Inside the Career of Gary’s Football Agent | Jon Holmes Interview | Episode 61

How do we take some of the power away from agents in the world of football? Why are there so many American takeovers of English clubs? What were Brian Clough’s secret negotiating techniques?

Gary, Alan and Micah speak to Jon Holmes, Gary’s agent of 45 years, to have an in-depth look at the life of a football agent.
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00:00 – Intro
01:41 – How Jon Became An Agent
04:45 – Has Gary Changed?
08:22 – Meeting Brian Clough
14:14 – Agents Over The Years
19:25 – Saving Leicester From Administration
21:51 – US Ownership
29:00 – Jon Holmes Method Of Being An Agent
36:00 – What’s Next?

Was there was there anyone any player that you wanted to sign but you couldn’t sign that that I couldn’t sign yeah or you didn’t sign ien sh yeah turn me down twice the past what’s happened to him are you Alex feron in Disguise welcome to the resy football

With me gica Mich Richards and Alan sheir on today’s episode we have a special guest uh as we are close to the transfer window we thought we would get an agent in but not any old football agent but a very old football agent uh one of the first ever to play his trade

And someone who has been a huge part of my life for 45 years my agent John Holmes he’s looked after Peter schil and Tony Woodcock John Barnes and numerous others as well as big stars from other sports he’s been the chairman of Leicester city uh being involved in the

Administration of sport he’s also got his own podcast one of my very favorites actually uh it’s called football ruined my life with John Patty barklay and Colin Schindler and it’s a pod that looks at football when it didn’t exist a bygone pre- Premier League era I highly

Recommend it um particularly those of a um a certain age um who like to reminisce and and also for young people that like to know about old football and there are a lot of people uh like that um good morning John welcome good morning this is a first for us we’ve 45

Years together and I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m interviewing you this is a bit weird but mik and Allan I’ll jump in as well start by telling us how she get involved in being an agent particularly back then because it wasn’t really a thing no people thought I was completely B me I

Was a big fan of Arnold Palmer and I learned a bit about Arnold Palmer and how he sort of took golf from being uh a minority sport of the uh English speaking Nations around the world and uh that was the master plan of a man called Mark mccormac who virtually invented the

Idea of an agent he virtually invented worldwide the idea that Sportsman could be uh ex exploited and grown into a brand Arnold Palmer became a brand and I thought this sounds a lot better than working to me I think I’ll have a go at this so I convinced the businessman in

Leicester that this was a really good idea and he should back me and he said okay I’ll teach you about money and U investing money as a sort of sideline in you try and make a business out of this and that’s how it started how did you

Get a player how did you get your first client that was a person called Peter shilon I you probably know wasn’t a bad one to have wasn’t it the first one it wasn’t blessing wonderful bloke if I do Ascend to the Pearly Gates and anyone

And you know s Peter comes out and say well what have you done I say I looked after shil for 21 years and kept him out the cour most of the time and I think that was pretty good he was a challenge but of course Peter was and

One of my favorite people he was a fantastic goalkeeper whatever anybody tells you about modern goalkeepers schilz was extraordinary goalkeeper he made saves that I’ve never seen anyone else he won games Brian kff used to say he was the difference between a one- nil defeat and a one- nil Victory um he

Started and then I got someone who Gary and I both know called David go um who I’ve been looking after uh reasonably eventfully uh for more than 40 years and then then of course famously this young lad wandered into my office with a minder uh didn’t say a lot just grunted

A bit and smiled a bit and sort of went okay yeah yeah um and that was someone you know quite well well Gary really yeah me yeah me yeah I was shy John I was shy he was shy he was a very very shy chat with no controversial opinions at all you know

So nothing’s changed no he never caused any political waves and um I don’t I I mean he thought the only parties worth going to were party you know political parties weren’t into it is’s more interested in other kinds of parties but there we are I think you’re confusing me for

Micah John if I could take you back you mentioned looking after Gary from a young age but have you seen a difference within his character going from footballer to broadcaster has he become more confident or is he always been a shy type of guy smell the I’ll tell you

Yes he was shy um and the one thing he was a pretty rubbish footballer Micah I can I watched his first game it was a freezing uh New Year’s Day at Leicester he played on the right wing he spent the first half hour falling over and I said to my father he’s bloody

