Episode 12 Late Kick Off North East and Cumbria

On tonight's Late Kick Off: Down again - what next for Darlo? Boro's

man from down under on how injury nearly drove him home. Yfrpblgts do

I want to be injured all the time in England, when I could be injured

in Australia? Down to the wire, Carlisle's play-off hopes take a

hit. Hello everybody. Welcome to another

programme, joining Danny Mills and Delighted to welcome the Newcastle

United defender Steven Taylor. On the weekend when your old team-mate

Andy Carol gets that goal that almost certainly guarantees

Newcastle European qualifications, because the two FA Cup finalists

will qualify. Half the team were watching it in the restaurant. We

were nervous with Everton starting so well. Second half they seemed to

just defend. The amount of times I saw Jelavic by himself. Andy's done

us a favour really. Do you see this season coming, could you see the

form coming is it shock within the dressing room that you've done so

well this season? It's good to see because a lot of media guys were

eating their words. When we were in America and in pre-season,

everybody had us written off to be involved in the relegation battle.

As players, we had a small squad, but I think team spirit has shown

through and has got us where we are today. Fly in the ointment is your

own lack of involvement. Achilles, that's, put your leg up, let's show

people. That's that bit there. That actually snapped. Some people

won't know. I didn't know I had a pelvis until I did pilates on

holiday. I thought only ladies d. It snapped in the game against

Chelsea? It did. I was running back wards and felt a Big Bang. I looked

behind and I thought I was kicked in the calf but a horrible feeling.

The ankle goes floppy and there's nothing you can do apart from

hobble off the pitch and get my physio to tell me, yeah I think

you've ruptured your achilles. It's a painful one. That moment must be

the worst for a footballer, when he knows he's out for the season and

when he knows he has that huge pile of recuperation to do. It must be

awful. Yeah, it took about two days to get the operation. About two

weeks after, I think that's when it kicked in, because I knew how much

rehab, early 7.30am until 3pm. It's very difficult. You have to be

positive. It's happened now. Forget about it and move on. No point in

crying about it. Where are you with it, what is the plan to get you

back? The plan is to be back training with the physios and

before the end of the season, so when the lads finish, I'll be

joging around the pitch. I'll be frustrated but at least I'm out

there. You have to be that bit of sunshine. That's a long season.

They give me two weeks off out of the six, I ain't too bad. I'll

settle for that. I'm pleased. Saturday really summed up recent

life as a Darlington supporter. A glimmer of hope then disaster,

relegation from the Blue Square Premier was confirmed in the

cruelest manner. In the last ten minutes they threw away the lead

against bath City. But the very existence of the football club is

everybody's major concern. It's a family. We're proud to be a

member of this family. It's in the a Premier League club. It's our

club. It's our town. There will be tears if we go down. I don't know

what we'll do with ourselves. Certainly won't support another

flipping football club that's for sure. The day of reckoning for

Darlington, 17 matches without a win an 18th would confirm what's

been coming for a long time. - the dreaded drop. The focus is the next

90 minutes. Across in the boardroom, it's about ensuring the club, which

went into administration last December, has some kind of future.

A fans' company has been formed, the aim is to raise around �500,000,

enough to take them out of administration. I'm just a fan. I

wouldn't want this club to go down any more than any other fan would,

but if we go down, we can get up again. If we go out of business

that's a different case. Board is hoping to take them out of

administration in a couple of weeks, but it's tight. If they don't get

it sorted by June, they'll drop not one division, but two. May 2 is the

date put aside by the administrator to make sure that all goes well.

There's a 28-day cooling off period then. There's been elements

happening totally outside of our control that have dramatically

delayed everything. There's a very good chance that we will be

successful. I'm very hopeful. I know we've got to raise some more

money. We have business proposals to put together and for investment

in sponsorship, and I'm hopeful and quite confident that we will raise

the money needed. We're old hands at this. This is our third

administration. People are helping us. We've got the town behind us.

Maybe not all of it, but a lot of it. Supporters are backing the

fundraising effort in many ways. do the sponsored bike ride to raise

funds for Darlington football club supporters club. We did 150 mile

walk from Darlington to Lincoln. We raised just over �1,000 for the

club. Others are buying shares at �100 each. That's lovely. Thank you

very much. My son's 14. This is his third administration he's seen. For

a 14-year-old supporter that's in the a good record. Hopefully if we

take it forward as a community club, we won't be in this position again.

