Season › 2011-12 › News

Big Dunc is looking forward, not back

?I'm 40 now. I've three kids, a wife, I'm settled. Do people honestly think I haven't changed?

?People look at me now and what they see is what they remember — a baby, a young kid.

?You would always change things if you could turn back the clock — but who can do that?

?I miss the game, I miss it something terrible. I moved abroad for five years with the family and it was alright for a year, you can live with that.

?Then the grind sets in and you realise you're effectively retired but still young.

?In the end though, you have to go out and start working. I've got three kids and a wife, I need to provide for them.

?You come out of football at 34 years and think you're old — you feel it. You think ?this is the end'. That you're going to go and lie in a deckchair for the rest of your days.

?Then you suddenly twig that you have your whole life ahead of you. I need to get back to work, get motivated and do something with myself. That's what I'm here for, to find out if I have it in me.

?People who say things about me don't know the first thing about me. It's a perception thing.

?You just move on in your life, don't you? I can hardly remember back then, seriously. You're talking about all the things that happened when I was younger.

?You're a young man at 17, 18, right? You do crazy things. That's what you do when you're young. Everyone does.

?Is it out of my system? It is. That's what happens in Scotland though, eh? They look at me now and what they see is what they remember — a kid at 19 or 20 years. I've got the kids, I've got perspective on my life. That young man has gone.

?I've had an unbelievable career, I'm blessed that I played as long as I did, considering the operations I've had, and I stayed at the top right to the end. I stopped at Everton, the club I wanted to stop at — it was fantastic.

?I played at the very top. Captained teams under loads of managers. Look at the names — Sir Bobby, Howard Kendall, Joe Royle, Ruud Gullit. You're talking about guys who have won European Cups, gone the distance in World Cups, won every domestic trophy.

?Then there's the Scottish guys like Moyes, Walter Smith and Jim McLean in my early days — how many people have a list of experiences like that to call on?

?If I can't use the knowledge I've picked up from all these great guys, there's something wrong with me.

?If people still want to see the same boy they saw in the past, that's up to them. There's nothing I can do about that. People are reminiscing about things that happened 20-odd years ago. These days are gone. Of course I could have done things differently — but experience comes with age, doesn't it?

?I don't look back with regret, I just accept that I'm here and still learning.?

Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Daily Post

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