Social.

The players now tell them how lucky that every day that I could go home and two o'clock and I'm still here doing this beauty.

Oh, right.

That's good.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

But we're here.

Chelsea, to talk to you about your career in football or rewind the clock a way back to when you were just a little kid.

Did you always love football from a boy's age?

Yes.

Yeah, about that.

Born into a football and family my dad played for West Ham for 20 years.

My uncle Harry Redknapp Your cousin Jamie is how I didn't have much choice, but I didn't want a choice for my early days I remember having a ball in my hand on my feet, a lot of time in the garden as I started to go to school days back from school, kicking about off the wall, old school, practicing just probably jumpers or trees, remember, had a tree in the garden and then maybe needed a jumper in the tree.

I had a little wall at the front of my front door, really, so I was little constantly that bang, bang, bang Just right foot left Because my dad was an explain.

Hey, wasn't just casually sitting against do it was not usually head into your sprint.

Really competitive?

Yeah, from a very young age ourselves doing sort drills, simple level.

But I love the love that was born in.

Did you feel the pressure?

You mention that your football and family your uncle, you that did you really feel the pressure that you have to become a professional football almost because of the football family come from yeah, to a degree, Had to is a big word because because my dad was involved in the game, he knew how difficult it was.

So everybody, everybody, a lot of young people now want to play the game.

We love the game of football, a sleaze on a worldwide level, but the ratios in the chances to get to the top of a difficult And my dad was very aware of that.

So he was always reminding me off what what might not be And if you don't work hard and all those sort of things.

Once I had to, but I was I was nicely pushed.

I love the game always, anyway, but, yeah, As I got older, I remember feeling really determined that, you know, I started to train a professional clubs while I was at school.

I felt like I was one of the better players at school.

Always the best.

I wasn't always the the number one and the team that played out, but I had a lot of dedications, probably having that family upbringing I'm talking about.

Help me.

It made me really aware of what it would take to try and get to the top dimension family that are made of Sky.

Jamie Redd.

Difficult for you.

What age did you first start playing football with your cousin Jamie in the back garden?

Four years between us, eh?

So from that very young age, I would have played.

I remember going to bomb us where they lived their family from Essex to Boomer from summer holidays, probably from the age of about seven upwards.

And our members are gonna start to get into my low teens.

And Jamie was already then on a bit of a breakthrough.

He was 17.

Good looking, great had show.

Remember the rougher in shirt.

Why don't you remember I Ralph Lauren shirts with the ones and he had the better ones and I had a little face.

It lies in the patent, and now I used to go down and spend a lot of time with him, and we were in the garden all the time.

And I told this story before, actually, but we used to.

He used of a bird cage in his parents and Karen Sanders Garden on Easter.

Stand down.

We just used to try and not smash balls.

Okay, you're trying to hit the top top bird cages, and Jamie was obviously better.

May I remember?

He was that four years advance and seemingly had everything.

Can I just go there and just look up to him and would spend hours practicing now?

Right foot left foot, different parties and education is big another haven't we do?

Previously this year we spoke about your I Q.

Being very high, your your a star in Latin and how much you enjoyed your time in school.

It was a tough decision at GCC age whether to go into football or or education wasn't says a bit about that.

Yeah, in the end, it pretty wasn't tough, but it was the stuff as it could, because because I love football so much.

And I realized the opportunity.

I had to go on the sign, an apprenticeship with West Ham.

And my dad had told me, and I knew that it was felt like a necessity if I wanted to give everything to my football in life that I had to go and put in those hours and you only do that.

Apprenticeship is the best way to do that at the time.

So I always felt that that was the way I was going.

But because the school would be in good because my parents had pushed me.

I wasn't outstanding pupil.

I wasn't.

I got on a star in Latin, probably because I was attentive, wanted to place my teachers.

So, you know, try and revised might be like, last minute kind of revision thing for a minute.

And just try and get good results.

I did pretty well.

And then when you went to the West Ham Academy, how easy did you find that sort of transition obviously had really strong family ties to the club.

Did you find any sort of problems in the dressing room with jealousy among teammates in the youth team.

No, not really.

Maybe in small doses in the U team, probably some of the best days of your life, because you spend so much time together, you've got a common goal is that you will want to be a professional footballers.

And that time your training you pushing, You spent hours cleaning the gym, picking up balls.

You know, you just can't believe your luck that you're in an environment that you want.

You actually want to go up the ladders.

And and I loved it.

We were great friends.

People like referred, and he was a year younger than me.

But really, you seem lot supplies I could name that have gone on and had teas and careers of one out of the game.

But at the time it was it was special, and it was.

A couple grew up supporting so now that they were proper times, and if there was any moments of jealousy, it was probably human nature.

Probably some people might look at me and said that his dad's the coach, you know, Uncle's the manager on DNA.

None of it really got in my way and in fact it was part of the learning curve.

You know, if you have little moments like that once, maybe tougher as I kind of got along.

But I have no bad memories of those you theme days.

They were brilliant and there was so much part of the process of not just learning your trade on the pitch, but learning way.

What you need to be a professional football, Other work ethic, understanding the professional, some of the first in place and you clean their boats and they have little chance of you and drive you on.

