Hello Jamie, what are you up to today? It’s just a normal today today, mate. I’ve been to the gym and I’ve just had a bit of lunch and now I’m talking to you.

You’re only talking to us today because you’re hoping we’ll mention the Budweiser Dream Goal you’ve been roped in to oversee with your Sky Sports cronies Jamie Redknapp and Ed Chamberlin. What’s that all about? Yes, I got drafted in because Mr Gary Neville did it last year and he’s obviously unavailable at the moment. We’re basically looking at the best Sunday League goals, which people are invited to send in on clips taken on phones, or cameras or whatever. We’re hoping to see people emulating their heroes in the Premier League and eventually somebody will be judged the winner.



You showed your man-of-the-people credentials by leaving Anfield with thousands of others on 77 minutes last weekend. Can we presume grassroots football is something that’s close to your heart? Oh yeah. I think with my generation, your first game of senior football was often a Sunday League game of football. Sometimes you’re playing on pitches that aren’t great, you’ve no referee, you’ve no goal nets … that’s how me and my generation of players in our mid-to-late 30s first started. Even as a child I remember watching my dad’s team when I was four or five years of age. There isn’t much I haven’t seen in football having had that kind of upbringing.



Now that you’re retired, do you ever think of lining out for a team of hungover Saturday or Sunday cloggers in your spare time? You mean do I play?



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Yeah, why not? Oh no … I just watch. My brothers still play local football and in Liverpool you have quite a tradition with the national cup, with teams from the area often getting to the final or winning it.



Some of the nominees from last year were fairly remarkable. Does the standard on show at local pitches around the country surprise you? Well it does, because let’s face it, a lot of time you’re watching fellas who’ve been out on the ale the night before. But on a more serious note, a lot of the players playing at that level are genuinely very good. Some of them have stories of why they haven’t made it and whatever the reasons, whether it’s an injury or lack of professionalism or whatever, the quality is obviously there and at times you’re going to see it resurface – that’s what we’re looking for in these goals.



Last year’s winner, Colin Quirk, is a Scouser – presumably you’ll be hoping to continue that trend of your fellow Liverpudlians winning? Oh yes, I will be doing my absolute level best to make it two years on the bounce for the Scousers.

“Quirky” scored with a deft chip at the end of an ambitious one-two, but what do you look for? Are you a fan of the long-range screamer? The individual piece of sublime skill? The end-to-end team effort? A free-kick? What floats the Carragher boat? I’m not massively into the screamers, because I think sometimes fellas just hit it and there’s an element of luck over whether it flies into the top corner or over the bar. I like something different, like a little chip that shows a player has a bit of class, knows exactly what he’s trying to do and gets it to come off. Give me something you don’t see too often.

Speaking of things you don’t see too often, which of the five goals you scored in your 737 appearances for Liverpool would you nominate as your Dream Goal? Can we count the own goals as well?

If you like – that brings your tally up to 13. Look, I scored on my full debut at Anfield into the Kop end at the age of 18. There wasn’t really much point in carrying on after that, so I left everyone else to get the goals.

Presumably after scoring on your first start, you figured you’d be scoring week in and week out? No, but that’s what the fans thought.



Until you slowly disabused them of the notion over the next 17 years … Yeah, I decided to keep clean sheets for them and let Stevie Gerrard and others take the plaudits at the other end.



We mentioned you’re stepping into Gary Neville’s shoes because he’s busy managing Valencia. Do you miss having him around the Sky studios? Oh, of course, although it’s nice to have a bit of peace. Everyone knows what he’s like, running around at 100 miles per hour … but you do miss laughing at him. We’re in there all day on Mondays and he’d always make me laugh telling me what he was up to because he always has his fingers in so many pies that something funny would inevitably come up throughout the day. He’d be worrying about something not going right and always on edge … it was always highly entertaining.

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Small Talk spent a day in the company of you, Gary and Ed Chamberlin in the Sky Studios last season and left with the impression it’s Gary’s world and the pair of you just got to live in it. A fair assessment? Oh yeah and I think he thinks that as well. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him but you’ve got to let Gary have his rants. He was brilliant on the show and hopefully he can come back one day and we can resume the partnership.

That day might come sooner than you thought. Ha ha, yeah! We could see him back on some Monday in March.

What sports do you like to watch apart from football? I like athletics, watching events like the Olympics. I don’t mind a bit of cricket, but it has to be something massive like the Ashes. I tell you what I do love for some reason, even though I haven’t got a clue about rugby, is the Lions. There’s something about them that I love and going on a tour to watch them is definitely on the bucket list.

What was the last book you read? It would have been a football one. I’ve got me iPad with me so I’ll have a look – all me books are on here because I’m getting all posh … yep, I’ll tell you what it was … it was the Alex Ferguson one. Not his autobiography, but that one about management with the American writer [Leading by Alex Ferguson and Michael Moritz – Small Talk Ed]. I read a lot of football magazines as well, so I’m constantly reading FourFourTwo, World Soccer, When Saturday Comes … those types of things I read from day to day just to keep up with what’s going on.

What was the last movie you saw? Creed … I was interested in that because Tony Bellew’s in it.

What did you make of your fellow Scouse sportsman’s acting chops? He was great in it. I actually went for some food with him a couple of weeks after and he was going on about “Sly”. It’s not Sylvester Stallone any more, it’s “Sly”. And he doesn’t call the American city Philadelphia any more, he calls it “Philly”. I was thinking: “Jesus Christ, he thinks he’s going to get an Oscar nomination!”

What was your favourite childhood toy? Well, when I wasn’t playing with a football I used to play with Star Wars figures as a kid. Hanging out with Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker is how I passed the time when I wasn’t kicking a ball around.

Cheese or chocolate. Chocolate, every time.

What four guests would you invite to your fantasy dinner party line-up. Bill Shankly, José Mourinho, Alex Ferguson and Franco Baresi.

Small Talk’s not sure Franco would get a word in edgeways with the other three shouting and throwing bread rolls around your kitchen. Yeah and it saddens me that I couldn’t find a place for Gary Neville. If you let me invite five, I’ll throw Gary into the mixer.

Consider it done and thanks for your time, Jamie. Thank you.