Warren meets... Craig Mackail-Smith

I was due to interview another Peterborough player on Saturday in Craig Alcock. Unfortunately, he didn't travel down with the squad however, I did see another Craig; Brighton forward Mackail-Smith lurking around after watching his former team mates play and I managed to grab a few words with him.

WL: Craig, you started your career kicking around in the non-league game, how were those experiences?

CMS: Yeah, it was fantastic, I think I've worked hard to get to where I am today and non-league kind of shaped my career and built me as a player. It taught me a lot about appreciating the game and, as I say, I wouldn't be the player I am today without my non-league background.

THE BOY'S GONNA BE SPECIAL: Craig during his Arlesey days

WL: So it's fair to say, playing at non-league grounds galvanised you to make sure you made it as a pro?

CMS: Yeah, definitely, I've been to some tough grounds and played some tough teams and tough defenders so yeah, it shapes you as a person and as a man. It introduces you to the men's kind of football and I always look out for the teams that I used to play for.

WL: You went to Dagenham & Redbridge, John Still brought you in, along with many other players from the lower leagues, how much of an influence did he have on you?

CMS: He was fantastic, he game me the opportunity taking me from Arlesey Town and changed me from a winger into a forward. He allowed me just to play my natural game and, as you say, he's brought on some great players like Paul Benson and Sam Saunders so it shows he's got an eye for talent in the non-leagues. He's done fantastically well with his Dagenham side.

RESPECTED: John Still

WL: You then moved to Peterborough, you took a while to stamp your mark and had to bide your time there but soon struck up a brilliant partnership with Aaron McLean. It must have been great to suddenly get loads of games and bang in lots of goals?

CMS: Yeah, I think someone said that we couldn't play together because we were too similar and then I think we both ended up scoring 100 goals between us so, it was a fantastic partnership and we complemented each other so well on the pitch and got on well off the pitch so it was great to play together. I had a fantastic time at Peterborough, have great memories and I always try and get to games when I can.

DEADLY DUO: Craig celebrates yet another goal with Aaron McLean

WL: You scored 35 goals in your last season at Posh which triggered your move to Brighton, how big a transfer was that for you in terms of moving away from that area where you had played for a while?

CMS: I'd been at Peterborough for almost five years so it was a big change. Brighton had just moved into a new stadium, were a club on the up and were looking to push on into the Premiership. I felt it was a club that matched my ambitions to push on and Gus (Poyet) obviously sold me the club, sold me the vision and I moved there. I felt that I had a pretty good season but not fantastic; I felt I could have maybe scored a few more goals last season but it was a good place to start and hopefully this coming season, I can push on and
score a lot more goals.

WL: I think it was a record transfer at the time and still is, did that put pressure on you to succeed?

CMS: Yeah, it probably put a little bit of pressure, maybe more pressure than I put on myself; I should have just gone out there, played my natural game and enjoyed myself. Sometimes things are made a bit difficult and you go out there trying to justify your price tag, maybe that didn't help me and maybe I didn't score as many goals due to that. However, I have learnt from that and this season I'm just going to relax and enjoy!

RECORD BREAKER: Move could rise to £3.5m

WL: Previously, you've played for England C, from there you've then gone on to play for the full Scotland national side, that must have been a great experience as well?

CMS: Yeah it's been fantastic. I wanted to play for Scotland for a long time and it didn't come around when George Burley was in charge but Craig Levein (Scotland manager) gave me the chance about a year and a half ago and I love it. Everytime I pull the shirt on I wear it with pride and I love representing Scotland.

WL: So you made your debut against Brazil of all teams, that must have been an eye-opener!?!

CMS: Yeah it was fantastic to play against the world champions and unbelievable world class players in my first international game and it's certainly given me the appetite to get more and more caps and of course to play against better teams.

Craig meets Barcelona right back Dani Alves!

WL: Finally Craig, your in your prime at 28 now, where can we expect to see you in five years time... maybe at the Broadfield!?

CMS: (Laughs) Hopefully still in the Premiership. Hopefully I'll get to the Premiership, play there a few years.  You never know, once I get that little bit older I'll see where I go from there; maybe a bit of coaching or a bit of management. We'll see what happens!

I would like to thank Craig for taking the time out to speak to me.

Meet The Manager: Gus Poyet

With the Brighton manager being a bit of a Premier League legend, I decided it was only right to have a chat with the big man about his career in the game after the Crawley v Brighton draw... ladies and gents, Gus Poyet!

WL: Gus, thanks for joining me! Growing up, was being a footballer always the plan for you?

GP: Well, Uruguay, my country, it's all about football to be honest! The other big sport it Basketball but as a kid, all you want to do is to play football. In those times, we were able to play football in the streets which is something that you really can no longer do these days! So, yeah, I was going to school and playing football most of the day!

WL: All that football paid off as your career really kicked off at Real Zaragoza. How was the La Liga experience?

