Kenny sansom on england, arsenal and battling the booze

The former left-back thinks stars such as Christiano Ronaldo and David Beckham have forgotten their roots.

He said: “I still get on the tube and people come up and say I’ve made their day just by shaking my hand.

“I don’t think you’re going to see Thierry Henry getting on the Underground at Oxford Circus and talking to a fan. I’m not saying it makes him a bad person but the gap in football has got too big.

“It’s a problem for journalists too. I did the England training session for Sky Television and the players just walk and jog past you. They don’t even acknowledge the press. If the media said ‘morning, Ken’, I’d say ‘morning chaps, how you doing?’.�

For all their fame and fortune England’s current crop of players are missing out on the Euro 2008 party in Austria and Switzerland and it’s now down to Fabio Capello to guide them to the 2010 World Cup. But Sansom, who won 86 England caps between 1979 and 1988, thinks the new manager has to get things right soon.

He said: “I’ve not been over-impressed with the performances. He doesn’t know his best team and how certain players can play together or as individuals in certain positions so I would give him at least 10 games and then really try to suss what he wants.

“The toughest thing he’s done is put rules down. If he’s going to make them he’s got to keep to them, that’s the most important thing.�

The Italian’s approach differs from the two managers Sansom played for England under Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson.

“If Bobby said ‘don’t be late’ he would probably forget anyway,� he said. “If it was six o’clock he’d turn up at half past. But Bobby had great belief in himself and he believed in the players and was a great manager.

“Ron Greenwood was a football man. He was ‘lads, why should you run around when you can make the ball do the work?’

“We’ll have to see how Capello does but he seems to be quite strict.�

Sansom was part of the England side beaten by Diego Maradona's Argentina in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, and he has his own view on who was to blame for the controversial "Hand of God" goal.

"Steve Hodge," he said, laying the blame firmly at the door of the ex-Spurs midfielder. "We used to call him 'Mr Forgetful' because he'd never remember anything. If Bobby Robson told everyone to turn up the next day wearing their blue England tee-shirts Steve would be wearing the red one.

"We'd spent hours practising a drill to deal with Argentina at free-kicks but at the moment when Maradona got that chance Steve completely forgot to come out with the rest of the defence. If he had then Maradona would have been offside.

"It's quite amazing that he didn't remember the drills we'd practised in training, especially in a game that important."

Sansom, 49, was in Canary Wharf signing copies of his autobiography "To Cap it All", a no-holds barred account of his football career and his long struggle with alcohol and gambling addictions.

It’s a long time since his 1980s heyday so why tell his story now? He said: “So many people asked me when was I going to write my life story. I wrote a book in 1986 called Going Great Guns but that was just about the year we won the Littlewoods Cup and the Maradona “Hand of God� incident. This is just a good time to tell what I went through.�

And was it difficult to bare his soul about his addictions? Sansom admits drinking up to eight bottles of wine a day and gambling away huge amounts of cash, before eventually receiving treatment at Tony Adams’s Sporting Chance clinic.

“I enjoyed it,� he said. “The one thing I learnt in rehab was to tell the truth. As soon as you fib, those fibs catch up with you and it’s not very nice.

“I just wanted to tell everyone what happened in my life. There’s been some good things, there’s been some silly things, there’s been some bad stuff. But everything in there, although I can’t remember everything, is true.�

And Sansom admitted that although he has his addictions under control, he hasn't binned the booze entirely.

"Well, I still have a drink now and again." he said. "I know if people see you out and you say you never drink then again that would be a lie. I have a couple of drinks every now and then but I try to stay out of betting shops, which is one of the tougher things. I do have a drink socially but nothing like I did. I don't think my health would allow me to. I'm diabetic so I have to watch it."

Sansom is still involved with Arsenal as a matchday host at The Emirates and he's believes Arsene Wenger's side can end their trophy drought next season.

"I think a lot of Arsenal fans said last season we'd had a bad season but I say, hang on.

"We had Van Persie out injured, Rosicky injured, and the Eduardo injury. Man Utd deservedly beat Arsenal 4-0 in the FA Cup but the three games against Liverpool in a week, two in the Champions League, one in the league, Arsenal should have won all three.

"They should have beaten Man Utd away in the league. I thought that was one of the best performances of the season, especially after what had happened in recent games. I thought the Birmingham game there was a penalty that shouldn't have been given and the Eduardo injury.

"There was Sagna, Fabregas and Flamini. Obviously he's left the club now but I think that will be his downfall. Not many players leave Arsenal and do well. Overall it was a good season.

"If he [Arsene Wenger] can get a couple of hungry lads in. That for me is one of Arsene's big secrets, his skill is to get people who are hungry and I mentioned Sagna. He had a magnificent season and he's hungry and I think that's the real strength of Arsene Wenger.

"If he can bring in a couple more hungry players and the young boys who have done so well go again next year. People with experience, like Gallas, Toure, Clichy's getting better, Sagna. You've got a back four there to be safe.

"You've got Fabregas but I'd love him to get a young Gary Lineker. I think it would be really nice if he was English but I think you find most of the top English players are at the top clubs, and that's a problem."

And what of the future for Sansom himself? He spent two months last year in China coaching and mentoring young hopefuls on a reality tv show called "Soccer Prince" but he doesn't see his destiny lying in the coaching area.

He said: "Coaching, definitely not. I want to do media work. I'd like to give someone listening to me co-commentating something they might not have seen. That's the important role.

"And I'm doing a lot of after-dinner stuff now that I'm really enjoying because I like to tell my stories and do a few impressions.

"My favourite one is Harry H Corbett, but I do a few of them. I enjoy meeting people, socialising and signing autographs. I just want to enjoy myself for however long I've got left. I'm 50 this year so it would be nice."