Hopeless where the hell have we got him you ever tried carrying Those Years Around you’d over as well by the way yeah but the thing was with Gary Micah that he did he was actually quite a good learner and I did notice that if you said something to him or he met

Someone who clearly knew something about something what you find was about two hours later he was quoting what the person had told him as though it was him that had thought of it so he was a very quick learner respect yeah um we did have this conversation quite famously I

Can actually remember where it was it was in the I think it was at the pub at Great Glenn Gary and I said to you one day what would you have done if you hadn’t been a footballer and because I knew he was a bit of a smartass he just

Said I’d have been a cricketer typical so but true I said okay what if I broken both your legs and he said well I’d like to have been a a journalist Sports journalist but I can’t do that now so I said why so he said because I’ve not got

The training and I said listen I’ve been a journalist the only training is the training you’re given first day how to fiddle your expenses that’s it don’t worry about it you can you can ask any journalist of my sort of age that’s what they were T so and we sort of devised a

Bit of a plan didn’t we Gary we said you know when you’re a sportsman you get loads of opportunities to be in interviewed take everyone and listen to them and watch them back see what you know you’ll know was that good was that bad was that funny was that not funny

Was uh that answered too long and all that sort of thing so we did that and um much to his shagging I said you must write stuff down uh and so on I can’t write yes you can you can talk you can write write it down read read better

Stuff read stuff that challenge you a bit you’ll expand your language you’ll do all sorts of things and actually you know it’s amazing what you can learn Gary’s development as a as a broadcas is Ping his blushing now is due to the fact that he’s always sought Improvement and

So on therefore he’s got more interested in things like Po politics and other issues you know World governance of football uh and so on that uh other players perhaps haven’t been encouraged to do or not that they’re not capable of doing of course they’re capable doing yeah that’s that’s enough about me John

Um um let’s ask mik and Allen what they think about me no not at all um tell us a bit about what you’ve got some amazing stories from from um from way back particularly around Peter shilon and and and yes Brian K you you’ve got to tell us about your your relationship there

Are one of two but I I the great moment with KF I’d never met kuuf before uh Peter signed for Notting forest and uh Peter had to leave Stoke because Stoke got relegated their stand blew down and they were bust and uh Forest had just got promoted kuuf we’d always

Known fancy signing shels and uh so one Friday night in about early September 1977 I think it was uh we got I got summoned down to the city ground with Peter to meet Brian kff with the viewer signing you were very young at the time

John you was PR I was 22 I was 27 yeah so um there was cff this uh sort of he was already you know he was a he was a figure he’d been on TV he’d been on Parkinson show he’d done lots of things and um so we went in and Peter Taylor

Who was his assistant was there he was desperate to sign Shields he was he idolized shils if truth be know and we waited there for half an hour uh no no cluff um Taylor who was getting increasingly agitated he’ll be coming he’ll be coming he’ll be here he’ll be

Here uh and uh went to about 45 minutes and um schilz was getting a little bit uh agitated and I thought you know we don’t need to wait much longer otherwise we’re looking fools here desperate to sign so we waited so I said to Peter Taylor

We you know if he doesn’t come soon you know let’s face it the manager doesn’t want him we’re going to go Peter oh oh no he’s coming he’s coming anyway about two or three M minutes later mysteriously after Taylor went outside I suspect cluf had been in the Next Room

The whole time probably watching uh KF emerges walks into the room walks straight up and kicks me you’ve got something in common with Alan Shir did he did the ser so so he just kied me so who are you so shil says this is John John’s looking after me oh right

John’s going to do the wages and sort that sort of stuff out so then he looked straight at me said listen young man you made one com go bust you’re not going to do it to Nottingham Forest so I said no you know I’m afraid Peter is on these wages and there wasn’t

In inflation clause and it wasn’t my fault that inflation was 20% the next year and his wages have gone up and he’s on a lot of money neither was it my fault that their stand fell down and they’d forgotten to ensure it but there

You are uh so KF then went and then he went out of the room uh and then emerged with a s a plastic Supermarket bag full of a lot of 20 notes and said this is a tax-free payment so I said yeah um yeah well not to not

Completely so they anyway I was called a financial virgin there was all sorts of uh discussions going on it was very funny then after sort of two hours of this comedy routine and so on where we’ not got very far on the money all the nature of what was a tax-free payment or