There were there were huge parts of it and signing your first ever professional contract pen in hand.

How did that moment filthy, Special?

Special Because it really meant something turned 17 sunder two year contract at the time at West And then it was a huge deal.

What that meant from being on apprentice was a great thing and honored to be part of club.

That means a little bit of okay, I might have a chance at something and actually the club believing a little bit.

So when you feel that the belief in the club that they think you're worthy of that.

Then it was.

It was a little confidence boost The moment I chose to come in.

For me, that was a no brain.

I've spoken to a couple of clubs before, but this was a club that they sold division to May wth e plays that were There were players that I'd sat watching on the sofa the year before.

Remember Chelsea plan?

Little form.

I'm really well at unfilled, and it was Zola deaths.

I e poi wires and I kept the ball and I thought, Wow, what great football and end of a sudden they want you and it's hope, a bigger club straightaway and because of the names that I mentioned, World Cup winners that we're playing there.

Andi, I realized I had a price tag, and I realize now that I was in a different position where people would expect a lot more from me, and that was something that was probably challenging in the first place.

Did you do initiation?

Frank talk about you signing for Chelsea?

We skated over That fact is, you have to do initiation.

I think the way I sang, maybe it's because I'm a Londoner.

I know that what I did and I really written preseason in Italy long.

Two weeks really long.

Mean Daddy Moist, My sister.

Now we roomed together with an interest in two weeks and it was very remote and I think I had it.

My song was on about day 12 of 14 so I had a long something.

That way I sit in a room and not try until I did it.

I thought, maybe it gets a bit more like you can just bounce on the check.

I just remember standing on the chair and Justin Siler and deaths.

I and I people.

We spoke Thio from your plane.

They just always say best trade whenever you start about for any Frank Lampard, Frank Lampard that how much used to stay behind and work on your game?

You've obviously talked about coming from a football background.

You had a lot of natural ability clearly, but did you feel that that was a big part of your development?

You have to constantly, constantly work on your game.

It was it was the biggest part for May I think foot boys.

I don't know the percentages, but they say 50% talent, 50% work ethic in mentality.

That's how I saw it.

For some, it might be different than others.

I knew that if I wasn't absolutely at my best things carried on through my career as well, then I wouldn't be out to perform that the levels required for a club like Chelsea when I moved here or internationally, so I never felt that I had the most pace.

It was just made, So I used the world couldn't religiously.

I forever tried to find weaknesses in my game that I could work on to the point where it became an obsession.

On def.

I felt I didn't work on them in the week.

Then it wouldn't come right on the weekend on became my career.

Let's talk about about Josie Marina, because here was a massive part of your playing career as well.

What was it when he first arrived that he changed?

Was there anything specific?

You look back on, You think while this is the moment I knew you were gonna hit greatness, it was mentality.

It was We've been a team just squeezed into Europe the year before.

Then we have one year we came second without ever in the area.

Really Good year.

Made the semifinals of the Champions League, but when Josie Marine you walked into the building, it was like me enough for this.

But we're gonna win way.

We're like, we're quite impressive.

Well, I certainly felt I was mid twenties on DDE had never really want anything.

Probably didn't believe Definitely.

I had every little bit that you have to have to be a winner on this man walked into the building and said, This is what we're gonna do a light So we were like, way on the use of write lists of games coming up.

We're gonna take 12 points at 12 in this period, and then we're gonna take another 12 in this period and all this sort of stuff, and it just changed our minds.

It certainly did.

For May I speak to a lot of the lads that were in that group.

Hey was obviously great on the pitch tactics and detail and getting the little bits needed on the pitch.

But for me that the main thing was self confidence and belief and saying that we will be winners and we kind of go into it.

We can't not a wet shells and talk about trophies there on the wall behind us, you're pretty much here for nearly all of these may be the last couple which can't say, hey, highlight of all of them, I think I've heard you say before Champions League.

What is it?

12 Champions League?

There is a right.

I mean, it's e.

I don't want to belittle this particular the first Premier Li 2005 because of what a huge thing that made for us.

And it was 50 years and chills had done it first for us as a group of mention.

Reno.

Yeah, we're gonna be winners.

There you go.

We were at the end of the year, so that was special and goose bumps when I think back.

But nothing touches Munich.

Munich was something that we fought for for near on 10 years.

Five.

Semifinal, six semifinals.

The final lost on penalties and you're so close to doing it and then to go win it in the backyard of Bayern Munich or an incredible team, it was something so so special in terms of for us is supplies and group for the fans in Munich that my family came, a friend's all came.

The best city was amazing.

The the hospitality of the Munich fans as well to be fair and the after party, which lasted about a week way stayed in the hotel and where we would been stand and had a poll on top.

I actually went to bed and fell asleep, which is so not like about four or five in the morning.

And it turned out they went back up talking with everyone was jumping in.

The poll missed that.

But then we travel back to London and we had the parade around Stamford Bridge on Dhe.

Then the next hour remember, we went Thio concert T Oto and in about two days later my wife said to make my wife now said to me, You just need Thio slowed down.

A little bit of a game was about four over England.

You played into the golden generation.

Of course.