LOCKDOWN MAKES ME WANT TO CARRY ON
I’M KEEPING SUPER ACTIVE. I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER JET-WASHED MY HOUSE SO MUCH — IT’S GLEAMING
The defender who earns his living by not giving opponents an inch is contemplating the fact he must steer two metres clear for the foreseeable future.
‘You should never, ever take it for granted,’ Gary Cahill tells
Sportsmail’s Jamie Redknapp. ‘We’re in this entertainment business. We’re blessed to do what we do, very lucky. When you see people working for the NhS, ultimately saving lives, it humbles you.’
Cahill and Redknapp normally cross paths on the school run but here they meet for a virtual catch-up to talk coronavirus, Crystal Palace and Chelsea.
KIERAN GILL logged in, too. JR: Welcome to what retirement feels like, Gary.
GC: It’s hard work. I’m double active. I get up and I’m looking for things to do. I don’t think I’ve ever jet-washed my house so much. It’s gleaming! The first few days, you put your feet up. Then you realise how much you miss it — the training, the competition.
JR: If all of this had happened when I was playing, a few might have forgotten to train and come back four stone overweight!
GC: That’ll be one of the first meetings we have! We’ll be having the body-fat people in as soon as we’re back.
JR: I’ve been retired for 15 years, but there is not one night I don’t dream about football. I hope this situation makes players realise how fortunate they are.
GC: One hundred per cent. It’s phenomenal what the NhS are doing. They’re doing all the hard work and we have to support them. You just do what you’re told.
This has put everything on pause and now everyone has time to reflect. People always ask me, ‘how long are you going to play for?’ This has made me realise I want to play as long as I possibly can. As long as I’m fit and healthy, I’ll play.
JR: Speaking of fitness, we all want to finish the season but players aren’t robots. There is a reason we do pre-seasons: to get prepared and avoid injuries.
GC: Clubs will think the players need a two or three-week preseason. Look at the injuries which you could pick up if you just jump straight back into competitive games. There will certainly have to be a mini pre-season.
JR: But do you think we will see the season out? This is uncharted territory and nobody knows when it will be safe to play again.
GC: The most important thing is everybody’s health. They will try everything in their power to finish the season. As players, we’ve just got to do as we’re told.
The training ground is closed and that’s updated week by week. It’s strange because you’re trying to maintain yourself for... when? You’re ticking over but you don’t know when it will change.
CAHILL became a Chelsea great, but it could have been different. At Bolton he played several times against Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham, which put him on the Spurs manager’s radar but Andre Villas-Boas signed him for Chelsea in January 2012. Two months later, Villas-Boas was sacked, but Cahill still marked his first season by winning the Champions League. A pitch at Palace’s training ground is called Nou Camp. It’s a reminder for Cahill of the semi-final away leg in Barcelona, which he started. JR: I went to one of those games against Tottenham. I remember my dad saying afterwards, ‘I’ve got to sign him, he’s different class’. Then you went to Chelsea! how much did they pay for you in the end? About £8million? GC: Seven! JR: I know one of my dad’s big regrets is missing out on you.
GC: I remember having a chat with your dad about going there, but it never materialised.
JR: At Chelsea, you won the Premier League twice, FA Cup twice, League Cup, Champions League and europa League twice.
GC: It was a whirlwind. When someone like Chelsea come in for you, you just go. I wanted to be at a top club and grab my chance.
JR: Leicester is the greatest Premier League triumph but not far off is what Chelsea did in 2016-17 under Antonio Conte. You lost three of your first six league games and looked off the pace. But then switching to a back three, after you were trailing 3-0 at half-time to Arsenal, was a managerial masterclass. You won 13 in a row after switching to a 3-4-3 — and you started in every one of those wins.
GC: he is a great manager. he knows that formation inside-out and there was not one player on the pitch who did not know his role inside- out. If you didn’t know it, you didn’t play.
I played left of the three, whereas when we’d won the league with Jose Mourinho, Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) was left back and I was right- sided centre back. Yet then Azpi went from left back to right- sided centre back and I went to the left-sided centre back.
I spoke to Conte and he was adamant it would work. The attention to detail; the way Jose and Conte think, they never switch off. You have confidence; arrogance in a good way.
With his Chelsea contract expiring last summer, Cahill made just two Premier League appearances in 2018-19. The last was as an 89th-minute sub in the final home game, when he said farewell to the fans. JR: Talk to me about Maurizio Sarri and your Chelsea exit. GC: We went to the 2018 World Cup and got to the semi-finals, so I missed pre- season, which I think was massive, looking back now. he was very much into his tactics, probably too much, and I missed all of that.
I was on the back foot. To be brutally honest, halfway through the season, the relationship was gone. I don’t think that was ever going to be recovered.
JR: I’ve been there. At Liverpool with Gerard houllier, I’d come back from injury, I had Stevie Gerrard coming through, but didn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t a good professional. You try to be a good pro and not throw your toys out the pram.
GC: It’s difficult to have respect for some of the things he did. But I have a lot of respect for the club and the players. As a big figure then, as captain, to go about things totally the wrong way, which I easily could have done, it’s not the way to do it.
Was that easy? No. Was that one of the toughest things to deal with mentally? One hundred per cent. When you don’t play if you’re out of form and someone is playing better than you — I know that if you give me four or five games in a row, I’ll take my chance.
You know it in yourself because you’ve got that burning desire. Give me five games and you won’t get this shirt back. The problem is he never gave me that chance.
Several clubs were interested in Cahill last summer, including Arsenal and Fulham. He chose Palace and was reunited with Roy Hodgson, the manager who had named him captain for England against Estonia in 2015. His debut came in a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, in which he was named man of the match.
JR: I wrote in these pages a few weeks ago that you must be a contender for signing of the season. I stand by that. Why did you choose Palace?
GC: I’d worked with Roy and Ray Lewington before. I knew them very well and it’s a solid club. It’s been in the Premier League for seven years. You ask yourself: Why are you moving? You’re moving to play regularly but you’re also moving because you want to have an impact. I saw this as an opportunity to do that.
JR: You’ve worked with some of the greatest managers in the world: Mourinho, Conte, and Roy is a very good coach, too. What have you learned from him and the others?
GC: I’ve tried to take the good and bad. Roy comes into his element when we go on the tactical side. every manager has a different outlook on how to defend. Look at Conte and his back three. I’ve always been taught to stay goalside. But Conte wanted you to screen in front. There are different elements to defending. Roy is the same.
JR: Frank Lampard told me a few weeks ago that when he wins it feels better as a manager than it did as a player. Will you go into coaching or do you fancy joining me in the Sky Sports studio?
GC: I’m not sure. My thought process was to do my coaching badges — and I’ll start that next season — but I also want to have a look at TV. I want to see what I enjoy and what I’m good at.
JR: Thanks for your time, Gary. Stay safe and hopefully you’ll be back playing football soon.