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ITV Programme Trailer, May 2015

Well, the football season may be over but if you are wondering how to feed your addiction, look no further than a new series of ITV's indepth look "Inside Football". In the first programme we look at the rollercoaster life of a football manager, as Chelsea's newly appointed manager, Richard Benson talks candidly to Matt Fraser about the highs and lows, triumphs and disasters of his 12 years in football management. Tune in for your football fix.

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ITV Programme Trailer, May 2015

Well, the football season may be over but if you are wondering how to feed your addiction, look no further than a new series of ITV's indepth look "Inside Football". In the first programme we look at the rollercoaster life of a football manager, as Chelsea's newly appointed manager, Richard Benson talks candidly to Matt Fraser about the highs and lows, triumphs and disasters of his 12 years in football management. Tune in for your football fix.

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Transcript of the ITV programme "Inside Football" First aired May 27 2015

Matt Fraser - to camera

Welcome to the first in a new series of "Inside Football" Our aim is to get behind the gloss and hype and show you the beautiful game as it really is for those people who make it all happen, as players or coaches.

Now most football interviews can come across as a parade of cliches and pat answers. It's rare to get a candid view of life in the game, especially from someone who is still involved on a day to day basis.

Richard Benson, newly installed in the Stamford Bridge hotseat, bucks the trend. I met him earlier this week to talk about his life in management. Benson's absolute candour about the highs and lows of his 12 seasons in management give a real insight into the pressure cooker world of the modern football manager.

Cut to VT of interview

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Matt Fraser (MF)

Hello Richard, and let me start by congratulating you on taking over at Chelsea. How did that come about?

Richard Benson (RB)

Thanks Matt. It was a little bit of a bolt from the blue, if you can pardon the pun. I wasn't looking to leave Portsmouth, in fact I was already beginning to plan for next season, but when a team the size of Chelsea comes to you, it's hard to resist. When I started out in management, I always hoped to have the challenge of managing in the Champions League. I've not had that challenge in my career to date, but next season I'll get to experience it. You know I was at Leeds when they had those fantastic runs in the Champions League, jst at the end of my playing career. I was in the squad for a couple of those games. Only a bit part player of course, but it really gave me a taste for those big games.

MFOK well lets go back to the end of your playing career and your first steps in management. You were quite a useful midfielder and quite a rare thing in the modern game - a one club player. You retired from playing at 35 - was there a temptation to go on for one more season?

RB(Laughing) No not at all. I was never the quickest of players but at 35 i had lost even the bit of pace I did have. I suppose I could have dropped down a league or two but I just didn't fancy it. I'd been at Leeds since I was 15 and although I had never been what you might call a star, more of a useful squad player really, I just loved the club anbd I didnt want to play for anyone else. I'd done my coaching badges and I was hoping I might get offered a job on the coaching side at Leeds.

MFBut in fact you didn't get offered a coaching job, you were asked to take over as manager. What did you think when the Chairman asked you?

RBI thought it was a practical joke at first. You know here I was, 35 years old, just retired from playing. Done my UEFA badge but no coaching experience and all of a sudden I'm being asked to manage a Premiership club.

MFBut obviously you said yes. Tell me about how you came to the decision to accept the job

RBWell it was a very difficult decision. As you know, the club was not in the best of states. The financial problems were massive, a lot of the best players had been sold and it looked like the next season would be a real grinding campaign with a strong possibility of being relegated. I had the advantage of knowing the players, and I thought I could get the best out of them, but it was a real baptism of fire. And then of course there were the fans. If I hadn't been a Leeds player I am sure they would never have accepted my appointment.

The Board told me that I was the right man for the job, they'd back me all the way, all the usual stuff but I knoew the reality was that the financial position was so dire that they probably couldnt afford a top level manager. I was a cheap option for them. I knew that at the time but it was kind of an unspoken thing

I was worried about it of course. It was a fantastic opportunity to get straight into management at the top level but the odds were that I was going to fail, and that could be the end for me. Look how many managers disappear after one shot at it. But in the end I just thought I had to take the risk. I did believe that I could improve the prospects for the club and I felt I owed them something, so I said I would do it.

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MF OK so you're in the job. Was it as big a challenge as you'd expected?

RB Oh no Matt, it was way bigger than that. The position financially was horrendous. The club were... well I never knew the real figure but it was at least £80million in debt. There was no money to strengthen the squad and in fact the Board were keen to offload a few more players. They were looking to generate about £10million in transfer income before the close of the transfer window and I was really worried that I was in danger of losing three or four players.

MF But you didn't did you. In fact what happened next was probably as big a shock to the Leeds fans as your appointment was. Tell me how the Sith transfer came obout. There's always been speculation but Alan Smith has never wanted to comment on it.

RB No thats true. I think it still is a sore point for him. It's no discredit to him. The decision was totally mine and it was a hard one but that was the firsdt lesson I learned - you can't be sentimental. Smitty was a bit like me - Leeds through and through and I know he wanted to stay. But the situation I had, well I had the real risk of having to sell 3 or 4 players to keep us out of administration and I thought that would be suicide in terms of our Premiership status. Smitty was really the only player in the squad who we could get big money for and I just thought I had to do it, for the good of the club. Dortmund had a £10million offer on the table and I had to call Smitty in and tell him that for the good of the club he had to go. He didnt take it well at all, but to his credit he agreed that he would go. I still feel bad for the lad, especially when I look at his career after that...

