‘Great Player’ Who Ran A Good Queen Vic!
As concerned as he will be by the plight of Wolves and West Ham at the foot of the Premier League, Paul Ince will be excited by the possibility of another of his clubs, Middlesbrough, joining the elite next season. As they look down on the rest of the Championship after last night’s win at Sheffield United, we use the countdown to Arsenal’s visit to Molineux a week tomorrow to highlight some of the friendly rivalry between England team-mates Ince and David Seaman from their battles in club football with Boro and The Gunners – and in particular their close friendship.
“We share similar tastes – his sons even have the same names as my two oldest children, Daniel and Thomas,” wrote David Seaman in his autobiography, Safe Hands.
It is soon evident from the various mentions of the promotion-winning Wolves midfielder in this entertaining publication that the two are close.
They went to Wimbledon with their wives just after England’s Euro 96 exit and were applauded as they took their seats in the royal box. “It was a fantastic feeling,” Seaman recalled, adding: “Incey became a close friend at that tournament and we have the same approach to life.
“He always remembers where he has come from and he doesn’t treat people badly just because he’s a star. In fact, despite the aggressive way he looks on the pitch, off it he is naturally very friendly.
“At England get-togethers, it’s always open house in his room. It was nicknamed the Queen Vic at Euro 96 because he had it all set up in there: music system, Playstation, drinks, the lot. And he is a great player because he is so competitive.”
The record-breaking Highbury keeper – he left the club for QPR before the move to the Emirates Stadium – also wrote of a marathon snooker competition held among the players during the thrilling campaign waged by Terry Venables’ squad.
But it had been a much less happy situation when Graham Taylor omitted him from his Euro 92 squad in Sweden in favour of Nigel Martyn.
Seaman said he was ‘disgusted’ and told the manager: “I told him it was a rubbish decision. I would have said more but he jumped in, telling me my England career wasn’t over and not to say what I was thinking in case I regretted it later. So I just repeated that it was rubbish and stormed off.”
Some of the bad feeling was because Seaman hadn’t received the promised phone call telling him whether he was travelling but he added: “The England business aside, I liked Graham Taylor as a person. After I received my MBE, he walked into a shop in Rickmansworth and, when he saw me, got down on his knees and started bowing and scraping. It was embarrassing but very funny.”
Ince, apparently, was always telling Seaman he would score against him and promised to never stop talking about it when he did. But when the midfielder – now 58 and revealed by us earlier this season as Wolves’ oldest ever goalscorer – netted against Arsenal at the Riverside Stadium in March, 2000, it was not quite the scenario he had hoped for.
Although Boro built on his 48th minute effort by winning 2-1, Seaman had gone off injured at half-time to be replaced by Alex Manninger, the senior man texting from the coach later to say: ‘Unlucky!’
And some more random thoughts from Seaman and Safe Hands….
On England managers: “I felt a lot more at ease with Terry but I thought hoddle was very sound when it came to the football side.”
On a certain England coach: “Steve Harrison is a genuinely funny guy.”
On a striker we came to know well here: “Dean Sturridge is another great finisher and a very under-rated one.”
On a back-up Arsenal (and, later, Wolves) keeper: “Graham Stack has good chance of making it as well.”
And on the Goal Machine: “I was always surprised at Steve Bull staying at Wolves. He was praised for his loyalty but a player of his ability should have played in the top division. It is a cliche but you do only have one career.”
Safe Hands was published by Orion more than 25 years ago and wins high marks from us for its candid content.