Whatever and then he said outside so I went outside I had no idea what’s going to happen so we walked outside you go into the car park it’s a Friday night City ground there’s no one there you know these days there be press all over the place and fans and all the

But there’s no one there and so we walk around the ground so and he’s got a squash racket in his hand uh so he goes right what do you want so I said Peter’s got to have this deal you know we’ve got to get somewhere

Near it I said I know you can’t do the whole lot and he’s one but he really would like to play with you but you’ve got to make this proper competition not a massacre you know it’s got to be got to be right he’s Keen to play for you we

Think Forest could do well so what do you get you misunderstand me I said what do you want so I said that’s what I want who pays you so Beed us right inside so then we go inside I thought at that point he’s probably going to hit me or something but anyway

We went inside uh and the deal’s off then and we went away and then that was Friday night then Saturday afternoon I’d play golf or something and curiously then KF KF announced that he signed P sh and I what have you done shil you’ve gone and signed something I ran shils up

And um said shil have you signed for Forest he said no no John no I wouldn’t do that no no he’s he was good like Peter knew how to he wasn’t going to cave in or fall into he pretty determined um and that was just one of

K’s gimmicks he would say this he did the same thing with Ian story Moore if you remember paraded him on the pitch at Derby told everyone he’d signed him and he hadn’t inside for Man United poor O story mo didn’t know who the hell he signed

For that was cl cluff brilant I’m just saying about the how the game has changed massively I mean whether you talk about on the pitch whether you talk about health off it everything how’s how’s your business changed from when you started to what it is now the good

Thing about what went on then or the way I tried to do it was I always encouraged the player to be in on the negotiation because I thought it was a learning thing yeah Gary you remember we went Everton tell tell them about what happened to

Everton well the the great thing if you it’s just negotiating you know footballers pathetically they told them how much they were going to earn a week not how much a year you know if you went for a proper job in those days they show you your salary will be 18,000 a year or

Something or 20,000 a year you went to a football club you’ll get a 100 quid a week on or whatever it was so it was it was a different way so I would always talk in terms of years or whatever and if they would talk one way I’d be

Swapping it round and we went up to Everton and there was um uh Howard was in there doing the negotiations great blow but not really Howard had never been trained in doing negotiations and Jim Greenwood the secretary anyway then I started as as G recall we were fiddling about between weeks and months

And all that and signing on fees and this bit that bit and so on they’ve no idea what I’m saying now I’ve confused them sufficiently you we’ll get an offer but whatever you do don’t accept don’t accept it anyway we went back in and they made an offer which was actually

Quite a bit more than we’d originally asked for so I said right okay well that’s interesting can we have another break and hoping that to hell that Gary wasn’t going to blurt in but I said we didn’t ask for that I was I was nudging your knee under the table yes you were

That was just trying to not so we went outside and he said that’s more that’s more than you asked it for isn’t it I said yes and you did absolutely correctly we will go in now and say yes but if you do something a little bit extra so you there were techniques and

So that you could use and you weren’t negotiating then against people who knew much about business one question before we we take a little breather um the agency world has changed and and and obviously transfers have changed dramatically now and I’ve I’ve heard you talk about it um frequently in the sense

That agents now don’t just represent the player in a deal they can actually represent the selling club and the Buying Club at the same time which um is opens it up to all sorts of shenanigans doesn’t it correct I think it’s completely wrong G you you

Cannot in which case who are they really representing yeah it’s completely wrong yeah no absolutely I I I’ve just trying to make the point that nowadays you in nowadays you we would do a deal I would pay you the footballer would pay the agent now yes the clubs both both the

Selling club and the Buying Club do it and the player probably I don’t know it’s how do you change that the amount that goes out of the game to agents that clubs pay how many Scouts could you employ for the amount of money that goes out to these people it’s extraordinary

And players have been con for a long time by the agent saying to them he’s saying how do you get paid and he said oh no don’t worry about that son the club will pay you and he thought oh that’s good cuz I I’m not having to it’s

Not costing me anything well if you think it through who is the agent then representing the agents representing the club and I think what has developed now is that the big agents mostly are almost retainers from Big clubs they will go to a player at one of the clubs who’s not

So big and say to that player I can get you to man united or I can get you to um Liverpool or whatever now actually the truth is if you’re a good enough player you can get there anyway you don’t need the agent uh what you need is someone to

