Chris Kamara Interview
Chris Kammy Kamara is one of the best known and most loved football pundits in the UK. He has established a cult status on Sky TV s Soccer Saturday, Soccer AM and Goals on Sunday. Before turning broadcaster, Kammy enjoyed a 20-year playing career, during which he turned out for eight clubs, including two spells at Swindon Town.
SoccerBible caught up with the former defensive midfielder to talk about Samsung s Win a Pro Contract competition - where the winner will sign a deal with Swindon Town to kick-start their career as a pro footballer.
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SoccerBible: Tell us about how you broke into professional football.?
We played a friendly against a Portsmouth FC youth team and I scored two goals. Ray Crawford, Portsmouth youth team manager at the time, convinced the club to sign me. They bought me out for two hundred quid and it still goes down as the worst deal in the club s history!
SB: How big an opportunity is it for a youngster to be plucked from the amateur game into professional football? CS: CK: It s massive. Football is everything, football is my life. Samsung s Win a Pro Contract is a great break for a lad. He might start off in the Football League and make his way up to be a Premier League player. He might even end up doing TV work like me after his career, who knows? |
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Without football, I would have just had a naval career. I m not saying it would have been a disaster but it certainly wouldn t have brought me the reward and enjoyment I ve had over the years. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. One of the lads who has entered Win a Pro is going to find himself in the same situation.
SoccerBible: As a former manager, what are the key attributes Swindon Town boss Paolo Di Canio will be looking for as he selects the winner?
CK: Ability. First and foremost. Everyone says attitude and desire and all that sort of stuff and, don t get me wrong, you do need to have that. But if you haven t got the ability to go with it, you ve got no chance.
The player needs to be able to listen and learn from Di Canio. He needs to be able to improve himself, and help improve the quality of the Swindon Town squad.
SB: Who are the best young players in the Premier League today?
CK: There are loads of good young players in England. If you are looking for role models - look no further than Jack Wilshere at Arsenal. He s shown what can be achieved. He is one of the best young players around.
SB: Your playing career spanned 1975-1995. What differences do you notice between the modern game and when you first started out?
CK: A lot of people you speak to say the game is quicker now and that player fitness is better than it was.
The back-pass rule was introduced in 1992. After that the game became a lot quicker and now the ball is hardly ever out of play. 
There have been changes with the equipment, too, and I m all for change for the better. Players before me talk about playing with heavy football boots and footballs with laces! In my day, the football was a lot harder and heavier, so it was more difficult to float free kicks.
Boots are lighter than before. It s 2011 and we have better technology available. We are moving on! All the best players of days gone by would have adjusted to the modern game though.
The biggest difference of all is the money that players today are paid! It s just incredible. Top players now only need to work for five years and they re made for life. Most players in my era had to continue working afterwards.
SB: The Win a Pro Contract winner will also receive a dream boot deal from www.prodirectsoccer.com What boots did you wear, and what do you think of modern boots?
CK: Black adidas World Cups were my favourite. They were just so soft and they looked the part. You ve got to be a good player to wear the brightly-coloured boots of today. If you re going to wear them, you d better be a good player. You see the likes of Rooney, Messi and Ronaldo wearing them, but I think it s brave for a centre-half!
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SB: You have a reputation as a funny man. Which players make you laugh, and could they follow you into punditry?
Robbie Savage is a character who likes a laugh and he seems to be the one who is very much in demand. Gazza was another character who would do something brilliant and have a laugh with the crowd. There are not enough characters in the game.
CK: It s different. I was a player for as long as I could be, then I was a manager for a short period of time. Then I was fortunate to fall in to TV work |
after leaving Stoke as manager. People have said to me for years, why don t you go back into football management? The reason is that I have such a great job now. I can be myself and have a laugh 95 per cent of the time. But I have always to conduct myself properly on air! I have a great rapport with Jeff Stelling and all the other lads on Sky TV and it just seems to work.
SB: If Mario Balotelli had signed for Bradford during your 1995-1998 tenure, how would you have dealt with him?
CK: Very very differently to Roberto Mancini! I don t think he would have survived under my management. Petulance breeds contempt from other players and you couldn t have that back then.
But this is the modern game and Mancini has had to bite his lip to get on with him. Mancini is a young manager, a learning manager. Everyone can see Balotelli will rebel against whatever decision Mancini makes. I think Mancini has probably handled it the best way that he possibly could because nobody blames him for Balotelli s attitude.
SB: Which team is your tip for the Premier League title?
CK: I haven t had a bet yet this season because I backed Chelsea too early on last season and by October it looked like a shoo-in. Then they sacked Ray Wilkins and it destabled the club and allowed Man United to take the initiative.
I m going to wait and see who else Man City bring in before the end of the transfer window. If they buy another couple of top players they could be the real deal. If not, I ll say it s business as usual... Man United.
SB: Npower Championship?
CK: West Ham. Big Sam will only want to be a Championship manager for one season.
SB: Npower League 1?
CK: Huddersfield Town
SB: Npower League 2?
CK: Crawley Town are the Manchester City of the Football League - their spending power is more than any of their rivals. Even though they have just come up from the Conference, if anyone finishes above them, they ll be promoted.
SB: La Liga?
CK: Barcelona. The decisions that they make about the players that they bring in are very calculated. They select players based on creating a team. Cesc Fabregas is now the type of player that Barcelona expected him to be when he played there. It s the return of the one that got away and he will fit in to their system with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.
SB: And the Champions League?
CK: Barcelona. In this modern game, you can t even tackle them. When you see the likes of Messi performing as only he can, you can t look any further than Barcelona.
SB: And finally, SoccerBible has to bring up the time you missed Anthony Vanden Borre being sent off. Are you surprised that people still talk about it?
CK: Initially, I was told off by Sky Sports because I wasn t concentrating on the game. I was in the corner of the stadium and didn t have a great view of the pitch and there was no reaction from the crowd. And Jeff knew what had happened.
The Saturday night wasn t good for me because I thought I had really messed up! By Monday though, it was picked up on Fox Sports in America, Australian TV and even in China. Once Sky realised the publicity they got out of it, they didn t seem so bothered.
It has millions of views on YouTube, so long may the gaffs continue! 
SoccerBible readers who want to enter Samsung s Win a Pro Contract and shoot for a professional contract at Swindon Town should register at facebook.com/samsungfootball by Tuesday August 31.
Regional trials at Goals Soccer Centres start on Sunday September 18..