The dreadful season has been the ultimate test of fan loyalty.

matter which league we're in next year, I'll be here. No matter what

league, Darlington's in, I will support them. I've supported for

years. I'm not going to stop just because they get relegated I think

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds

a nice comfortable 2-0 win today. They're two up with seven minutes

to go, it a win would keep them The result sums up the last six

months. We've been going down for a long time. All I wanted the boys to

do is to ensure we went down with a fight. We done that. There's a lot

of boys who I'm immensely proud of, because they've been paid scraps

since November last year. They have more to look after. Them boys could

easily have walk add way. Like myself, they've stuck it out. We've

seen it through. We got the ending that we all feared but prayed

wouldn't happen. I ain't going to criticise anybody or anything

that's gone on. It's just a hugely disappointing afternoon for the

club, but it was inevitable. Well talk about snatching

relegation from the jaws of victory, where on earth does this leave

Darlington? It leaves them in a really precarious situation.

There's a meeting at the end of June, at the annual meeting f. They

haven't come out of administration by then, there's a chance they

could drop into the northern Premier League. Teams like Matlock

Town, that would be a disaster. An automatic relegation because

they're still in administration. It's a dire situation, from where

they were in the Football League a few seasons ago. Then it becomes

self-defeating f. You're playing at this level, clearly we hope by the

time that conference meeting takes place at the beginning of June,

that Darlington have sorted themselves out, if they don't, you

can only imagine the supporter numbers that will come to that

enormous white elephant of a stadium, which we're still back to.

At that level, you'd be lucky to get 200 fans in to watch a game.

You'd get more than that Danny. not sure you would. The fans are

more loyal than that. Will they watch Matlock Town? It's not going

to happen. You'll have more stewards than fans in the ground.

They will have a stand each. It's desperately difficult. Give us a

perspective on what the dressing room would be like? You must be

able to smell the demoralisation when you've gone 18 games without a

win, I mean and all that's been going on around them as well.

I think. So the conference knocks it out of you. When we were

relegated, we were getting defeat after defeat, as a team there's

arguments amongst themselves. There's the blame game. I think

bigger characters have to come out and step forward and help the young

lads out. I don't know what's gone wrong with Darlington. I mean, yeah

it puts your injury in a bit of perspective when we watch the

players there talking about not being able to afford to pay their

mortgages and worse. Absolutely. I was in athe situation when I was on

loan at Wycombe Wanderers and getting the chance to play when I

was 17 years old and seeing the lads when we got beat. They were

nearly crying because they weren't on big wages, but they had the eyes

on their bonuses. They weren't getting it. It was a massive thing.

I understand it's a sad time for them. For a football club and the

stadium there, I remember playing against them pre-season last year,

it is a very sad. Speaking of putting things in perspective, I

spent some time with the former Middlesbrough defender Gary

Parkinson for a Five Live documentary. He suffers from locked

in syndrome, which means he can see, hear and understand everything

that's gone on around him, but he is completely paralysed apart from

being able to communicate by blinking. The feature is on the

iPlayer for another three days look for Five Live broadcast on April 12.

It's worth a listen, apart from anything else to hear his truly

inspirational wife. Can you find Late Kick Off on the iPlayer as

Still to come: A history test for Williams, can Aussie star Reese

remember Boro's form at soccer roos? Viduka? Is there one more?

Well you have upset a lot of Carlisle fans, I'm talking of James

Beret goal. Somebody called Brendan Rogers unhappy with your sneering

comment about that and they want an apology from you. No, if that

cannot be the best goal they've scored in the last three, Four

Seasons. I've scored better goals than that for goodness sake.

for Carlisle United. The fans will be unhappy to see their team

surrender that 17-game unbeaten home run even though it was against

the champions elect Charlton, on Saturday. Gregg Abbot has talked

about haves and have Notts, he talked of Charlton having more

backroom staff than Charlton have players -- than they do have

players. You've been trying toe do the same. We've tried both ends

with Sam Allardyce. He brought in a lot of staff. Right now we have a

small squad and very good group of staff together. I think you have to

see what's on the table. Manchester City they have the money, but we've

bought clever. What we have done bought clever. What we have done

obviously delivered. We'll have a If they made the play-offs they

could meet in the play-offs? think they've done incredibly well.