Work out whether that’s necessarily the right move you and get the right package out of that club which is not in the buying club’s interest therefore if you’ve got somebody acting on both sides who is he really acting for you know the club will say to him we’ll buy him but

You need to make convince him that uh that’s the maximum we’ll pay really that’s not acting in the players’s behalf is it no okay let’s um take a breather when we come back um we’ll we’ll come around to perhaps the um administration of the game and and and

How it’s run nowadays and uh Club ownership which will be fascinating as well um let’s take a breather welcome back to the resty football with me G enica Mich Richards Alan sheer and today um my agent of 45 years yes 45 years John Holmes let’s go

Back to what was it year about 2000 um Leicester city went into to Administration um it looked like they they were going to go to the wall um I remember getting a call from you saying we’ve got to do something and um we we we managed to we managed to get enough

People together with just about enough money to get us out of administration and and you became chairman of Leicester City Football Club and um quite a successful chairman actually very successful most successful ever on ratio you were very short it was a fairly short very short Liv yeah only

Lost one game um that that must be very different could you suddenly get into the administrative side of of of football but um it was an interesting time I absolutely it wasn’t what I wanted to do I think talk to a lot of fans and they would say what it must

Have been dream job and everything else I’d always known it it’s not actually a very nice job uh in that the the fans don’t love the very very rare that fans love chairman when you see the way that some genuine fans have become ch feminine ended up being abused I

Particularly think about Bill krite who was a guy that I knew yeah quite quite well decent guy Absolut Everton was his life Everton you know he was a real proper fan he ended up you know being advised not to go to the game cuz people

Haven’t go how bad is that you know it’s it’s just awful and some of the people who are chairman of clubs you know they’re not people I I want to associate iate with I was thought the worst thing about being chairman of you have to some

Of these people came as chairman and you know Kem Bates who wants to be nice to km Bas so it’s not a great job the manager always wants at least two players two two play that’s a minimum probably four or eight um the fans they

Want you to S they want you to get your money out you know they want get your wallet out you know I haven’t got any you know you’re talking about now competing with countries and mega wealthy individuals and hedge funds and so on you know no individual can do that

And it’s not the Chairman’s fault often when you were you were chairman you’re talking about owners of football clubs now we’ve seen an influx of us owners in the Premier League do you think what do you think of that and do you think there’s a danger that we could be led

Down a certain path where we don’t want to go in terms of football yes I I think let me say this this about us sport is in general administered very well I think that they CED on quite early to the dangers of gambling uh there was the

You know the fixing of the uh uh baseball in 1919 the shus Jackson case and and and they worked out that you had to be better administered the power in American sport in general lies with the leagues rather than with the clubs they Sports they’ve had Commissioners for a

Long time which I think is a good idea the power lies within the leagues rather than the clubs being able to run off what we had was a situation where the clubs the big clubs threatened to run off from our league and break up what was for many years a very successful

System and the Premier League was formed and you can’t knock everything that’s gone on in the game sense whether it would have gone on anyway I don’t know but I’m not convinced that football and what it represents probably to to I know to you Alan because you are

Newcastle that’s your Club you’ve always felt that that’s uh uh it’s part of your identity it runs through your DNA and everything and and with Gary it does as well he’s leester like me uh and so I’m not sure about Mich are you bit vill a bit of

Arsenal Club of a nightclub in Manchester I’m not sure love [Laughter] it we are at least three of us anyway he’ll have to reveal his hand in a bit uh we are that’s what football represents to us it’s part of our identity and these people have come in

Now and the clubs and part of this is television’s fault because Gary and I Lester fans cuz that’s where we went you were a Newcastle fan cuz that’s where that’s where you were taken you remember your first game the experience of going and in our podcasts you know of little

Plug here football over my life we have talked to lots of people and they all remember that first game uh where they’ve been the experience and it wasn’t actually the football that turned them on it was the crowd the pitch the colors the atmosphere of the place took

You over now it’s become much more abandon kids will now because they don’t actually go because they don’t get that experience and because tele television has taken over everybody watch they can say even though they live in London I’m a Liverpool fan I’m a man united fan and

And all around the world people will say it’s one of the successes of the Premier League as it happened that they’re this club or that club fan what’s the attraction of of of American owners why why are they so interested when actually it’s not really one of their Sports

