City big money is a spent force

I’m not sure he is the sort who will want to go into television and he doesn’t have the nastiness you need for management, not like Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte.

What I know for sure is that he could have a massive impact as a coach, in particular in and around the England set-up at St George’s Park.

I stayed in the same hotel as the Germans in Sochi at the Confederations Cup and Oliver Bierhoff was there as general manager of Team Germany.

Achievement

Gaz would be good in a position like that with England – people know who he is and he gets a lot of respect.

He has played under managers with a l ot of different styles and philosophies, he’s a very intelligent lad in the way Gareth Southgate is,but perhaps he is not as good a talker yet.

That’s for the future, though, and now he stands on the brink of a wonderful achievement.

One day, it will make me very happy to say to my grandkids that I’m friends with the guy who has played more Premier League games than anyone. THERE is more money than sense swirling around in football.

Which is why missing out on Dani Alves is further proof for Manchester City that they must have a different philosophy than just, “We’re going to outspend you”.

Four or five years ago, Roman Abramovich told everyone at Chelsea that the club has to run itself as a business.

He realised you couldn’t just offer blanket contracts for £100,000 or £120,000 because it’s no longer enough.

And, just as he found, City are now realising that they are not going to be able to outspend all their rivals all of the time.