It's just now it comes down to, it's not about form, it's about

it's not about form, it's about bottle. You need big characters,

big players to stand up and be counted, to go out and have the

courage to play under pressure. That will define whether they make

the play-offs or not. Let's hope they do. I think last season mid-

table ab security. This season they've done fantastically well.

They will be disappointed if they don't. Hartlepool, we talked about

Carlisle's great home record, they've not won at home since 18th

February. Neil Cooper talking about the team being stale. I think it's

bizarre, they have the worst home record in the whole of League One

in the season where they had this great campaign. They've sold more

season tickets than ever before and they've disappointed. Sometimes

players at home in front of big crowds can freeze. They foal a bit

more pressure. But again, stuck in mid-table, it's acceptable, but had

the home form been better, they could have been near Carlisle.

at the end of that game. Boos at the game at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland fans remember you were two points above the relegation

zone when Martin O'Neill came in. You've played expectations down at

your club, but the chairman of Sunderland has played them up. In

his programme notes, they're aiming for top six next season for

Sunderland, which you know, which when you've had a manager that's

made Thame appreciation, expectations go through the roof.

Yeah he's got a very good record. Sunderland have had a fantastic

season, just like ourselves, we take it one game at a time, as

players and manager, we kept our mouths shut. We do our football on

the pitch. Look where it's got us.All, Do you think there's a bit

of mind games in there from Alan Pardew to take pressure off the

players to say hey, that's ridiculous, can't possibly make the

Champions League, can you smell the mind games sometimes? Obviously, as

someone on the sofa there, if you want to analyse that, that's fine.

For players it's a great laugh. You read all the speculation in the

paper. We hear about Europe and all that. But we've got a great

position f. We can get ahead of Stoke and Wigan, who knows what can

happen. Spill the beans, what is -- has he done, what is he like, what

is the factor he's brought to the club? The team spirit is massive.

He brung that in start of the season, new signings, very

carefully, he gelled everyone together. How? He's very good with

man management. He knows how to deal with personalities. People

mention big egos. Look at the goals Ben has scored. People compare him

to the likes of Messi. He knows how to handle him. There's been no

problems. Johann is playing unbelievable. We had one of the

best defensive records in the league leading up till Christmas.

That's constant working and you have to trust the manager and trust

the players. As well, it was obviously talked about the split

between the English side of the dressing room an the foreigners a

few years ago. Now it seems to me, particularly the Africans, just

seems to have brought unbridled joy to the club. Absolutely. They come

in every day with smiles on their faces. We have a Dutch week, French

week, Argentinian week and African week of food. I think it's good to

bring everybody together and the banter as well. The lads enjoy it

and so they should do. How does this team compare to Kevin Keegan's

great entertainers of the mid-90s, something that you will have a bit

of experience of because we're not looking at Sir Les there, but the

little fella there, who is that do you think? I tell you, they roll

back the years. Little pin head them days. Yeah, you said it.

Boyhood, to have been in that position and to actually get to

play for the team, you have lived the dream. Absolutely. I still am,

playing for the team I've always supported. 52,000 fans want to be

in my position now and I'm the lucky lad playing in it.

Interesting fact for you, the steel for the Sydney Harbour bridge came

from seizeside. Middlesbrough's interNational Rhys Williams has

returned the favour by providing plenty of steal this season. Over

the years, he's had his fair share of injury problems, including a

ten-month layoff that kept him out of the 2010 World Cup. Initial

fears were that his recent ankle problem could keep him out for the

season, but Williams told us he's hoping to be fit for Saturday's

game against Southampton. Katie Gornall has met the latest in

Scott McDonald, Luke Wiltshire, Mark Viduk... Is there one more?

It's going to be obvious as well. Vidmar. Do you ever think back to

the first day when you came through the door as a 16-year-old? I was

pulling myself. It was difficult, very difficult, leaving family. I

was a young lad. Like after school, I'd go on the beach and being with

my mates and house parties when you're young and all that. It's

part and parcel of the game. If you want to make it, they're the things

you sacrifice. It was difficult but When you picked up that injury

against Leeds, what was going through your mind? Due realise then

how serious it was? At first, I just thought it was a little knock.

