INTERVIEWEE TURNED INTERVIEWER WITH PHIL NEAL, LFC AND ENGLAND, MOST DECORATED ENGLISH FOOTBALLER OF ALL TIME

Hi there, everyone at BritCham. I was with you at your fund-raiser at the Dharmawangsa in 2010. F A Cup Final time. Before and after we had some great times with the kids and even a bit of fun in a friendly match with an expat XI and some Embassy folk. The Indonesian Minister of Sport kicked off. Then received the ball back. I am not sure how friendly the Minister of Sport thought it was. He was unceremoniously grounded and dislocated his shoulder. Before the game I was briefed by Ambassador Hatful that this was just some fun and aimed at improving ties, as well as putting Giving Kids A Sporting Chance on the Indonesian radar. Just to point out that I am a retired footballer and don’t know much of the subtleties of Foreign Office stuff.

But it really was a strange one when one of the Ambo’s Embassy team lunged in at the Minister. It was a tackle right out of the Souey (Souness) hand-book! That really didn’t do much to improve my understanding of foreign diplomacy. I can only guess he hadn’t been told who the Minister was…

Anyway, Chris Wren approached me first to visit you for this special Christmas event as part of your Giving Kids A Sporting Chance GKSC) 10th Anniversary celebration. You know, I really wanted to. But the one week visit unusually spanned three home games and I am under contract for special hospitality events at Anfield. I could have got away with one no-show, but not three. I hope you understand what I mean and please put my sincere apologies on record. Hopefully there will be another opportunity. Then Chris asked if I would do an interview. I was happy to. But on reflection, I am sure you all know about me and my achievements so I told Chris that I wanted to be the interviewer and give BritCham the chance to share with me (and maybe many of you) some of the highlights from the ten years. Here we go - excerpts from answers by Chris and others I met in Jakarta. PGN: Of the different legends that have supported you, who was the best?

CW: Well Phil, what can I say? Each of you has added great value in different ways. Rushie was the first, so that made it big for us. Big in the context of the media surrounding him. Big because of the different interest groups we had to accommodate, such as the Liverpool Supporters’ Club ‘ Big Reds’. Big because of the commercial interest from sponsors. Big because he arrived at a time when few real global stars were visiting Indonesia. Then there was Robbie Fowler. Of course he is younger than most on the legend circuit so the younger audiences felt more connected and had a better recollection of his achievements. Barry Venison was the first to join us for the Jakarta Highland Gathering (courtesy of Rob Davies, Connections) and was the first legend without a scouse accent! PGN: Haven’t you forgotten someone? CW: Sorry Phil. Who? PGN: Me!

CW: Oops. Yes, of course Phil. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to talk about you in your own article. You being the shy and reserved type. But actually, your visit was so different. You were with us for about a week I recall. That gave us a lot of opportunity to visit schools and do a whole range of activities. You also had the great support of Paul Barratt of the PT LFC Academy Indonesia. So you guys were working like a team. But you know we did treat you specially, putting you up in the Mandarin Oriental and having our fund-raiser at the very distinguished Dharmawangsa Hotel. All right and proper for the most decorated British (at the time!) footballer of all time. PGN: What about the legends from other sports? The rugby guys?

CW: It is said that different sports have different cultures. The rugby guys were different and the audiences treated them differently. John Bentley was quite fond of the expletives. If footballers swear, it is unacceptable. If rugby players blast off, it’s all in support of the context and quite acceptable! And the rugby guys brought BritCham its first liaisons with non-Brits. Cameron Shepherd from Oz was on edge all weekend because his wife was overdue and he was dreading the ‘CALL’. Byron Kelleher, an All Black New Zealander had one big reputation as a single lad and happy to share some of those stories at half time during the Lions v All Blacks match earlier this year. Also almost censorship material. PGN: And what about the men in white? CW: Yes, we were treated to a Sunday morning session with a few of the MCC touring team. They were led by Adam Holioake. Also great with their interactions with the kids. PGN: It would be rare for their not be any awkward or embarrassing moments with sports people on tour. Are there any you could share? Please do name names!

CW: A scary moment that need silky diplomatic skills was when representatives of the Man U Supporters Club turned up at our fundraising event threatening to disrupt the evening. Rushie was our legend guest. His second visit I recall. The previous evening, we had had a meet and greet session with Big Reds at Aphrodite. Rushie had been asked whether he regretted never having played under the great Sir Alex Ferguson. He answered very.. err… disparagingly! Of course we knew he was tongue-in-cheek because he went on to say that Sir Alex’s impeccable record spoke for itself. But one of the media quoted just his tongue-in-cheek comment without any of the explanation or context. It went viral on social media and this gang turned up. Rushie and I spent a good 45 minutes of valuable drinking time placating them. Then there was one of the rugby guys – no names- who was near dead in my car after the kids session and decided to show us his breakfast. Said it must have been the midday son. So that mess had to be cleaned up. My driver told me later that he gave him a Rp 10,000 tip! Oh my!! I happen to know Chris has many more tales that he could tell. But he is a sporting gentleman himself and respects the ‘what goes on tour…’ rule. Good man.