GP: It was important to me because any South American wants to play in Europe. I had seven years in a very decent team and we won quite a few trophies. My time at Zaragoza gave me the chance to come to England.

IN SITU: I chat to Gus

WL: Yeah, and at Zara, you won both the Copa del Rey and The Cup Winners Cup, a great achievement for one of the so called "smaller clubs"?

GP: Yes. Especially the Cup Winners Cup. I think the Copa del Rey, it was, for the club, a "you've got a chance to win it" competition. The Cup Winners Cup was unique - It was not expected, the celebrations were magnificent and it was very, very nice to be a part of it!

WL: After seven years in Spain, you moved to Chelsea. Was playing in England always something you wanted to do?

GP: Not really, no! It was a surprise to me that Chelsea were interested! I was a free and for me, it was a big decision because I was 29 with two kids. I had to start again from zero, learn a new language. It was a tough decision to make the move but as you can imagine, it was the right decision!

Gus during his Chelsea days

WL: And at Stamford Bridge, you continued the fine cup success in your career by winning both the FA Cup and the Super Cup, where do these rank in your career highlights?

GP: The FA Cup, for me, was unique. It was a special place and we (Chelsea) were lucky enough to be the last winners at the old Wembley Stadium. It was fantastic for us and a great experience. We had a fantastic team and every year, we seemed to be winning trophies which brings people together.

WL: Four years after joining Chelsea, you moved to Spurs, was it a tough decision to leave the Blues?

GP: Well, I had a bit of an issue with (Claudio) Ranieri. He was not the type of manager that I would have done well with and I had to make that decision in terms of keeping myself playing in the game. I made a very good friend there in (Mauricio) Taricco, who's now my assistant at Brighton and I made the decision to move. At the time, I thought it was a normal move and then I realised there was a big rivalry between the two clubs! I wasn't trying to upset people at Chelsea and there was never a time when I was trying to go up against them - It was just a career decision.

Gus celebrates scoring another goal from midfield!

WL: You've gained a reputation as a goalscoring midfielder, what was the secret to coming in and banging in those goals from your position?

GP: Timing! Timing and the ability to be a player who was always concentrating on the game for 90...95 minutes. Always concentrating on the game, always reading the game and always paying attention for the whole game.

WL: Onto your international career now and with Uruguay, you won the Copa America, beating the likes of Brazil and Argentina, that must have been a pleasing moment!?

GP: (Intense grinning!)Yes! ... I didn't really play a lot for Uruguay. I had the chance to play in the Copa America for your country and, as you can imagine, to make your whole country so happy, it's really special. For me, it was probably one of the best... no, the best achievements that I made during my career.

Gus (L) in Uruguay colours

WL: And you soon went into coaching, joining up with your old friend Dennis Wise as an assistant at both Swindon and Leeds, did that whet your appetite to go into management?

GP: Well, I learned a lot from my time (as assistant). I saw everything from the reaction of the players from the inside. After that, slowly, slowly, going through Juande Ramos at Spurs, then I decided to become a manager. I thought it would be a great experience to become a manager after that.

WISE GUYS: Gus (R) knew Dennis (L) from Chelsea

WL: So your grateful to Brighton for giving you that chance?

GP: Yeah... well, yeah, it was a big risk for them to be honest. But at the end of the day, it worked out very well for the Chairman as well! I'm pleased I made the decision to drop down as well because I wanted my chance to manage in the Championship but I couldn't get a job and I had to make the decision to drop down to League 1... In the end, it worked out fine!

WL: Of course, two seasons ago, you won promotion to the Championship with Brighton and with it, moved into a plush new stadium to boot... the perfect season in your view?

GP: Yeah it was. It was perfection. We needed to get out (of League 1) and it was a dream to win the league. The way we did it as well, was something very special too!

WL: Off the pitch, you've got your son Diego, have you made any moves to try and bring him to the Amex?!

GP: No, no, no! No chance. It would be difficult for me to manage him! What we will do is to make sure that we leave him in there (Charlton Athletic's Academy) and wait and see what happens!

WL: He currently plays for England under 16s, would you like to see him pull on the sky blue of Uruguay?

GP: I have no preference. It's Diego's choice, it's his decision and it's not an issue.

WL: Finally, you're at Brighton at the moment, is the aim the Premier League and would you like to manage Uruguay some time in the future?

GP: Yeah (on Uruguay). It's a long time off yet though. I need to get to the top first. You cannot go from a Division 1 team and then go straight into a national job. I'll need to get to the top and then, probably, you will be given the chance!

WL: Muchos Gracias Gustavo!

GP: De nada!

Me and Gus

Many thanks to Gus for speaking to me!

Warren meets... Michel Kuipers

A week or two ago, Three Bridges hosted Crawley Town. In the Reds net that night was Michel Kuipers and I had a chat with him about his early career as a Marine, his decade at Brighton and what the future holds.

WL: Michel, you began actually as a Marine, was that something you wanted to do when you were young?