I didn't get tackled. I tried to run, couldn't run. I got it checked

and they said, well, the head physio said I think that's your

season over. For me it hurt loads. I've never played a full season

because of injury problems. My long injury, I went through a lot of

phases where I thought I'd never play again. So it's good to get

over that and with this injury I'm glad it's not the same thing. I

really am progressing. Hopefully I'll be ready for Southampton.

low did it get then? Did you think about your future in football and

maybe reflect on that? Why do I want to be injured all the time in

England when I could be injured all the time in Australia? That's how I

was thinking. Why not play in the A league, be with my family, fiance,

her family and just enjoy being at home and enjoying the lifestyle.

That always went through my head. I had three, four months living in

Australia, seeing a specialist there, which kept my mind off

football, which was good, because I know if I was here I'd be depressed.

I wouldn't do my work and stuff like that. So, the club have been

brilliant to me and that was partly the reason why I signed a long-term

deal here just because they've backed me all along. I don't want

to do anything wrong by this club. Do you feel that this club can

still get promoted? Of course, definitely, that's the only reason

I'm trying to get back. We should be fighting for first and second if

you look at results rather than fifth or sixth. I still firmly

believe we have a massive chance of getting in there. That's why I'm

rushing back. I'm risking myself hopefully to get back and we need

to get in the play-offs. We can beat anyone on our day, if you look

at the squad, our manager and our set up here. We should be in the

Premier League and all the boys know that as well. There was a lot

of rumours about you in the transfer window and where you might

have gone, which I suppose is a big compliment to the way you were

playing at the time. How close did you come to leaving Middlesbrough?

It's brilliant being recognised by Premiership managers. I don't know

how close it all came. I don't get involved in all that. The manager

said if we were to let you go, you could be going somewhere, no hard

feelings or anything. You could go and not play. That's not me. I

couldn't go and sit on the bench. It's every kid's dream to play in

the Premier League. I'm no different. I said first and

foremost I want to take Middlesbrough to the Premier League.

If that doesn't happen, then if I'm good enough and if I want it, then

maybe one day I might have to leave to find Premier League football. My

first thought is getting this club up and they're my only thoughts at

the minute. Hopefully that will come true this season or next.

There's no doubt about it, he's a talent and they've missed him.

have. There was an injury against Leeds and they didn't win in seven

games after that. Boro is a fantastic young squad. But at times

they've lacked senior players and a bit of experience. That has maybe

cost them dear. They've got three games to go. Doncaster is the next

game. Really important to win that one and get themselves into a play-

off position. First win in nine against Derby at the weekend. You

predicted that resources would cost them. You just underlined that. Is

it true you didn't think that ball from Barry Robson was sparkly?

a great ball. I don't think he meant that. I think he meant to put

it over the fullback's head. think that was an accident? Ask the

current pro-. The two bounces in between the defender weren't quite

meant. Yeah. You'll notice that the meant. Yeah. You'll notice that the

goal was scored by a man Darlington Cardiff are not in spectacular form

at the moment. They have two wins in eight. Brighton got a whooping

as well down at West Ham at the weekend. How tough to get out of

the division, you lot made it look easy two years ago. There's some

rotten old grounds to go to and all sorts of styles and shapes and

sizes and trips, hellish, arduous season. Some of the grounds are

very difficult. I think we got frustrated. We got lucky away from

home at times. Big players have to perform. That's what we did. We

went down but came straight back up. It was important we did. It can be,

when a big club goes into a smaller division, it can revitalise the

place, for the fans you get a massive away day and things, Boro's

a different scenario. They had a lot more financial jiggery pokery

to do. They had to let go of players. Keeping hold of key

players was massive. Finishing first was our priority. We did that

very well. Players performed. We had to do that. We knew a draw felt

lick a loss for us. It was good for the fans, fielding a win every week.

I think for us, the feeling was getting the team together and

getting Newcastle where they are today. That's what happened. What

have the boys been saying today about the latest dive, Ashley Young

this week, talking about it today? Stats in the Premier League are up

already on last season, the amount of yellow cards that are given for

simulation. Are you talking about this a lot? Not really, no. Sky and

TV things are making a big meal out of it. I think it's a heat of the

moment things happen. You just have to get on with it. You're telling

me it's not happening? Good honest pro-s like ourselves would never do

that sort of thing. You wouldn't simulate anything? No, certainly

not hand balls and hitting in the head. Definite lit not You have to

play by the book. Never try to conthe referee. Never pretend

you've been shot or fall down. You'll get yourself sent off or

something. Do you think it's getting worse? I think players have

always tried to bend the rules, find anything to win a game. It