'd been a captain all my life and... had a sense of responsibility, you know, yeah, no problem. But I hadn't, I'd only taken one previously and that was at Palace and the keeper had saved it... I wasn't able to execute a skill under pressure. That's what it boiled down to.
Presenter asks
34:38What were you hoping to achieve by writing [the Dear England letter]?
It was a consequence of an interview I gave where I was asked about my feelings for being English... I felt it was an important message for young people in our country, people of all communities, because the shirt is about the whole of our country and about every community and I think we started to connect more communities to the England team than had been the case in the past.
Presenter asks
37:35How often do you think back to past games? What about the more recent losses?
I suppose too. Yeah, there are moments where you see pictures or you see video montages and but also that chapter in my life is closed now. You know, it will always live with me. There'll always be part of it that is hard to give up... I've been the man in that seat and I would never want to be in the way and making performance for them more difficult.
“I remember it was in my room, went to my room at Burnham Beaches, put the training kit on, and then just looked at it in the mirror, looked at the badge, and yeah, it was quite a surreal moment.”
“Generally speaking I'm a bit more of an introvert. I like my own space but I got used to having to make connections with people and I think when I went and played football and joined new teams and moved clubs I wasn't worried about just sticking with one or two friends. I was able to cross over dressing rooms and definitely as a captain that helped me to sort of connect teams together I think.”
“I wasn't able to execute a skill under pressure. That's what it boiled down to.”
“I struggled to move on from it. In those days, you didn't have a team of psychologists. I just remember going home from the tournament and all the media are parked on our driveway... for two days, almost frozen because we were sat in the house... there was no sort of aftercare or support because nobody had thought about it in those days, really. You know, once you've been through that professionally, you're probably going to never going to have to face anything as tough as that again. So that then does give you confidence later in your life.”
“the shirt is about the whole of our country and about every community and I think we started to connect more communities to the England team than had been the case in the past.”