Gary Lineker in New York The Premier League Show

When you think of this iconic city and its glittering sporting heritage

you think of the Nicks or the Yankees. Madison Square garden.

Tennis at flushing meadow. Now there is a new kid on the block. After

years of banging on the door soccer has finally found itself welcomed

into the world of US sport. I have come to New York to find some

familiar faces, stars from the Premier League who are lighting up

the MLS. Being a coach wasn't something that I was planning.

People saw something in me that I didn't see myself. Plus, I'll be

gauging just how strong a hold the English Premier League has on the

hearts of its new US fans. First, I am on my way to meet a

three-time Premier League winner and England legend who has been prolific

during his time Stateside. You might just recognise him.

Fancy seeing you here. Good to see you. Good? Very good. Lampard! Super

hit! Lampard goes for the chip, beautiful! Here you are. 38, still

going. Yes. Still here! I feel it every morning actually. Is

it beginning to take its toll, do you think? I think it's... This

sounds negative, like a downward curve after 30. I am sure you know,

yeah, I think I found myself having to adapt from probably 30 onwards,

and yeah, it gets tougher, but it's probably the love for the game. It's

the important thing. All the tough bits, the extra maintenance of the

body and gym work and rest and recovery is worth it, if your mind

still wants it and I am enjoying it. . It's finished off by Frank

Lampard! Harrison to lamb pored. To the right foot. -- Lampard. His

second of the game, it's 4-0 New York City! And playing in America,

playing in the MLS, is that a little bit probably more manageable than

the Premier League, I imagine? The reality is, and it's the question I

get asked, what's the difference with the MLS and the Premier League,

it's an obvious difference. The Premier League for me is the best in

the world, tradition, great players, lots of money bringing in the best

in the world. The MLS is a growing league. That's certainly improving,

but yeah, of course, it's different and I think we have got in the team

I am playing in we have some young kids running around, which is great,

helping me, save the legs a little bit. That's tough f you think it's a

holiday then it's not going to work that way. How it been playing for

Patrick srooir, a player we all know well and he was at Manchester City,

but for a while, coaching academy team and he has come here, tough

job. Tough start he had, as well. He did have a tough start. The biggest

credit I give to Patrick, he came with an idea and principle, he

wanted to play from the back. New to us as a team. And preseason and

early results weren't great and he could have thrown the towel in and

kept it basic. He didn't. He kept doing what he wanted. We have really

seen the team grow. Players have grown. They're learning from him.

Everybody respects Patrick because of what he did in the game. As a

manager he is proving himself in his own right here. We are sitting now

towards the end of the season in the play-offs and with a fair chance of

doing well, if we play to our best we could go all the way.

# Come on you boys in wlu! I have been to one or two MLS games and the

atmosphere is different than the English Premier League. I think it's

a different culture. Again to go back to the Premier League, it's

what we love about it is there is rivalry between teams. We play

Chelsea at Tottenham, 3,000 fans that hate each other for that. It's

more tribal. Very tribal. Here the culture, the fans come to be

entertained, there isn't that rivalry of other teams and I like

it. You can take a corner and you don't get called all sorts of names

and stuff like that! You appreciate when you play in those conditions. I

suppose in many ways the game is growing, do you think the fan base

is growing for football or soccer? Yeah, I can't call it soccer. Do you

not do it yet? I do speaking here. But not to you. Yeah, I think, it's

certainly growing and the whole thing of walking around and not

getting recognised is getting less and less. The game's global. We live

in a small world these days, social media and it's caught on here.

Lampard here for the hat trick. Will it be the first in New York City

here? It is. Ladies and gentlemen, number eight, super Frank Lampard!

I love it here. I am loving it. Great life, living in the city. Kids

are coming over a lot. Me and Christine are really happy. It's

been a great experience. If it ended tomorrow it's been amazing

experience in terms of that little patch helpfully towards getting to

the play-offs. You did it, as well. I got injured. I found it probably

more for you I am guessing because you went to a real foreign place,

here it's almost like you are at home with the language, etc but it

broadens your horizon. I feel wiser for coming and living in a different

country and working. Do you wish perhaps now you have experienced

living in a different country perhaps would you have enjoyed a

spell somewhere in Spain or Italy when you were younger? Yes and no.

