Interviews

Darren - My role model would have been when i was playing was probably the same as you,mine was Ryan Giggs even though he was only a couple of years older than me,when he broke into the team he was young as well he was a tricky left winger and he's still going today.

Hucks - We're all retired and he's still playing and getting a new contract.

Darren - Unbelievable! My most special moment in the yellow shirt would have been definitely beating Bayern Munich in the Olympic stadium without a shadow of a doubt i think there's nothing that comes close to that really,i did that at about 18 for Norwich and i thought it would be like that every week!

Darren - Pretty much how you did,it's just one of those things,i think when i played it was a bit different then you almost didn't get away with it,there's so many cameras now you can't get away with it,it was just part of the game you just had to jump out of the way most of the time.

Hucks - Especially with us because we were quick we kind of saw them coming,it was the one's you didn't see coming,the one's where you just get clouted from behind.

Darren - You could use as your advantage sometimes because you were so quick it only takes a little knock to take you down and people think your diving but you weren't your just so unbalanced turning from side to side.

Hucks - I suppose as soon as you've got someone booked the game kind of changes.

Darren - Yeah you kind of spend your time trying to get them sent off rather than concentrating on anything else,it's all part of the game and i think years ago players could get away with it a lot more,nowadays its a lot more protected.

Darren - I was told the club would have gone under,Bruce Rioch was the manger at the time,i was just at training and he came in to have a word he said we've accepted a bid from Leicester you're free to go and talk to them,i was happy at Norwich at the time ,i was on decent money and enjoying my football so I said I didn't want to go anywhere I'm happy where I am,I had another 3 years left on my contract,he said well if you don't go the clubs going to fold and go under they are in real financial difficulty,because I'd been at Norwich for 8 years it's the last thing i wanted to see,I didn't want to go to Leicester but unfortunately Leicester was the closest Premier League side to Norwich so it kind of made sense so everyone kind of won then,I was back playing in the Premier League and if the rumours were true the club didn't go under so they raised a bit of Eadie cash.

Darren - Left wing without a doubt in a 4-4-2, I think I was working it out a while back at Norwich I played every position apart from goal keeper,centre back and right back. I played left mid field,right mid field, left back,centre forward,centre mid field so I played in virtually every position,but definitely as you know wingers are wingers you love being out on the wing,you feel like you've got a better picture of everything.

Hucks - With me I obviously started up front but I always prefered playing on the left my own reasons were that if felt under pressure to score all the time and even when you've played well and created chances,if you don't score it's like you haven't had a good game.

Darren - Yes that's right all centre forwards are judged on their goal scoring it doesn't matter what you do otherwise like creating stuff but if your a winger you can create and score and you get patted on the back for both. I'm like you I played a lot of seasons as centre forward for Norwich and i was top goal scorer one year I got 21 I think so i enjoyed playing up front but it depended on who you were with,sometimes I was up front on my own but if you've got a decent partner with you,I ended up playing up front with Iwan a few times,Chris Sutton and Emile Heskey so it was always kind of bigger players.

Hucks - That's three not bad ones there!

Darren - Because I was the small lad you kind of want that big lad who is going to flick the balls on for you and I could run in behind.

Darren - I would like to think I would have been an England International, I got in the full squad a couple of times playing when I was at Norwich when we were in Division 1 as it was then,so to get called up in to the England squad when your playing in the league below is quite an achievement so I'd like to think if I was back in the Premier league and playing well, it's the same thing for England there isn't any left wingers there hasn't been for years so it's kind of crying out for one. When I was in the England U21's with yourself and that we got in the squad before the Beckhams and stuff like that,so you kind of think you'd like to aspire to their level of success.

Darren - I'd say again Ryan Giggs was my idol, historical game I mean it was it was Vitesse Arnhem at home was my debut and I came on with about 15 minutes to go and it was perfect because I knew exactly what was going to happen so I came on for Gary Megson and I went on to the left wing we were winning 2-0 so they were pushing forward a little bit so my first touch of the ball was exactly where you'd want it as a winger,on the half way line with no one around you and all I just did was run as fast as I could and crossed the ball and I think it was Efan or they headed it over for a corner so there wasn't a better introduction you could have had,you know it wasn't a scrappy corner you know I got the ball and just ran with it it kind of sets you away then,I can remember people after the game saying he's quick he's another young lad coming through and it kind of set things up from there.

Hucks - So how old would you have been then?