Thoughts they’re interested because they see the business model they see the support that can generate even in the 1960s if you went out uh abroad uh even then as I did you could say Bobby Charon if you went abroad and people knew who Bobby Charon was Stanley Matthews even

At that stage now of course everybody knows which club do you support you go into the African jungle and you look at these scenes from all these wars scenes and fam scenes there are football shirts there of English clubs extraordinary but John we talked about the American owners

And surely for you as an as an agent it’s helped your business massively the more money that’s in the league has obviously helped the the deals be greater as well so it’s not only just help the players and the owners it’s actually help the people who are within

The game also no of course and now the players are rewarded as they should be like Top Class entertainers um still seems to me that actually the people who get the most out of it and the real biggest sums are actually the club Owners uh as they you know play with

Assets that they think are worth millions and millions and uh you know goes on I would never begrudged the amount of money that players have made out of it neither can I say that uh it’s not been to my financial advantage of course it has I did predict that this would happen i’

I’ve said all the way through you know and people you know when it Trevor Francis was C for a million quid people oh you know what an enormous amount that is and they’re not worth it and all this nonsense but the progress has been there because the underline product was so

Good and uh the way it has developed and going to a football match now it’s it’s it’s it’s a better experience in many ways I mean you you sit on nice of seats you’ve got a better view not often do people pay in your pocket um there’s all sorts of things

That have improved you know the the pies haven’t improved that much as I recall it you know the the prawn sandwiches have in the really Posh areas but there are a lot of things that still scope but going to a football match is a better experience the hooliganism has been uh

Contained to a degree not entirely um and the standard of play is astonishing now uh the pitches are astonishing but you watch there’s a this thing the big match Revisited on ITV 4 and you watch the pitches they were playing on and you think how on Earth did anyone complete a

Pass at that point as the ball went from you know bumbled in the air twice and then sunk in a puddle now they relay the pitch every other week don’t they it’s much much better and the players have better uh they’re better coached they have much much better uh advice on

Nutrition all that sort of thing but the one thing you have got for the players which is a danger is they’re all told you’re earning enough money now so that you never have to work again in your life but that’s like dying at 35 isn’t it you know you you you then realize

Hold on I’ve got 40 plus more years to live here I can’t play golf every day all the timean um I’ve got to do something to yeah to keep myself going you can’t all be managers there are a lot of dangers for players now and they’re surrounding not least by agents

Who a lot of them I don’t think care they’re just for the next deal how much they can make because they’re paid by the clubs and not by the player alone how many players go through their career and have the same agent the whole way through they’ve either been ripped off

Or something like a lot of these people I mean they say they’ve got exams and qualifications for it the this exam that people doing the like like 11,000 people applied for the last exam I mean 11,000 the bulk of them came from this country you got more bloody agents than you’ve

Got players it’s ludicrous and they’re signing them at 12 years old was there was there anyone any player that you wanted to sign but you couldn’t sign that that I couldn’t sign yeah or you didn’t sign Alan Sher yeah tell me down twice the bastard what’s happened to him

Are you Alex Ferguson in Disguise yeah I know well you saw of looked after him didn’t you because you you you merged for a period didn’t you with Alan’s agent your agent uh was completely different person to me uh very very different in lots of ways very good Agent honorable agent and did

A did a very good job um but a different style to me uh that didn’t matter you know certain style suit certain people and so quickly before you go John um you said your style of approach to a player what was your style and if I was a

Player coming through now I’m 18 I’ve got the world at my feet I’m not going to use the word burst on the scene that is so two years ago I’ve exploded on the scene I’m I’m scoring goals I’m doing the absolute that didn’t happen what was your approach sell

Yourself to me right what I would say first of all my Approach was that that I will take a long-term view I don’t want you to sign a long-term contract I’m interested in you your development your career not just the next move move you have to weigh up where you are at that

Moment a lot of the time players move quite young they move out of their Hometown a long way away Allan was lucky Allan went all the way from the Northeast down to Southampton probably as a fairly terrified kid you probably had any idea where Southampton was or

What they represented and so on so that worked for you at Southampton probably because someone at the club looked after you properly probably da probably Dave marrington was it or whatever well Jack Hixon yeah he took me down there as a SC correct there were people and what

Players require at that that stage of the Care their career is actually a mentor someone who’s going to just think with them about all the circumstances in their lives you know what sort of family they come from what the home background is like these days unfortunately in a