The yes is because I would have loved to have challenged myself.

Loved to have tried to learn a language. I had interest from top

clubs in Europe, I could have tested myself. Then I flip it and go, what

would that have meant, leaving Chelsea, not being able to be part

of an era and team that won the Champions League and the Europia Cup

and titles, so the answer is no, basically. The grass isn't always

greener. I had a great career in England. Those memories are my

career, they're always with me now. How is the Premier League perceived

here now? We know it's on NBC, there is a lot of games and people

watching it and viewing figures are growing. Is it popular here? It's

massive. Massive. I watch every game. You wake up on a Saturday with

the time difference, there is a game on at eight, 3.00 game, you can get

- you get the 5. 30pm game. Saturday mornings are done. Cup of tea and

you watch them all. Great coverage, all the lads love it. Out here it's

massive, growing really fast. And yourself, you keep a close eye

clearly still on the Premier League. What are you thinking of this

season? Fascinating. I am loving it. Loving watching it. I am waiting for

the era to really kick in. I was excited when he came in. They needed

a different angle from last year. Where do you think it went wrong at

Chelsea? I think people relaxed. They won the league and relaxed. The

minute you relax in football, you can't turn it back. You turn a

switch on it doesn't turn back on again. Southampton lead by 3-1. I

think that's why I like him, he is known as a discipline airian, he is

working hard in training. I speak to players there and he is working them

hard. Trying to organise them on the pitch. They'll be there or

thereabouts but not sure they'll win this year but to get back in the

Champions League will be seen as a positive if they get in the top

four. Jose Mourinho, your old boss, at Manchester, has he still got it?

He's still got it, of course he has. You know, again, I think he is

trying to find the best team. Improvement there will be to get in

the top four. Not sure they can win it with what they've got even though

he is a great manager, there is something not there yet. Who do you

fancy to win the Premier League this season? I fancy Manchester City. I

think they bought well. I love Stones. They've the best goal scorer

in the league in Aquero. He is a genius. Loved being there for a year

being around him in training. Stand around in training and he will score

goals for fun. Would you like to have played for Guardiolo? I would.

I would love to even watch him take training. Very forward thinking. I

would love to be part of that. You have had a fabulous and long career.

Highlights looking back? Um... Champions League. Winning the

Champions League is by far the greatest night of my life. Describe

what that feels like to achieve the ultimate club trophy win. I just got

shudders then you mentioning it, that sounds corny but I did. It

resonates, not the game, I don't remember the game well, I didn't

enjoy the game, I just wanted to get a result. Those games you don't

always enjoy them. To say the flip, I enjoyed the hour or so on the

pitch afterwards, all the fans down one end, I jumped in for a cuddle,

you could smell alcohol. The boys had a good day out. It was

brilliant, I look back and we should have won more. We won three and

should have won five. But we did win that Champions League and that

sticks out in my career. Lampard, Frank Lampard for Chelsea!

That could be the championship. How would you like to be remembered?

Um... Well, it's not easy to put in a short answer. I suppose hard

working. Pride myself on hard work. I like to think I have been a good

team-mate and hard worker. I suppose if I look back on the club career I

would like to to have made a difference. Drogba can say that. So

can you, don't worry. People sometimes say I - sometimes jump on

the back of stuff. I like to think I made a difference to Chelsea and I

hope people can remember that. For England obviously we didn't do that.

I go back to hard working for England and very proud: Frank

Lampard on his 609th Premier League appearance leaves the field for one

final time. However long, whether you do another career or you don't,

what does Frank Lampard want to do post-football? I certainly want to

get coaching bammings and the FA have reached out and -- badges and

the FA have reached out dps An Americanism! They've reached out to

help me, sit down and plan how - because I said it recently, I do

think the FA have to help players. To encourage them into coaching?