Darren - 17 I think, might have just turned 18 when i made my debut. I thought it would be like that every week you know playing in Europe but it's just one of those things you probably look back on it now and think it was probably the best time for Norwich,I think since then they've done well with cups and winning a couple of leagues but playing in the likes of Europe was as good as it gets.

Darren - No absolutely not,Gunny had a horrific injury,he'd just come back playing after the death of his daughter so it wasn't long after that,Andy Marshall came in and barring that mistake he did pretty well and held the place for a few years as his own. I think you could ask any footballer what goes on but if we knew that we'd have tried to stop it,it's just one of those things when everything went against us,I think even the season with Martin O'neil in charge when he left to go Leicester I think we were third when he left about half way through the season then we ended up getting nearly relegated by the end of it,it was just an accumulation of things I suppose.

Hucks - I think as soon as you get into a bad run it's very very hard to get out of it.

Darren - Like Norwich are doing now, they are getting a good run they think they are unbeatable, confidence is a massive thing in football probably more than any other business in the world it's such a huge thing if you've got a whole team not confident it's no good.

Darren - I  said to you when we did the Greatest Ever when we got up on the stage I said I would of loved to have finished my career at Norwich, i didn't really want to leave in the first place,I think because we are a similar age a team with you and I in it on each wing or something like that would be pretty exciting,it could have been great times but you can dwell on that as much as you like but injuries happen,but no I always did say I'd like to come back and finish my career here but injury stopped that unfortunately.

Darren - We'd have to compete that's the problem, i'd probably say me,you'd say you and so on!

Hucks - I'm pretty sure i'd beat Giggs,only in a race though!

Darren - I reckon i'd beat Giggs.

Hucks - I'd beat Underwood as i beat his brother when i was 18

Darren - Me too, i know that when i was at Norwich and Leicester i was the fastest in the squad so you can only beat what your up against, i don't know!

Darren - Again England didn't have any left wingers so I'd like to have thought I could,I did speak to Glenn Hoddle but it was more about injuries than anything else he was just saying every time I got injured to get myself fit again and I'll be back in the squad,I like to think i would have gone but you never can tell injury scuppers a lot of things. I remember the actual first time he rang me up to get me in to the first squad to play in I think it was the tour noir? and he rang me up normally you get an inkling from the club that the England manager wants to talk to you but I didn't hear anything,my mobile phone rang and that was back in the early nineties when they were those big massive mobile phones, I thought I didn't recognise the number so I answered it and he said hello it's Glenn Hoddle here and I thought it was one of my mates winding me up so I hung up straight away and then he rang me back and said no it's Glenn Hoddle so it was kind odd for him to ring you on your mobile without any warning. It's every kid's dream to play for their country,I know nowadays clubs have become a bit bigger than country but for me to have played for England would have been better than anything.

Darren - I know who that is,we once,I think it may have been at Gossy's wedding,we were staying in Gorleston he had it at the Cliff Hotel because his parents owned the hotel,we were staying at a B&B not too far away with Steve and his wife at the time and we decided it would be fun to go skinny dipping,it wasn't actually in the sea it was only about 3 foot deep so we all decided to strip off and swim across that in the middle of the night which was a bad mistake because i think the wedding was in the winter so it was cold.

Darren - Yes that did happen it wasn't intentional i hasten to add,i didn't mean to nutmeg him he kind of ran in and I sort of got the ball through his legs,he was just messing round more than anything but even on that trip I remember because I was the new lad in as I got called up late,i went up to Manchester to meet them and they'd all been playing golf all day they were all pissed as farts as the old England squads did,I went in to meet them and there was a pool table in the hotel and I was kind of sitting there not really speaking to anyone and he said to me do want a game of pool I said yeah I'll have a game, so he set them up and said you break then I sat down and I didn't get another shot,he cleared the table at the end he came and patted me on the head and said cheers lad!

Darren - Yeah I think I could have done but then it only goes on how good you do when you get in there doesn't it,if I'd have gone in and had a stinker I probably wouldn't have been picked again but as I said before I think because there was no left wingers you'd have more of a chance,being left footed gives you a massive advantage anyway because there's such a shortage of left sided players so yes I like to think I would have been a regular.

Hucks - Possibly the only really full on left footer has been Downing.

Darren - I mean Steve Guppy was there just before I got in the squad but there hasn't been anybody whose an out and out left footed player.

Darren - I know where that is,I don't drive down there fast I obey all the speed limits of course,but the next time I go past there I'll be tooting my horn as loud as I can in the middle of the night!

