ALAN SMITH

The goal poacher-turned-microphone botherer names the best he shared a pitch with while playing for Leicester, Arsenal and England

TONY ADAMS “I’ll never forget when Tony was named the captain of Arsenal, succeeding Kenny Sansom. He was only 21 at the time and we all thought, ‘Blimey, that is one hell of a call from the gaffer.’ But he’d acted like a captain from the age of about 12 and he took it on without any problems whatsoever. Plus, you only had to play against him for five minutes in training to realise what a great player Tony was.”

DAVID ROCASTLE “He had the heart of a lion, the skills of a Brazilian and tackled like a rhino: he was the complete package. Rocky was never quite the same after his knee operation, but in the early days he was a wonderful player and everybody loved him. He was exceptional the night we won the league at Anfield in 1989. I will never forget him winning a free-kick, getting back up and pumping his fist, with his eyes and teeth gleaming. He had a desire to win. It was from that set-piece I scored the opener.”

PAUL GASCOIGNE “I played alongside him for England in his peak years – Gazza had such confidence. He was so proud after his first England goal, saying: ‘If I don’t do anything else in my career, I’ve scored for my country at Wembley.’ He also hit that incredible free-kick for Tottenham against Arsenal in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final. It whizzed right past my ear and I looked over my shoulder to see it fly in the top corner.”