Encourage it. You know what, otherwise the TV role is a great

role, the media is there. If you lose them to that too early you lose

them completely. At least it's an option. I have interest in coaching

and I would like to test myself at that level. I am not making

declarations here but if I get the badges I will possibly do that. I

like the media stuff, I have had little bits of doing media and enjoy

that too. It's highly skilled now. It's not the old-fashioned game of

two halves tool. It's deep-thinking and I like that too. Those would be

the two possibilities, I think. OK. Frank, thank you very much. Have a

nice day! And you! Thanks, Gary. I appreciate it!

The MLS has plenty of competition for the attention of US football

fans. The Premier League is big business over here. With lots of

recognisable figures broadcasting the English game to America each

week. We went behind the scenes with NBC to watch them watching us.

The following is an NBC sports presentation of the Premier League

on NBC... In the studio this morning huge

congratulations, a daddy for the second time... Typical Saturday, my

alarm goes off about 3. 15 am. Get to the studio for about 4.00am. Hair

and make-up. On air at 6. 30 am. Then we show all of the 3.00

kick-offs, which are 10.00 here and the late game, as well. There are

not that many better jobs, Gary probably does have a better job, I

am probably second. Finding the Premier League when I was young was

not easy and finding soccer for general in this country was not

easy. I grew up, I remember it really well, Sunday mornings before

Church I would constantly be searching for this game. When I was

young the guys would make fun of me about it, it was Bolton that I fell

in love with immediately because of JJ.

There's nothing like American football here in the United States,

they have a stranglehold on 20 million viewers, but you can tune

into any Premier League match and after ten minutes, you would have no

idea of what's going on. Great selling point for belief. This was a

controversial moment, Watford, there is contact, I think it should be a

penalty. The difficult dance for us every weekend is when you have the

hard-core fan, you don't want to dumb it down to much where they feel

you aren't talking to them, you wanted to feel like they're

broadcast but you want to be inclusive. West Brom defender 's

going down, brilliant from the Brazilian, Coutinho. We have to be a

bit careful with some of the analysis and I think to be fair we

have a nice balance of including everybody but also giving them some

nuggets of information, that was interesting, I didn't know that.

That's the balance we try and get, teaching but also getting people

excited about the league. I don't want to say that there is a

misperception around the world about the knowledge in our country but I

think being an American we have that feeling. We have a generation of

people my age who have grown up with the game. We were trying to get

Match of the Day. A generation of people who now get the game, love

the game and they would like to wanted more than anyone else. Jose

Mourinho returning to Chelsea as the Manchester manager, what reaction is

he going to get? I think he will get a good reaction. There are

supporters groups all over the United States, you will find

splintered supporter groups, not just in New York City, and they get

together at the weekends. COMMENTATOR: The build-up has ended

and we are under way. Jose Mourinho is in the away dugout. An

opportunity, it's going to be the opening goal! It's a nightmare start

to Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge. On Saturday we will

have people coming over and it is like the NFL, people watching

football, and America it is the morning so it is the perfect time to

do it. Hazard to take it to the near post and a chance at the far post

and it is in, Gary Cahill! I think the coverage is what makes it

popular, everyone can watch the games, they can see their favourite

team. Into the penalty area, Eden Hazard, getting the shot away and it

is a delightful goal. You used to be streaming it, waking up at weird

times, subscribing to weird channels but I can watch it on any channel,

streaming it, it has been awesome. In by Pedro. The left foot, N'Golo

Kante! It is four Mac we come here for pretty much every Chelsea match.

You meet people here, they enjoy it and then they wanted themselves.

People grew up watching Chelsea, Barcelona, wanting to be Messi,

Hazard, not Michael Jordan now. And a mighty cheer greeting the final

whistle. Don't tell me you are training! Good

evening. To take on your first managerial

role at a club that has only existed for less than two years would appear

to be quite a daunting prospect but Patrick Vieira has guided New York

City FC to the play-offs in his first season. Better find out how he

did it! Vieira! Oh, it's a wonderful goal.