Lot of cases you get the fathers coming in saying well how much money is in it for me um which is really unfortunate and a situation you know is difficult to deal with because the father does have uh uh influence clearly over the young player so I was interested in a

Long-term uh view um well that was even the case John wasn’t it if you go back to me like you’d started looking after me because of um jot Wallace brought you in the then ler manager um to talk to players about um pensions and that was that first meeting where I just didn’t

Really say anything um and and from there on in obviously you overlook my shocking debut which I I totally agree with you and and we had a meeting you said you you’d look after me and guide me and Mentor me because you obviously um saw something and um I think you

Looked after me for eight years before you took a single penny out of my w or anything and in 45 years we’ve we’ve never had a never had a contract no that’s correct never never that was the way it worked because we developed a a sort of relationship now

Tell you the other thing I always used to have these kids come to me I want to be a football agent why do you want to be a football agent I know everything about football so he used to say to them okay who’s the manager of Port Vil and then they

Go uh I don’t know that so i’ say right where is Port Vale and they go uh Stoke up north up north and would be and say well you don’t know everything about football you see because you know all right you know everything about Arsenal or Liverpool or that but you’re not

Going to get a player right at the top straight away you’re going to have to find a player lower down the league and work look at the job John Morris has done with Jamie vardy he’s looked after him from when he was a player with stockbury Steels has gone all the way

Through I’ve great admiration for what they’ve done and you know there’ve been occasions when Jamie could have moved on from Leicester and I think John Morris and what have you this know you can create something there by you know stamping your identity your DNA with Lester on it and he’s done really well

Out of that I think that’s um I think it can make a really really big difference to a player I think you look at certain players I’m not going to name because it would be invidious to be honest that moved to clubs and you’ve gone that was

Not a good move they’ve either gone abroad when they’re too young or just because it was a you know it sounded a good move or what have you Gary had the chance a year before he moved from Leicester to go to Barry wasn’t it Gary

They came on and you remember we said no it’s not it’s not right and I can remember speaking to your dad and your your dad who’s brilliant influence said said it’s too early isn’t it John and I said yeah it is it’s too early it’s not

Right and when it came to the Liverpool or Everton thing I can remember we were weighing it up and your dad said to me what do you think and I laid out the reasons why I thought Everton at that point because Liverpool still had rush

It was the year before the World Cup I did think uh Gary needed to move at that point from Leicester I thought the World Cup was the biggest thing out that’s what we were focused on at that point and we pumped at that point for Everton

And you you say to me that was the best move of the lot who knows but it was a and your dad said to me you think that’s right and I said yes and laid out the reasons and we did it so it’s it’s a mentoring experience and it’s a you do

Have to think it agents shouldn’t have exams in regulations and all that they should have exams in ethics and intentions but you can’t have those so that’s I’m afraid that’s where it is yeah uh John it’s it’s been fascinating um I’ve obviously we’ve we we’ve spoken

Many times about all all these sort of things um over the years This was um a wee bit different um but um thoroughly enjoyed it and um I’ll behalf of the rest of these football thank you very much and um we’ll no doubt speak later

Before I go can I put in a plug for my son’s podcast for all very good yes the big strong Leicester boys and of course you remember football ruined my life which in my case it didn’t but go there enjoy it’s been great pleasure to talk to all of you pleasure John highly

Recommend both podcast I listen to them both thank you very much John thanks John thank you thanks well that was a little bit different um for me although I’ve heard him um talking for many many years and um John can talk um but fascinating though brilliant some great

Stories in there some funny ones about cluffy and yeah brilliant no I just find him fascinating I just I just love the fact that speaking to someone who’s been with you for 45 years and their opinions and how things change and his views on things because I a lot of people talk

Badly about agents and I’ve had some bad experience with agents but agents do good things as well so it’s it’s nice to hear it from his perspective which I thought was really refreshing to be honest yeah he’s played a huge part um not just in my football life but my post

Football Life uh no question about that um we’re all on Match of the day on Saturday three of us together yeah back together the band is back the band is back together lovely tough really Alan for you another competition go W God 92nd 93rd minute equalized for Chelsea I felt we were

Together wer we at the sports Personality so I didn’t see the match I was so I was on my phone uh and I was sat behind uh Andy Robertson and uh as you know we were on stage together for Kenny and his Lifetime Achievement Award and just

