Four Four Two

March 2003

The unstoppable Newcastle goal machine on European frustration, the Mags' mountain to climb, hero worship by Wayne Rooney and hanging up his boots.

Interview Jon Bennett

Newcastle have lost their two second group phase games so far, you have strikers out through suspension, and your chances of qualifying are being written off. We've been here before haven't we ?
We certainly have, but I think it'll be tougher this time because of the better opposition. We have to win one of our next two, minimum we have to come away with four points if we want to qualify. That'll be tough in its own right because Leverkusen won't give us anything. We've given ourselves another mountain to climb but we've climbed one, why not climb another ?

You think you can do it and still qualify ?
Yeah. If not, why turn up ? that's certainly not the belief in our team or our football club.

What was your aim going into this tournament ? Would reaching the second group phase have been an achievement ?
Second round is an achievement. I don't think there's any doubt about that, especially after the first three games with no points and no goals. It was a great achievement to get there and I think we deserve a lot of credit for doing it. We're the first side to have lost our first three and qualified - there's great determination in this side, there really is.

In the first round Craig Bellamy was suspended after the first match in Kyiv for head-butting. It was even more damaging after the first game of this round because he was sent off for another off-the-ball incident and you were suspended after the FIFA panel adjudged you'd elbowed Cannavaro. What was your view of the decision ?
I either stood there and be held or I tried to get free and I tried to get free. I was disappointed and devastated when I got the two game ban and I know Craig was, but you have to take it on the chin and get on with it even though it's bitterly disappointing to be missing out on such big games.

What's your view of the continental style of defending? Are the clichés about them deliberately setting out to wind up English strikers true?
I'm a big admirer of their defending because they can get away with it. I'm not so sure they'd get away with it in this country the way they mark you, because they don't look at the ball, they just hold you. If you can get away with that, great, well done, because that defending is an art. I've no complaints. They're brought up to do it that way and they do it very well.

Overall, has the Champions League been a bogey competition for you?
Yeah, I've had ups and downs. Blackburn did under-achieve in Europe. We qualified and were looking for a glamorous draw like Newcastle have now and had in the first round. We ended up with Legia Warsaw, Spartak Moscow and Rosenborg. To be honest it didn't excite the Blackburn crowd because we couldn't fill the ground for all our home games and it was all a bit of a damp squib. It wasn't a great experience.

This time around things started badly but turned around in the last minute at Feyenoord. How does that rate in the experiences in your career?
It was a great dressing room to be in. It wasn't the best I've ever had because that's when great things happen, like walking out as England captain, winning the Premier League or scoring my first goal here at Newcastle. But it was a good experience and a lovely dressing room to be in, particularly after all the hard work we'd put in.

You haven't yet scored in open playing the full Champions League. You must be looking forward to that.
[Rather sternly] I'd happily take 30 penalties in a year, not a problem to me. A goal's a goal as far as I'm concerned. You're under a lot more pressure taking penalties than having a chance from five or six yards.

Who do you think is going to win it ?
Before it started I said Real Madrid, but they've been going through a bad patch. I'll stick my neck out and go for them. They've got the players and the experience. I think they'll pull through.

In 1997 you said "silverware and coming first is all that matters, second place is nothing" ...
Correct.

How do you feel about that in view of the fact that Newcastle have won nothing ?
Well, I'm as disappointed as anyone because that was one of the reasons I came up here, to win silverware. The big achievements are silverware. I still say it now - you might as well come last as come second. But I've no regrets about coming here. It's been everything I hoped for and more playing for Newcastle. The only - and it's a big only - thing that's missing is the silverware. Everything else has been fantastic. You have to be happy in life and I've certainly been that. My biggest regrets are my serious injuries. I've had two at Newcastle, they kept me out a year and that was a long time and they were very serious.

At the end of your game against Everton Wayne Rooney ran across the pitch to swap shirts with you. How does it feel to be an elder statesman?
[Laughs] Well I know how he felt because I felt that way when I got into the game. I'd got a call actually in the week from Steve Watson (former Newcastle colleague) a big friend of mine who's at Everton with him, and he'd asked if Wayne could have my shirt, so I wasn't going to swap with anyone else because I knew he wanted it.

A lot has been said about this being your best season personally for a while. Do you think that's true?
I always leave that to others to say. I never say how well or how badly I'm doing. I will say I'm enjoying it as much as I ever have.

Are you doing well because you've learned to change your game to accommodate your age and injuries?
I've adapted my game, I've had to because of the injuries and the way football's changed since I started. How have I changed since I started? Well it's not very often you see me running into corners nowadays like I used to. I leave that to the young kids in our team now. It's great to have so many young legs around me.

You've got 18 months of the current contract to go, which many people thought would be your last. There has been talk of you extending it now...
Not from me there hasn't. I was asked would I fancy another year when my contract's up and I said I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'll get this season finished and we'll see then whether I can tell you whether I can do another two years or another year after that. I don't know. I've got the season and another year left and whether there's another year left in me, I don't know. I don't know how long I can play on.

Are you surprised at how good you're feeling?
No, because that was one of the reasons why I retired from England, to feel the benefit of the way I'm feeling now

How do you feel about retirement?
I don't think I'll ever retire as such. I'll always be involved in the game in some capacity, whether on the inside of the game or the outside. I'll never be away from it.