What a terrific read this is.............
Steve Perryman exclusive interview as he retires from 50 years in football
And amen to this......................
“And I won’t miss this modern blight of ‘game management’, which I detest – it’s one of the worst things I’ve witnessed in football.
“People pay hard-earned money to watch matches, and they are being cheated by ways of keeping the ball out of play".
“I’m talking about managers who tell the ballboys not to give the ball back so quickly when their teams are winning, goalkeepers taking a minute over every goal kick, players rolling around feigning injury, substitutions taking forever. If football has come to all that, you count me out.”
And for those who had any fears about him not spending time at The Lane:
With time on his hands, Perryman will be a more frequent visitor to his spiritual home in N17.
He said: “I’m going to attend more Tottenham games – I want to go back home where I feel truly respected because I like the north London opinion on football. We’re not all on the same side in that part of the world, but we are on the same wavelength.
“Although I’m a west London boy by birth, that’s why I regard north London as home: They don’t give you any bull****, they tell you how it is and they know if you’re on it, and I was on it at Tottenham.
“Without blowing my own trumpet, I always felt that these were my people and I was representing them on the pitch.
He is my only football hero. I feel very lucky to have this man as our Captain, not someone who you just adore as a footballer, who then says all the right things then fucks off somewhere leaving his words and actions meaningless. This is a man you could (can) count on, someone with integrity and honesty. For me as a kid he was the man you wanted to be when you grew up.
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