Before we uh we got on stage he sent he he showed me his phone from he just passed his phone back and he had the score on 1 n so I was like yes get in come on and then um of course the night went on

And then we uh we went for a drink afterwards and um I’m looking at it 90 minutes and I think it’s come up four extra minutes then we’re still winning One n and then I put my phone back in my pocket and then like I don’t know two or

Three minutes later my phone was beep like buzzing buzzing vibrating I’m thinking oh the the final whistle gone which is great all the equalized and I picked my phone out and it was one all I thinking oh my God so I eventually got the phone um the game on my phone for

The penalties and God it was a disaster such a shame the the we goes on the we goes on FA Cup that’s all that’s left is it now this season again oh dear oh we should actually while we’re on it um a victory for football in sports personal

Of the year as well Mar up so I think he’s actually a genuinely and I said to him for said to her actually for all the stuff on there I said you are a great goalkeeper she really is a good goalkeeper Mary Epson I was so pleased

For her yeah it was great she really enjoyed it saw she you could tell it she had a great night and thoroughly deserved lovely person as well though she came on League of her own so I’ve sort of met her a couple of times and she’s just passionate she loves a job

And I think she’s going to be a great pundit when she’s finished because she has got personality and she’s a great great player um and fully deserved fair play to her yeah big game this weekend Oh the Arsenal Liverpool Arsenal yeah top two I hope it’s better than the big game

Last weekend Liverpool man united don’t you sure it will be it I mean every now and again you get one of those games and um don’t you the Liverpool man united where there’s so much at stake sometimes it just kind of Peters out and there’s too much fear of losing maybe I don’t

Know what it is but obviously with with sport sometimes you get Duds and and that was one but I think Liverpool Arsenal beat a terrific game um I’ll see you chaps on Saturday yeah see you Saturday look forward to it ain’t going to bring in anything I mean it’s 2 days

Before Christmas so are we going to bring anything for the lads chocolates or some mold wine I’ve already sent you my presents as you well know beautiful he demolished them he did them about half an hour get oners M and get you sent some more I’m sure they won’t

Mind it would be ni won’t mind at all um well actually all that’s left to say really is that everybody please have a very Merry Christmas yes here here here here Merry Christmas everyone all right Gabby Logan here here what did you see she did well she

Was behind stage but I was thinking that it’s it’s actually on on on a serious note for a presenter it’s your worst nightmare when you’ve got people shouting in your ear because the program’s overrunning I I know what you’re referring to here the fact that she had to interrupt there were two

Speeches weren’t there that where the there were interruptions because they were you know you know they were long speeches and and live television you have to end at a certain time even if you overrun for a little bit and the worst thing for a presenter and I’ve had

It myself is that when you got the the director or the producer or the editor whatever you want to call it shouting in your ear going you’ve got to get in you’ve got to interrupt you’ve got to interrupt we’ve got we we’re overrunning and then and and you were pick your

Moment I had something like that can you remember when Pelle came for the um the I think I think it was in 2000 the Sportsman of Sportsman of the century or something like that and he was getting a special award and he was on the stage

And um and he he started talking he went on and on and on and he and he kept going and I’m with him and I’ve in my ear they’re going you’ve got to interrupt him you’ve got to stop him we we’re overrunning and I’m thinking there

Is no way that I am going to interrupt P from his speech I get I’m just thinking no as a presenter I think sometimes in those circumstances You’ just got to go leave the problem to someone else no because no and I just I refused to do it

And he went on a little bit and no one can do any they can’t you know run on and shut someone up so just let them you know just let them finish don’t worry about the fact the program’s overrunning let someone else solve that problem it

Was brilliant I mean the what MERS for I think his name was Dez Smith wasn’t he he was telling about the great work that he done he was building a pavilion for the for his sports team or club and whatever you and I mean he was like so

Passionate about it and it was brilliant to listen to but it did go on a little bit and I was sat next to John Bishop John Bishops looked at him he went sake he said they actually finished the Pavilion the time he ended talking lovely guy and actually Gabby’s timing

Was brilliant perfect she got it was like a tackle wasn’t he just outside the box bang in you go good stuff merry everyone we’ll um we’ll speak to you soon cheers bye from me Merry Christmas goodbye from me all the best everyone thank you cheers