Darren - I'd come on as a sub,it's brilliant it was the same time as my debut season I think, literally we made a sub right near the end there was probably about half an hour to go I think it was nil nil at the time so I got put on and then somebody got sent off I think it was one of the centre halves or it might even of been Gunny that got sent off so obviously they needed to take someone off to bring another goal keeper on,I didn't even get sweaty I was on for 1/2 minutes and didn't even touch the ball,highly embarrassing but at least it wasn't at the start of the match,there was a reason for it!

Darren - At the time it was a progression definitely because Leicester were in the Premier League and Norwich weren't Leicester were also in the Cup final so yes it was definitely a progression like that but as I said before I didn't particularly want to go anywhere i was happy at Norwich and I'd like to have thought,you know if you spent a lot of time at any club you have your periods of ups and downs and Norwich certainly had some downs while I was there but had some ups as well,I liked to think there would be more ups afterwards which there was with the promotion and how well they're doing now.

Hucks - With your knee was it a progression of injuries or did you get one tackle that finally did it?

Darren - I had wear and tear to start off with,I've had 26 operations on my knee so you know over the years that's a lot of operation's! There was one final incident that kind of killed it off,I was playing at Charlton it was Scott Parker who, he says he didn't 'do' me but you look back on it in slow motion and it doesn't look great but it was just mistimed he kind of went over the top of the ball and caught my knee,I think I played the next game after that with it all bandaged up but no that was the end of it then,I had the major operations and that was it finished. My wife can't bear to see him on the telly nowadays she turns over if West Ham are on

Hucks - After speaking with Ash,he was slightly younger than you.

Darren - I was 28 when i retired Ash is 26?

Hucks - Yes 26.

Darren - I mean I started playing at 17 so I had a good 11 years,it wasn't like I got in the team at 21/22 I had a long period playing but like anybody you want to play as long as you can.

Hucks - It's difficult especially with Ash,he's finished at 25/26,he probably missed a season and a half before that so really he finished at 23/24.

Darren - But even though,i mean Ash is probably the same as me,all the times you think it's coming to an end you still don't really believe it until you get told that day that your not going to play anymore or you can't play anymore.

Hucks - Obviously i saw the surgeon but I was older,and it was my choice, so it didn't really matter to me because i knew i was coming to the end,but to have someone tell you that's it......

Darren - Yeah I remember that day sitting down with the physio and I was the surgeon at the time and he was telling me look your knee is not great you'd struggle to play again,you could do but you would yourself some serious damage,and the way it felt I couldn't anyway my knee was literally hurting me so much I knew myself I couldn't play the way it was and he said there was no real chance of it getting a great deal better where you'll be able to play. To be told that I remember my wife at the time was with me but she was with the physio outside and he sort of said to her it's not good news,but to be told that at 28 is not great 25 must be even worse but there's never a good time.

Hucks - Was it a relief well not that word but you was in that much pain,with my hip it was killing me for ages and then i found out exactly what needed doing and it was like thats what it is then.

Darren - because of the injuries that I'd had I kind of knew there was problems with my knee anyway and I kind of knew I'd be finishing early I didn't ever think I'd get to 35, but I don't know I always thought it would get better I always thought there would be something they could do that would sort it out,the surgeon said to me we can do the same operation again and it might work better next time  but there's no guarantee's and the rehab was a year and a half and i had to have my knee in a brace for 3 months without bending it and the one thing you want to do when you've got your knee in a brace is bend it and you can't your not allowed to do it and I lost all the power in my muscles and everything,so trying to come back from that anyway and thinking you can get back to fitness,it probably wouldn't have been so bad if I was playing centre half or centre midfield where you stand there and pass the ball around but the kind of way we play it was tricky with twisting and turning,if I couldn't do that anymore.

Hucks - Especially with me as soon as you lose that extra yard of pace because that's what makes the difference between being quick and really quick.

Darren - Yeah and people start to notice it especially if your seen as the talisman they look for you to do something and if your on that pitch and your doing as well as the others are doing but your not standing out like you used to people always say oh he's not like he was and I didn't want that and I knew that would happen so I knew i wasn't going to come back from it as much as I'd have loved to.

Hucks - You gave it a chance a well with 26 operations that's bordering on ridiculous isn't it?

Darren - Like i say you can never quit but you've got to face the music and say this isn't good enough it's not going to get any better there's no way out so you kind of think,but still to be told on that day, for someone to tell you, because you always believe in your head they can do something.