MK: Yeah, that's right. I first had to do my national service - I didn't just want to waste my 18 months of national service and ending up like a lorry driver or something like that so I decided that I wanted to do something special and I did a 6 month in-test for the Marines and I ended up staying there for four and a half years.

WL: From the Marines you then joined Bristol Rovers, a bit of a change! How did that all come about?

MK: During the last year or so when I was in the Marines, I played for an Amsterdam club and we won the league, managed to get some publicity; newspapers, TV, radio. They were surprised by the fact that this team, for the first time in 25 years had won promotion and I got invited to a trial week at Bristol Rovers. Ian Holloway was the manager there at the time and after a week of trialing, he offered me a two-year deal.

WL: For one reason or another, it didn't really work out there. You then moved to Brighton and didn't really look back!

MK: Yeah, definitely. Me and Bobby Zamora both came at the same time. Bobby and I were both at Bristol Rovers and we both moved together to Brighton at the same time. We had some very successful years, he got a fantastic move to Tottenham and I stayed at Brighton for ten years! So, for the both of us, we really improved both our careers with the move to Brighton.

Zamora went on to play for England

WL: And in the ten years, you must have had a few memorable moments, can you pick out a couple of highlights?

MK: There's a lot! Winning my first Championship was really special and then winning another Championship the year after was even more special. Winning the play-off Final at the Millenium Stadium was memorable, sometimes, even staying up on the last day of the season in the Championship was also very special. There are loads of special moments, you know, beating Manchester City on penalties and saving the last penalty from Michael Ball to win the tie and to knock out the richest club in the world  - There are some very special moments that will always stay with me.

WL: Yeah, you've been rewarded for your loyal service to Brighton with a testimonial in around two weeks time. This must be something that you're really looking forward to.

MK: Yeah! I'm definitely looking forward to playing at the Amex Stadium. It's something that I campaigned for  for ten years. Finally the stadium is there and it's great for the community and it's great for Sussex that there's a stadium there that can be used, not only for football but to also educate youngsters during the day. A lot of people don't realise what goes on there during the day, there are a lot of young people using that stadium so it's fantastic news all round!

WL: On leaving Brighton, you joined Crawley. You'd obviously had a spell on loan in non-league at Boston but were worried about dropping down to Conference level permanently?

MK: No, not at all. I was very happy to join Crawley because I was still doing my "Albion in the Community" work. It was good to combine the two and stay in Sussex. I really enjoy Sussex and I'm very happy living here. I thought that I could either move away or work for "Albion in the Community" and play for Crawley and it was an easy decision in the end to come and join Crawley. Two years later and the fourth and fifth promotion and I'm back in League 1 again! It's been very enjoyable, five promotions in your career, there's not many professional footballers who can say that!

WL:  Exactly! So, your first season at Crawley wasn't bad, a fourth promotion for you and of course, the superb FA Cup run to go with it! Manchester United away was alright as well!

MK: Yeah, it was very good! Manchester United away, Old Trafford, in front of... what was it? 78,000 people or 76,000 people, you know, it was really nice and it was a great experience. We gained a lot of confidence from that match and afterwards we never looked back really, winning the league and gaining promotion to League 2. Last season was another great effort by the lads once again went up by getting third spot. At one stage we were out of the automatic promotion places but we fought our way back in and in the end we got something that we deserved; promotion again!

Kuips (R) and David Hunt (L) after the Manchester United game

WL: Indeed. On the topic of that last day at Accrington, how nerve-racking was that for you?!

MK: Yeah, of course but at the end of the day, we went into it in the last place, the third place. All we had to do was to stay in that third position and that's what we did! Now we are in League 1 which will be hard because there are a lot of strong teams and a lot of good players, big teams that used to be in the Premiership like Portsmouth and Coventry, big squads and expensive players. We'll need to test ourselves, especially away from home at big stadiums, a big crowd will be on our backs and we'll sometimes have to defend as a team and stay strong and hopefully we will get all the support we've got in the last two years and hopefully they'll be backing us again!

Michel (C) in yellow, enjoys his fifth promotion!

WL: I hope so! Finally, you're in the twilight years of your career at 38. Do you want to get into coaching in the future or have you began already?

MK: Yeah, I'm doing my coaching now at Crawley and obviously still playing but I also do the goalkeeper coaching as well. Paul Jones has come in this Summer and he's been fantastic really. He's a very good goalkeeper and he's very eager to learn. My style of goalkeeping is the new generation; it's very specialised in techniques and detail. All the training sessions that we do are the latest ones. We work a lot on footwork and distribution. Every game I watch him and I analyse him and I set him different targets and every time, he has succeeded in hitting the targets that I set him. It's fantastic to work with him (Jones) and I'm very pleased that he is at the football club because he is a very good goalkeeper and a very nice lad. I think that with the goalkeeping union point of view, it's going to be another successful year!

Me and "The Former Dutch Marine"!

Many thanks to Michel for taking the time out to speak to me.