Part 9 (1/2)

So, I don't necessarily agree with the is it will put the Gulf and football here firmly on the map I hope to be there of course, and if the British teaood-looking one that's still chirping away like a Budgie

CHAPTER 28

HOW OTHERS SEE ME

'I' the day he has to pack it all up I think he'd sooner have his heart taken out'

JANET BURRIDGE

Over the years, enerated a few thousand coluraraphies Some of them sound a bit too crazy to be true but believe me they are! I've also been touched to read so around cyberspace on the net, and I ae has been set up by fans in my honour Everyone seems to have their say about me, and here's a selection of my favourites from over the years

JANET BURRIDGE

(Interviewed towards end of Budgie's playing career, 1997) He twitches, fidgets and relives every inary shots, sets his to defenders I' or replaying a game in hisa ht I'd fallen asleep as I was dead tired after a day in our sportswear shop But he woke : 'Watch this! Look at the keeper, he's sold himself Sold, sold, sold himself! What do you think of that?' He made me watch the slowabout I didn't really, but it kept hi, he hit me with his elbow And when I woke hi up for a ball at least that was his excuse I' the day he has to pack it all up I think he'd sooner have his heart taken out

When he plays he has terribly desolate moments, even if his side has won 5-1 The fact that he has let in even one goal leaves him devastated If he's made just one mistake, he is inconsolable But whatever happens, he is either going through the ga his arht, love, someone just hit a treame on telly, his body starts to sway and his eyes are elsewhere, in a penalty area sorab a shot He ends up in a hell of a state I've even heard hiive an interview to BBC television in his sleep But he's such a No1 optiain and bounced back mostly in his sleep, of course

(Interviewed in 2011) Co career was an event so devastating to John that it is hard for many to co that white line at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, he knew he still had his physical fitness, which he worked on ue' But then the accident that would have killed aaaaoal He would wear his boots to make sure they were match fit and totally comfortable, like a second skin He would say 'Fail to prepare, prepare to fail' The equipment he took with him onto the pitch was cared for with the ut near his kit! It never went into the teahoutJohn I have heard others say that different players are dedicated, but let me tell you, not one has ever come anywhere close to John He lived football 100 of the tiame is infectious When webeach football every evening just like on the Copa Cabana I reht he went down to play he was like a little boy, wondering if he could get a garaded to another tearin on his face telling ah he never played in goal) would win He used to go down to the beach an hour or so before the gaoals handabout a 50-year-old who played over 1000 top-flight gao on forever!

STEVE HARPER

(Newcastle United goalkeeper, 1993present) If you are not brave then you cannot play in goal It is all part of the job I can ree screa down e forwards to go in on our keepers, but he was a huge influence on my career in my first two years

TIM FLOWERS

(Tea football, whatever the result, and having a rapport with the fans, are two of the ie My style is totally different to Budgie's because I'm a different shape and a different person But ere at Wolves together and again at Southampton he always put in 100 per cent, which is what I try to do

ALAN SHEARER

(Teaie and a few others in s On one occasion I chased a through ball and he went down at ie stood up, stopped the gaoalkeeper dives at your feet he expects you to clatter hiht away It was John's way of suggesting I had to develop a ruthless streak A few years later in a friendly oal for the Scottish club During the game he threw hiht hi a wound which required three stitches Budgie wiped away the blood and cao at me, but he patted me on the head and said: 'Well done, son, I'e at Leeds United) Budgie has helped iame He's very passionate about football The word mad coives me the intensive work I need And if I do well on a Saturday, he'll ring , I'd rather discuss things with hio away on my own

ALI AL-HABSI

(First Oue, with Bolton and Wigan) Budgie caland with e teained a Middle East footballer would ever play in the Preue Like many other players I had dreamed of that, but never believed it would coie took me to Old Trafford, and he could see I ide-eyed and overawed by being there He said: 'If you work hard and fulfil your potential you will play here one day' But when it actually happened, I could still hardly believe it If it wasn't for John's help and what he taught , the dream wouldn't have come true

ASHLEY HAMMOND

(Local reporter, friend and failed Budgie agent, Oie was just a face on the back of one ofreference in various players' loves to bed and got his wife to throw oranges around the roon on a local paper there in 2006, he was to instantly mean much more than that not a day has passed since where I haven't had at least tenHe affectionately dubbed me 'Harry Harris' or 'Clark Kent, the ie that still plagues me e travelled from Muscat to London to watch Ali Al-Habsi ame the Wanderers won 2-1 Ali had played a blinder and afterwards John and ratulate Ali John had tears rolling down his face and was atte, 'That's my boy, that's my boy,' as he was held back by stewards Ali walked into the Cottage oblivious just out of earshot to Budgie being apprehended by the orange army That, for ie often found hinant les leather aviator's hat and goggles on with floppy dog ears covering his lugs

DAVID HARDIE

(Hibs football writer, Edinburgh Evening News) Budgie probably eoalkeeper you also need to be a bit mad Eccentric without doubt, a character both on and off the field but also an exceptional goalkeeper, one who enjoyed a lengthy and varied career thanks not only to his undoubted ability between the sticks but his slavish attention to fitness

He hs fro at Wardie on that tiny moped on which he completed the final couple ofby train at Waverley each day, but once the gloves were on it was down to business as the young goalkeepers at Easter Road at the time soon realised