Darren - Absolutely not quite the opposite,to the players Robert Chase was fantastic, he was a very kind generous chap,when i was playing for the England U21's I was only 17 at the time so i was a young kid and I got called up to play in the tournament in Toulon and he flew my mum and my missus Kelly out to St Tropez and put them up for two weeks, he flew them out in his private jet and did it all and paid for it all himself so he was fantastic to the players but obviously Martin O'Neil didn't see eye to eye with him on the playing side, I think he didn't know who Martin wanted to sign and wanted to know a little bit more about it,but he certainly didn't get involved in the playing side which is one of the worst things a chairman can do is come in the changing rooms and start but he didn't do any of that he was always great and I think when you look back on it now the way he built the club up from what it was to when he did leave and the way the clubs reaping the rewards from all the land round it now he did a lot of good but unfortunately people judge him on that one incident he had with Martin O'Neil and he gets tarnished with that brush and the fact that he said he would never sell Chris Sutton and then he sold him in the summer. He was a nice chap at the end of the day and he loved Norwich and he loved football.

Hucks - It's difficult because you don't know if Sutton wanted to leave.

Darren - At the end of the day you look for someone to blame when things aren't going well and he was kind of the brunt of it,the club will always recover and it has done it's just a shame that now he probably feel's as if he can't go back to the club because people judge him but as far as i'm concerned  and i speak to a lot of fan's and they openly admit that probably looking back Robert Chase has done a lot of good for the club.

Hucks - Like you say it's probably the land round the ground that has kept them afloat.

Darren - Well yes he brought all that when he was the chairman,i think he had the car park where Morrisons and all that is as well.

Darren -  No as I said before I loved playing at Norwich I was happy here and I think you can see by the amount of players that end up living here it's a great place to live,my wifes from here my kids were born here I was happy living here, football was good I was playing well it's just like anybody in any job if your doing well at it and your happy where you are you don't want to move anywhere else it's only when your kind of struggling you want to get away. I suppose on the injury side you just don't know do you i don't think it would have been any different, I had problems leading up to that anyway it was only a matter of time before my knee gave up anyway and I think probably looking back on it Norwich probably did the right thing getting some money or me while they could.

Hucks - Yeah because I suppose you probably didn't leave for the money but you probably got paid better at Leicester than you would of done here if you were going to have a shortened career...

Darren - Well yes I had a couple of years left at Norwich where as I signed a 4 year deal at Leicester,so knew I was definitely going to get that money for 4 years.

Hucks - And this is the reason that people say players get this and that but for these two instances i.e yourself and Ash it can be cut short with one tackle,I know yours wasn't one tackle but Ash's case was one tackle.

Darren - That's why people get a lot of stick being called disloyal leaving clubs and moving on but it is a short career and if you want to earn some decent money out of the game you've got to follow where the money is,I was on decent money at Leicester not a great deal more than I was at Norwich it was kind of the fact that it was a longer contract which then obviously meant the wages were guaranteed there,it didn't matter what happened if you were injured you still got paid it was kind of a reassurance.

Darren - There is in every club isn't there one that jumps to mind straight away is Gossy,you look at him now and speak to him he's just the most mild mannered sweetest bloke you'd ever meet but when he was playing he was just a loonatic he was mad he was the instigator of everything the amount of stories about Gossy it's just ridiculous he was just nuts. He used to have a few beers and he would just change completely he'd wrestle you in his room,he used to hide in his room on an away trip and you'd have to creep past his room because you could see his feet under the door waiting for someone to walk past and he'd pull you in without his shirt on and he'd start beating you up and all sorts he was a looney.

Hucks - You wouldn't even believe that now would you?

Darren - No you wouldn't but he made Robert Fleck sit in a river once in Ireland because they were drunk and he decided he wanted to sit in a river, he once had Mark Robbins in a head lock all the way to America because he didn't like him,he was once sick on Gary Megson's feet when he was the manager because he didn' like what he said to him,the stories go on and on and on.

Hucks - Someone told me you had a fight with Bellars is that true?

Darren - I had a fight with Bellars? Yeah that's true, well it wasn't really a fight it was kind of handbags really,I was well established in the Norwich team at the time and Bellars was just on the verge of getting in you can imagine what he was like as a young lad he was chirpy as anything and we were at a Christmas party the Norwich party and it wasn't just the players it was the whole club,the directors and everybody were there all the staff it was at Dunston Hall and he kept going on and on about something all night then he said something,I can't remember what he said now but it really got me going so I jumped on him and we got split up by Gunny,it was a bit like when you see people holding them apart on their heads,I'd like to think he's changed and matured a little bit now.

Hucks - He's been at a few clubs I've been at and I've heard a few stories,he's not shy.

