Darren Eadie: Sutton is a tramp

The ex-norwich and Leicester midfielder discusses Gigi Buffon, Craig Bellamy and his greatest ever team-mate: The Tramp

Aged 19 in 1994, you appeared in FFT’S first ever issue in our Boy’s A Bit Special section. Do you remember it? I remember being called “the best left winger since Arthur Scargill”, which I really enjoyed! I’ve used the line ever since. Fourfourtwo was new, so no one knew it was going to grow into the biggest football magazine, but being picked made me proud. Now I’m happy I was first. What was it like being a teenage talent at Norwich in the early-90s? I was naive, and I didn’t realise the world was my oyster. You don’t know until you look back. I was involved in the England squad, I played against Bayern Munich for Norwich. I thought it would be like that every week, but I’m proud I managed to compete at that level, so young. Norwich were challenging at the top of the First Division back then… We had 26 players, and 13 were youth-team products. It was a great combination of youth and experience. We had older players like Ruel Fox, Mark Bowen, Ian Crook and Bryan Gunn, and guys like myself, Ade Akinbiyi, Chris Sutton and Jamie Cureton. It was our own Class of ’92. Tell us about some of your first matches... I came on for 20 minutes against Vitesse in the UEFA Cup and played without any fear. The ball came to me and I had acres of space in front, so I ran into it as fast as I could. We didn’t have the same publicity around young players then, so the Norwich fans thought, ‘Hello, who’s he?’ I was very quick and left-footed. It was a real eye-opener for the supporters. You were on the bench for the famous UEFA Cup win at Bayern Munich, then played in the return leg at home. How mad was that? I’d love to have got on the pitch in Germany, with Jeremy Goss scoring that iconic goal and us being the only English team to win at that stadium. But it was great being there, the best Norwich moment. In the home leg it was odd, lining up against Lothar Matthaus. He’d not long ago lifted the World Cup, and now I had to play football against him. Beating teams like that showed how good Norwich were. Who were the ‘characters’ in your Norwich dressing rooms? Sutton was funny – a joker and a real pain in the arse. The night before that game in Munich, our kitman Jock had carefully laid everything out for training, and Chris decided to throw it around. Jock lost his head and pushed Chris into a massive metal kit crate! He could have injured our star forward. But that was Chris... Who was the best player you played with? Sutton. He was a brilliant striker and a brilliant centre-back. However, in training he was the worst player ever. He messed about so much. We called him ‘The Tramp’ because his dress sense was terrible. He’s still a scruffy git now. Norwich were relegated only a year after the win against Bayern. What went wrong? Norwich have always been a selling club, and if you sell your better players, that can happen. Sutton signed for Blackburn, Fox went, and the side broke up. If you don’t replace quality with quality, or the new player doesn’t quite fit into the jigsaw, it doesn’t click. It was a shame, but when the money came in, they had to consider it. I later went to Leicester, so was a part of it. You scored against Gianluigi Buffon in 1997 for England Under-21s... I still bring this up every now and then! Me and Harry Kane are two of the few Englishmen to have scored past Buffon. If you look at his career and record, it’s something to tell the grandchildren. What was it like being called up to the senior England squad? When Glenn Hoddle initially phoned me, I thought it was someone pissing about, and hung up! Luckily, he phoned back. It was just before Le Tournoi in ’97 and was a heavy-hitting squad, including Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Ian Wright, Paul Scholes and Paul Gascoigne. But training was very cliquey. I was called up from the Championship and was really nervous. I remember going down to breakfast early and sitting alone at a table. Andy Cole came in next and went and sat at another table. He blanked me, and that didn’t sit right. Others – Jamie Redknapp, Ian Wright and Tim Flowers – were welcoming, though. You never forget those kind of things. How close did you get to a cap? I might have got a full cap at Le Tournoi, but I got injured in training. It was one of the best England squads since 1966, so to get called up from the Championship was an achievement. Martin O’neill had a short spell as Norwich boss early in his managerial career. What was he like back then? I really rated him. The best thing about Martin was his man management. He kept a distance from the players in training, but on a Friday he would appear and you’d take note. He didn’t get too familiar. He was a very good judge of character and knew how to get players feeling good about themselves. A young Craig Bellamy was there, too… Craig was… trying, for want of a better word. I’d never knock his footballing ability. He was so talented, but he was a massive pain in the arse. He was quite nasty, really. In a way, that is what made him so good. He did whatever it took. He was rude, but he believed in himself. Did you enjoy the Norwich-ipswich derbies? Scoring in those games was the best. I played in a dozen and only lost two. It was bragging rights, and you want to make sure your fans have that. They will miss the derby this season. Your career was cut short by injury – was it difficult adjusting to life after football? It affected me deeply. Having the thing you love doing the most taken away from you at 28 – it’s hard to explain how tough it is. You can’t do it, but still have to watch your mates. I ended up doing some work in mental health. I’ve had a great life, but anyone can struggle mentally. If people like me can help others to open up a bit and get help, that’s my job done. Will Norwich avoid relegation this season? They’ll surprise a few people. They have good attacking players, can pass through sides that sit behind the ball, and the two full-backs, Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis, get forward well. The problem is, they also concede goals, and in the Premier League they will have less possession. I’d like to see them have a good go at teams. Tell us about your new show, FC Kitchen... It’s about getting fans to think about their diet, and veganism. I went vegan for a while and it made me consider my carbon footprint. Physically it didn’t make me feel better or worse, and I won’t give up meat, but I’ll eat less. Football fans are some of the biggest meat eaters around – we go to football and eat burgers, hot dogs and pies.

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