Will it be an emotional day on Sunday for your last game?
Yeah, I think the major one, of course, was leaving [Crystal Palace]. I mean, every time you leave a job, there’s an element of emotion because you get sort of attached to the people you’re working with. And they’re the players, I must say, they’ve not let me down at all in their training sessions and what they’ve tried to do in the game, so I’ve still got a lot of affection for them. So in that respect to be emotional, but in the same way, as when leaving Palace, it’s a decision that’s been thought out well in advance. I think it’s worse in a way if you make a sudden decision. I’ve known all along that my last game, probably as a manager in football, is going to be on the 22nd of May. Just as I thought I knew, when I left Palace, that it was going to be the last day there. So I’ve got to be careful with everything I say. Because if I ever do turn up somewhere again, it’s bit like Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall at the moment, I keep pitching up somewhere, but who knows, if it’ll happen again.
Is there a chance you might not end up retiring?
Well, I can always talk my way out of it. Well, really and truly, you’ve got to answer the questions you’re given as honestly as you possibly can. And at this moment in time – and I’ve joked, you know, my CV is not going to be sent around to clubs looking for a manager – but my CV wasn’t sent to Watford. They came to me and found me and offered me this chance to work in this period of time in the attempt to keep their Premier League status. I’m very disappointed, of course, I didn’t work out. But it doesn’t alter the fact that I always knew that whatever happened, on the 22nd of May, I was going to free myself from the burdens and the responsibilities of being a Premier League manager. But you never know quite what’s going to come your way. And all the time I remain healthy and fit enough to do jobs, if they get offered to me, I suppose I have to consider them. But I don’t anticipate any.
Will you miss management after a bit though?
No, that’s absolutely right, there’s no doubt about that. And I sort of attuned myself mentally, last summer, when I was leaving Crystal Palace to just that. You know, you’re going to miss it. It’s going to be tough for you. You’re going to have days where you get up and think: ‘Oh, I wish I was back on the training ground, especially when the sun is shining and i’s nice and warm’. It’s a bit easier on the days you wake up and it’s pouring with rain and freezing cold. But you’re right, I will miss it. Of course I will. But that was going to happen at any stage in my life. And the good thing is the older I’ve got the more I’m able to sort of condition my mind into doing what I think is the right thing.
How important is it that Watford finish the season with a good performance and hopefully a result?
Yeah, it’s even more important after the real disappointment or debacle almost last Sunday when really and truly, after two very good team performances – albeit a team that was weakened by the loss of many players – suddenly went out and conceded five goals. The way we conceded was in the worst possible manner, the type of manner that gives all managers and coaches a nightmare. They happen those errors from time to time but you don’t want to see them piled up in one game. And that led to a heavy defeat. So I think the players will have to work hard mentally themselves to get over that period if you like, or a game, because it was a game which came after too reasonable ones, good ones even. And they’re playing Chelsea, so it’s a great opportunity for them to get out and show that we’re disappointed that we didn’t give our home fans the type of performance that they wanted to see from us, but we will try to give it to them in this away game.
Dean Smith has already made it clear he doesn’t want Norwich to finish bottom. How important is it that Watford don’t finish there?
Yeah, I mean it’s money isn’t it, for the club? That’s the important thing. I’ve got to say that the final analysis people, don’t remember those things. When you are a few years down the road, people will remember you’ve been relegated, but they don’t remember the ins and outs – whether you’ve been clearly relegated, or whether like West Ham once you get relegated on goal difference. You know, relegation is relegation. Teams that come up come up, whether they come up through the playoffs or whether they come up in first or second. But we don’t want to finish bottom, we would like to finish second the bottom. So like Dean Smith, we will be pushing our players to give that sort of performance.
Mike Dean is retiring too, what are your thoughts on him?
I think he’s been one of the best referees the Premier League have had, without a shadow of a doubt. I think he always does his job properly. I’ve always enjoyed meeting with Mike and having him referee our games because I know that he’s going to do it honestly, with great integrity. And he’s not going to be flustered or too much influenced by a crowd or what the other team are whispering in his ear. I’m sorry for the Premier League to see him go. They are losing a top class referee, and top class referees they don’t grow on trees. If you’ve got one, you really want to look after him. But I think he will do other things. I actually had a chance to speak to him briefly before the Everton game – because he refereed our game just a couple of games back – and he was saying that he thinks it’s the time for him to remove himself from the active part, the physical part, the pressure part, but I’m pretty certainly going to play a very big role in the Premier League and the education of referees, etc.
There seems to have been an upsurge in fans running off to pitches and causing trouble. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, my thought basically is the same as any right minded person’s thought would be. The spectators are there to be entertained and you don’t rush up in a theatre to the people on stage. If you don’t like the play, or you love the play, you still stay in your seat and applaud it or boo it. They’ve always had that right, spectators. It’s really more, what you can do about it. I think most clubs they take the policing and the stewardship of matches very, very seriously. But I don’t know, I’ve not been involved with that aspect of football. But it can’t be easy to get enough stewards or enough policemen. Furthermore, we’re talking about some pretty tough characters flying onto the pitch and maybe the people who are stewarding it couldn’t even deal with them if they wanted to. It brings the game down in a way. I often think when these things happen, if I wasn’t at all interested in football, if I had total other interests, and I’m watching this and people are saying this is what happens at a football match, I’m probably saying: Well I don’t want anything to do with that. It is just hooligans doing those things. And the two things have happened recently in particular, Billy Sharp, that is unbelievable. But if you allow people to call on the field and get back close to players, one can’t be surprised when it does happen.