MF What do you mean by that?

RB Well no disrespect to Dortmund but they weren't really a big force in European football. Alan agreed to go but I'm sure he thought he'd get a bigger move before long. In the event it never happened for him. I am sure he'd have played more for England if he'd been at a bigger club and I suppose it's one of my regrets that I had a hand in that. I did...well nobody really knows this but about 4 seasons later....when the financial position was better I did try to bring him back to Leeds. His feeling was that he would like to come back but not while I was managing. I suppose I dont blame him for that, but I do feel bad about it.

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MF OK so you're a surprise choice as manager, you sell the club's talisman within a couple of weeks of taking the job - what you really needed then was a cracking start to the season...

RB (laughs) Absolutely Matt. That was what I really wanted. Didn't get it of course. The first game was away at Man City and to be fair they thumped us. It was 4-0 and we were lucky to get nil. We followed that up with a home game against Blackburn and that was no better. 4-1 that time and the crowd....well they were not on my back exactly but you know when you are in the dugout you can sense the mood and I knew they might turn on me if we didnt turn things around. And of course I knew I had no chance of bringing in any new players so I had to get the squad playing out of their skins. I also knew I was going to have to take more risks.

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MF What risks do you mean?

RB Well with Smitty gone, I had to rely on Viduka for goals. And I have to say, I thought that was a gamble. I have never known a player as lazy in all my time in the game. And I don't mind saying that publicly because I told him the same thing to his face dozens of times before I realised I was wasting my breath and sold him. But I'm getting ahead of myself there - that was the following year.

It was a big worry because the defence was pretty weak and I thought I was going to have to go down the Kevin Keegan route - letting in 4 is fine if you can score 5. But I needed someone else up front and that was the other risk. I decided to promote Simon Johnson from the reserves. He'd been on loan at Hull the season before and hardly set the world on fire - something like 2 goals in 12 starts, but I thought there was something there. He had the talent but needed the confidence and I thought putting him in the team might do that. I know a lot of people are going to be thinking it was more luck than judgement with Simon but I know the truth. I did see talent there. Mind you I had no one else so I'd have had to pick him even if he'd been useless.

MF He was far from useless as we all know now. Let's just digress a little away from the story of that first season. Tell me what made Simon such a good player.

RB Well he was hardly the orthodox centre forward was he! A gust of wind could have blown him away, but he compensated for that with fantastic technique, incredible pace and a real knack for drifting into space. And given a glimpse of the goal he'd score. And in a way that made the partnership with Viduka work quite well. Mark was no great runner, but he held the ball pretty well and he wasn't selfish. Both of them ended the season with about 12 or 15 goals each. Not sensational but given that they were playing in a struggling team, it wasn't bad.

MF The fans took to him though?

RB Oh yes, he was Player of the Year probably 3 or 4 seasons in a row. And after that first season his scoring really was unstoppable. In the next five seasons he must have scored 120, 130 goals for the club. I felt like he was my boy - he's a great lad is Simon, and when he got called up for England, I'm not ashamed to say I was quite emotional about it. And he had a great debut too. Granted it was only Moldova but coming on as a sub, scoring one and setting up another is not a bad debut.

MF So what happened? He was looking like a sensation in his mid 20s, but then it just seemed to fizzle out.....

RB Well I think thats a bit of a harsh judgement Matt. You can actually pinpoint two things that contributed to the decline in his fortunes. 2009 I think it was, yes it must have been. We'd made a reasonable start the season and things were going to plan for Simon - he'd scored 5 or 6 goals by the end of September but then he did his groin in training. He'd had a few niggles with it before and the specialist felt that it needed surgery this time. That was the end of the season for him.

The following season he came back into the side of course but it was a different team. Davide Moscardelli had moved on and so had Lionel morgan. For probably 3 seasons those 3 players had been dynamite together. Lionel was a fantastic old fashioned left winger and he seemed to be able to put a cross onto Davide's head from anywhere. And Davide - well what a classy striker he was, but really unselfish too. A bit like Thierry Henry really - he scored plenty but the number of assists he made fo Simon was amazing. So anyway, Simons coming back from a big injury, and the two players he had an almost psychic connection with have gone. That and I think a little bit of wariness on his part about doing the groin again meant he just didn't do it the next season. Well I say that. People forget he scored 17 goals in Europe that season and just remember that he couldn't buy a goal in the league.

And then of course towards the end of that season I left. Ruud Gullitt took ober at Leeds and he just didn't fancy Simon as a striker. Played him out on the right a few times but really he's been a squad player ever since. So that was the end of his England career too. It'd be easy to say that he didn't fulfil his promise but his record for Leeds is something special I think.

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> How the hell do you know about benny's genious, seeing as you only registered yesterday? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry, didn't realise if I hadn't registered on this site before now then I couldn't possibly know about benny's stories from before. I've been reading from the gospel of benny since the begining at Carlisle - good call WGS, wouldn't mind re-acquainting myself (not literally) with Vinny and his cattle-prod icon_biggrin.gif

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