Unhinged to say he kicked my door in

TIME to put the record straight on one of the more undistinguished episodes of my international career.

Former Wales manager Bobby Gould, for whom I have all the time in the world, gave an interview this week about sending me home for a stupid prank when I tossed a No.3 Paolo Maldini shirt in the bin for the TV cameras before we played Italy 20 years ago.

Bobby (above) reckons he “pretty much kicked in the door” of my hotel room and told me to pack my bags – except it didn’t quite happen like that.

I was disrespectful to Maldini and I’m embarrassed now when I think of the way I behaved. I was young and naive – but I should have known better. Bobby had every right to be angry with me.

But kicking the door in? What actually happened was that he rang me in my room at 5am, waking me and my room-mate Paul Jones, and asked to see me in his room down the corridor. He said he’d seen the interview on TV, he didn’t like it, and I would be dropped from the squad.

I remain grateful to the core of senior players, like Mark Hughes, Neville Southall and Dean Saunders, who pleaded with Bobby to reinstate me. But, as far as I know, the door at the Carden Park Hotel is still safely on its hinges.