And sympathy for Patrick Vieira too?
I mean, everyone knows Patrick and the type of man he is. I mean, a guy who doesn’t put a foot wrong and everything he does is well thought out, he’s got great composure. For him to have to take the measures he took, he must have been provoked in a particularly bad way. Because everyone’s a human being number. I’m afraid there are moments, however composed you are, however intelligent you are, however determined you are to keep your dignity and your integrity, I’m afraid there is a tipping point. Obviously, on this occasion, they found the tipping point. So my sympathy is absolutely 100 percent with him. I hope they find the people who were confronting him, and maybe the guy who took a minor kick will get something far worse.
Why do you think fans are behaving so poorly?
They have always come on to the pitch, especially at the end of seasons. So that is nothing new. I suppose what’s new is the point you’re referring to, alluding to here. Now they don’t just come on the pitch, they see confrontation and even go as far as physically assaulting someone. I don’t know why that should be the case. And it certainly hasn’t anything to do with the game of football itself. But it will obviously have to be looked at from a social aspect. You know, why are we getting to a stage where fans feel [like that]? One of the things they aren’t allowed to do, or perhaps even should do, is go on and abuse and assault the opposing team. That is very concerning.
You’ve managed all around the world, is it something that you’ve you’ve come across before?
Oh yeah, the Italians. A couple of people here are either Italians, or worked in Italy, they like myself know that the fans were volatile over there. And you didn’t want to get yourself caught up either the training ground when they were coming to berate you, or at a game when they were coming to try and make life difficult for you. And in fact, only the other day one of the guys here was telling me about the time they weren’t allowed to leave the stadium because of the fans outside. I suddenly remembered that time it happened to me as well. So it provoked my memory. So we’re not the only ones. But does that make things any better? Does that make things any easier? You know, we applaud the emotion of the fans. We applaud their unbelievable interest in the game and we know how much the game means to them. And we’re very much aware of that when we’re playing. We know that when we’re not doing the job we hoped we could do, we are letting them all down and making their days pretty miserable. So that’s always been the case. But it’s got in some way to be stopped from going over the top – as it is at the moment. Because otherwise we’re going to go back to that stage we had 20, 30 years ago when people were building barriers. And certainly, in Italy there were many pitches with very big barriers, and you couldn’t have gotten to the field even if you’d wanted to. That’s a pity, I think, because what I like about English football is that closeness to the fans. I like the fact that they’re not up in the gods or they’re not behind bars, they’re actually able to watch the game. This type of thing could bring back the old days, and that would be a shame.
What is it about the Premier League that makes you keep wanting to come back again and again?
Well, the quality of it. That’s the important thing. And if you’re going to work in football and you’ve worked in football a long time, what’s going to keep you going is working with the quality that one finds in the Premier League, hopefully the quality you’ve got in your squad. But certainly the quality you’re going to come up against, because you’ve got to come up against some of the best players and the best coaches and managers in the world. So that’s the motivating factor, I think. Other than the obvious motivating factor that, you know, if you’re a patient of football person like I am and take great stock or place great stock on being a professional football manager, there’s always that element too which brings you back time and time again. If you wanted a little bit easier in terms of your life, in that regard, you might stay away from the Premier League, because unless you are with one of the top teams, you always run the risk that you’re going to lose a lot more games and you win.
So if it’s not management in the future, might there be other footballing adventures for you?
I don’t know. I mean, that’s the thing where one does have to be careful. I mean, I don’t want to leave and say this is my last Premier League game. And, you know, I’m going to move away from the coaching and management, and then completely shut the door on anything that might come my way. You know, there are other jobs, which might allow me to do the job on a much less than a daily nine to five basis. National teams always appealed to me. I like working with a national team. Maybe a national team somewhere will ask me to come and spend some time with them. And I might think: oh, that’s good. I’d like to do that. But again, it would have to come out of the blue like this came out in the blue. And then I’d have to think very carefully, if it is a serious offer: Well, are you prepared to go back in? Are you prepared to give it your all? Like Ray Lewington and I have definitely done here. I mean, that’s one thing that, despite the disappointment that we weren’t able to do what the club wanted us to do, it certainly wasn’t because we gave anything other than our all, and anyone from Palace or Fulham or West Brom who’d have been watching this work here, they would have remembered us, saying: ‘Well, that’s exactly what we did’.
Can a positive result against Chelsea have some benefit through the summer as the club looked to move forward?
I think from the club’s point of view, a positive result would be worth its weight in gold. Especially at Chelsea because you know, we’re not the bookies’ favourite to win that match. So if a group of players – many of whom were going to be here next year – could go to Chelsea and play well and get a result. And I thought we were on that track after getting relegated. You know, the match we played at Crystal Palace and the match we played against Everton, I thought we were actually on that track of finishing reasonably well with a bit of optimism for next year. Despite doing that, whilst knowing were relegated. I’m afraid the last result of course has plummeted the morale or made the morale plummet once again. So if we could just find a way to get a good performance, and hopefully, even better, a good result that will be awfully good for the team going forward. And of course, for Ray and I, it would also not mean that our last match that we watch with Watford is one where we virtually hand it to our opponents on a plate because we made so many bad errors. That’s not like us. It happens in football, we all know that. Those five goals and the five errors that led up to the goals [against Leicester] normally, they’d be spread out over a lot more matches than one.