Darren - He seems to leave a trail of destruction where ever he goes.

Hucks - I think on his first day at Coventry he came in and having just replaced Robbie Keane he said forget about Robbie Keane Craig Bellamy's here, and the lad's loved Robbie so basically they were just trying to whack him every time he got the ball.

Darren - I mean there was rumours he told Bobby Robson he didn't know what he was talking about and you think you know there's confidence and there's arrogance and Bellars has got both in abundance,I'd never knock his playing ability I think he's a brilliant player ,a fantastic player and you'd always want him in your team but from what I've known of him i certainly wouldn't go out drinking with him.

Hucks - I know a lot of people who have played with him and he is an acquired taste.

Darren - It's a shame because he has got the ability,it's probably made him the player he is that certain self belief.

Hucks - He is a fine player there's no doubt about that.

Darren - A brilliant player I'd have him in my team every week but as i say just the dressing room side of it and everything else you have to take that along with him as well,he seems to think he's better than anyone else.

Darren - I didn't do much for about what is it 8 years I've been out of the game now,i sort of invested in a couple of businesses so I didn't have to get involved too much as they were just ticking along as they do,I kind of lost my way a little bit I've only now started to set up a business I'm an ambassador for the Princes Trust now so there's plenty for me to do and I've kind of realised now that i do need to do something because you say to anybody i've finished with the big money you don't have to do anything for the rest of your life, people think brilliant but at 28 you do that for 5 years your brain turn's to mush I remember before not knowing if it was a weekday or a weekend because every day was the same,I'd get up at 9.30 not really do much go play golf come home and everything was the same it was a bit weird you kind of realise then that you do need to get yourself into something mentally rather than financially as well.

Hucks - It's difficult,I've been quite busy but you can see how that happens because basically you've been told what to do for most of your life,where to be what to do and then you get a bit of freedom.

Darren - Like you said everything is done for you your meals are cooked your told what time you have to be at a place,what time to finish,what time to eat,what time to go to bed all that you know then you finish and i didn't have a clue what to do,I'd never booked a holiday before my wife had always done it,I'd never known how to get a passport before because the clubs had always done it so I didn't know how to do anything,I didn't know how to get a mortgage buy a car,so it was all just having to learn all that stuff again that we should have learnt when we were younger but because everybody did it for us we didn't have to!

Hucks - Basically from 16 onwards your told what to do,where to go and how to do things.

Darren - I can see how a lot of players slip into depression after football because you miss that every day laugh you have with the lads you can never replace that and anything you do.

Hucks - Yes that's the best thing,basically this sounds silly but,I know it's all about the result on Saturday,basically your getting paid to be with and have a laugh with your mates,it's the best life ever obviously you've got to be able to produce on the pitch but a lot of the time it is just enjoying working hard and just training with your mates.

Darren - And when that finishes you kind of think well what do you do, i sort of sat round I'll admit I probably did have depression for 2 or 3 years without knowing I did I just sat round not really doing anything then you kind of realise you've got to snap out of it and do something because we've all got kids  and they look up to their dad's and if you give them that impression it's not good for them either so yeah it wasn't pleasant, but you try and get on with your life at the end of the day. The thing with footballers is and why they suffer that depression is your kind of expected to deal with it because people think oh you've got a bit of money you were a footballer what have you got to worry about but when you finish there's lot's of stuff,it's all relevant to the person it's happening to it doesn't matter what financial implications there are it's relevant to the person who is dealing with it.

Darren - I think it would have been great to have us both in the team to be honest i think we're similar players players but you were right footed i was left footed,we both played on the left wing but i'm sure we could have accommodated each other in the same team we did in the U21's and stuff.

Hucks - You can never have too many good players in your team,especially creative players, i know you've got to have some base and obviously a solid grounding but the problem that i found was it was too easy for teams to double up on you and if you've got,not having a pop at Crofty because he played on the right but if you've got two people who are really dangerous then it's hard for teams to cover both of them because you'd have found it where people just double up on you.

Darren - But no i don't think one of us is better than the other,i think we're both good players who would've probably complemented each other really well in the team and that's what i said before i was disappointed we couldn't play together for a period of time for Norwich because that would have been well exciting.

Hucks - One of us could have played up front for a bit anyway.

Darren - Thats what we did in a similar thing when i played upfront Keith O'Neil was playing left midfield who was a great winger and we used to switch him playing up front and me centre forward.

Hucks - The problem would be for the other team not our team.

Darren - Yeah exactly,we'll call it a draw!