The combative midfielder on Strachan shellackings and why Steve McClaren deserves more love, any given Sunday
Interview Ed McCambridge
GEORGE BOATENG
Aged 19, you signed for Dutch behemoths Feyenoord, where the legendary Ronald Koeman was seeing out his career. What was he like to play alongside?
Koeman had been an absolute hero of mine growing up. That was the same for so many kids in the Netherlands. I was a ballboy when Manchester United beat Barcelona 2-1 in the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup Final in De Kuip – I must have been 15 then and Koeman was playing for Barcelona. Then, four years later, I’m sharing a dressing room with him. When I saw him walk in for the first time I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ – I was genuinely starstruck. He helped me a lot in the early days of my career and I’ll always be very grateful to him.
What were your first impressions of the Premier League, after joining Gordon Strachan’s Coventry in December 1997?
I’d previously been one of the fittest players at Feyenoord, then I arrived at Coventry and could barely last 60 minutes. The training was also brutal. In my first week, we trained hard in the morning and then were ordered to go and rest before an afternoon session. I asked my team-mates, Paul Williams and Richard Shaw, if the coaches were serious. I couldn’t possibly do any more training that day. They told me not to worry: the gaffer would understand if I went over and spoke to him. Naively, I believed them. I knocked on Strachan’s door and asked him if I could take the afternoon off. He just sat in silence for 30 seconds before the screaming began: “I’ll f**king tell you when you train, you little s**t! Now get the f**k out of my office!” The lads were in stitches when I came back in.
How was it to play with such a great front two, in Dion Dublin and Darren Huckerby?
I knew before I joined that they were a good partnership, though I had no idea how good. Dion was the best captain I ever had – he’d dominate defenders and work his socks off for 90 minutes. Huckers was the ideal partner for him. Any ball over the top, he’d get there first. The funny thing is, they used to fight all of the time. Dion would come in at half-time and say, “That was so s**t, lad! I need more from you.” And Huckers would just tell him to f**k off! Then he’d go out, beat four players and score, so it obviously worked.
In your first season, you scored twice to help Cov