So important, the Frenchman. Patrick, it is easy, this managerial

game, isn't it? Easy? Not at all. You make it look easy. It is going

well. It is going well but we had a difficult period. We are in a very

good period at the moment. You spend most of your career in European

football. Was it a big decision to come here, did you have to think

about it long and hard? I had to think about it, yes, because when

you have spent so much time in Europe it is really difficult to

move but at the same time I was really convinced it was the right

place for me. The people in Manchester, knowing that New York is

part of the City group, knowing the people would help me as a coach and

I made the right decision. You're enjoying it? I love it. How can we

improve when we are in possession of the ball? Spending time in the

Academy in Manchester before taking charge of this team I think was

important because it made me believe that this is something I would

enjoy. Being a coach wasn't something I was planning. And people

saw something in me that I didn't see myself. How important are the

three superstars for you? They've been fantastic. Not just on the

field. The way that they interact with other players. Helping me to

send a positive message to the group.

Nice to see you. How's it going, enjoying it? Yeah. Patrick is doing

good? A passionate coach. He has changed the team because he's a

European coach. He gets it. Good to see you, mate. All good here? Do you

remember it? Not actually born when I played! I was on Match of the Day

one time and I had footage of a bunch of kids at Liverpool with Rafa

Benitez and you were commentating. Not playing, though! Great to meet

you, anyway. Good luck. Thank you very much. Can't be bad, this. It's

lovely out here. Yeah, brilliant. I got a picture with Pirlo. He said a

few words. He is a good lad. He looks so cool. Nice to meet you.

Cheers. If I don't see you. What's the change now under Patrick

Vieira? Of course Patrick does a lot of pushing in training, he is the

most important guy in the production of the team. Getting victories and

points. More stability than is the first year. Patrick is doing great,

the standard he has brought to the club, the players, he has given us a

lift. The dedication, he is here early and he leaves late. The

evolution in such a short time, he has a great future.

What's your target for this football club? To win trophies, to give this

football club a proper identity about the way we want to play. It's

a fantastic City. It's a diverse City. The City doesn't sleep, all

the time it's moving. I want the teams to be like that, the team to

play with energy, I want the team to reflect the City. It will take time

to do it but hopefully working with Claudio and the people we can do it.

You were a fiercely competitive football. How is it being a manager,

though? It is difficult, it is difficult. It is difficult because

when a manager you on the bench. Having the feeling that you don't

control anything. Ask them to come back quickly. You make the decision

but you aren't on the field and hoping. We are going to send him

next to David. It would be difficult for a long time and only experience

will help you to deal with it better. We are going to put on Jason

and you are going to play at four. Jason is central. What's important

for me is to understand who I am as a manager and what I want to

achieve. I think if I want to be really successful, that's what I

have to do. But if I try to do something like Mancini, the players

will smell that it isn't Patrick and when they smell that, it's over.

Heh, heh! Close to David! Do you have further ambitions to

manage, you know, one of the big clubs at home? I think every coach

does around the world. I want to manage the biggest club in Europe

one day, no doubt about it and this is what drives me. You know, it may

happen, it may not happen. The way that my work will dictate the next

step but I'm really happy where I am at the moment and that is important

for me. This difficult period, allowed us to be a force on the

pitch and to be where we are today. I wish you well, Patrick, thanks.

Nice talking to you. A very busy week in the Premier League, let's

look back at the action. Mane, he has Coutinho in support.

Coutinho! Fabulously finished. Only two goals for your team? Sorry? How

was it only two? Foster. A terrific save from Foster. I think it was

faster. Oxlade-Chamberlain into the penalty area. Offside, Arsenal

thought they had won. At least you can have a drink on your first day.

When you win, you deserve it but not when you don't. Winston Reid! He's

won it for West Ham. Offside, you don't want me to say anything else.

Should be given offside. Have you spoken to the officiating team? Yeah

they think it's on-site. You obviously disagree? -- on site.

That's what I just said. -- onside. Overplaying that, Redmond! 1-0

Southampton. Playing the way that you want to play? The way I want to

play is passing to the striker. Dear oh dear. Sissoko has caught

Harry Arter. Pete isn't going to let this go, he's incensed. -- he isn't.

That's all from The Premier League Show this week but it seems that

soccer is finally starting to find its feet in America. Who knows, the

way it's going, they may even start calling it football! I'm going to be

returning to the UK for Match of the Day on Saturday and you can catch up

with the weekend's action across the BBC.

Gabby Logan will be back next week, Wednesday at 10pm. Goodbye from the

Big Apple.