"COACH BUST-UPS & WHY I HATE VAR!" | Alex Grant

Sydney FC defender Alex Grant lifts the lid on his clashes with certain coaches, reveals when he got paid with coins in brown envelopes and his new found love for TikTok!!

He also calls one club official a snake, explains why chicken feet are a delicacy and details his absolute hatred of VAR. 

Also to come...

• Living six weeks in a hotel and playing Champions League during Covid.
• The Premier League star who's boots he cleaned.
• And going from Ferraris and Lamborghinis to Nissan Micras.

Check it all out in this packed episode of We Are Sydney - The Sydney FC Podcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Came to blows or clashed with the coaches a few times. I said to him, I used to clean your boots. But I knew I'd nailed him before winning the ball, like driving into a car park with Ferraris and G-Wagons and you know Lamborghinis. One week we actually got our salary paid in a little brown envelope, and some of the boys were getting coins. This is a youth here. I was kind of had my opinion of him. Well, yeah, he's a bit of a snake and all this and that, but it's not gonna get through a game with just eating that. Like, they don't eat a lot.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

How is being a defender we bear?

SPEAKER_04 0:38

I hate it.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, I hate it.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

The football is the lights, just come on there.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

Hey everyone, welcome back to We Are Sydney, presented to you by Sam Miguel. My name's Sam, and this is my co-host Adamo. And Dams, we've actually got someone we've been trying to get on the potty for a while.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, he's uh he's had better things to do. And now he's come, uh I don't blame him, and now he's come dressed as uh John Cena. That's why you can't see him. He's in the camouflage. Great, thank you so much for coming on. I'm I'm joking, by the way, guys. We've actually stuffed Alex around. We've we've we've g'd him up a couple times saying, yeah, you come on, you'll come on, and we've brushed him, and now he's come on day after a game, so we really appreciate it. Finally, yeah, there we go. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me finally. It's all right.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Thanks for joining. Obviously, last night, the game, the result, not ideal, but what positives can you take from the last few matches?

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Um, well, not too much. Obviously, the result didn't go our way and it wasn't the performance that we wanted to put in, but um, you know, obviously Buster Ryan got his 400th, which was a massive achievement, achievement testament to him. It just shows what a legend he is, not only of the club, but the league itself and the game in it in Australia. Yeah, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

Yeah, huge.

SPEAKER_04 1:47

It's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

400 games.

SPEAKER_05 1:49

Yeah, wow. Not many players to have done it in the league. I think Broxham's the only one for a club above him.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

And I saw that he was saying that his hair is. I consider myself like a bit of a turkey expert because I'm I'm I need a hair transplant. All right. I think Buster's hair isn't that bad. No, your hair is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

It's a bit long at the moment. I was actually thinking of going for a haircut after, so I might need to.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Oh man, okay, then you can let's um let's jump into your you had a very cool, unique career. Let's take it all the way back to the start. Born in the UK. You started your career at Portsmouth.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Yeah, moved. Well, my family emigrated to Perth in 2005.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Um, so went to school there and you know, did my early teen teen years there and uh loved it. That's still home. Uh, and then got picked up by Pompey uh when I was 16 and moved over there with a few other Aussie boys. And there was a few of us that went over there and did my YTC as they called it, an apprenticeship um at Pompey and loved it. It was some of the best years of my life.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Who's kicking around the Pompey?

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Talking like is that like Kevin Prince Bow tissing?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:57

Pompey, like FA Cup final. Yeah, KP, I've seen him a couple of times since Christmas stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Can I scrub his boots or do anything like that on your application? I said to him, I used to clean your boots.

SPEAKER_05 3:06

I was like, who are you sorry?

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Well the man I've been playing with him, but yeah, it was uh yeah, an amazing experience. And for any young player that gets that opportunity, I'd you know highly recommend it because it it toughens you up as well, and you learn a lot about not only football but life as well, and living away from home and adapting to that and you know, new surroundings, and even though I was born in England, a new new country in a in a sense. So, yeah, it was it was amazing. Going back to who was playing in the squad, that it was a time when Pompey had a lot of financial. It was daddy right, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And they had a few um few new owners come in from the Middle East, and I think they had no money, they had sand, but they had no money, and that was it. So it was we just kind of went on this vicious cycle of um you know turning up to training some days, not knowing whether there'd be a club the next day. And well, I remember getting um one week we actually got our salary paid in a little brown envelope, and some of the boys were getting coins. That's that's where it got to a white. This is a youth team. I highly doubt they were giving the likes of Talbot, John Utah, or those big foot David James. They weren't giving, they wouldn't have had enough coins to give Delphi. That's right, but yeah, that it was uh it was crazy, yeah. Crazy times, and it was a kind of a shame that it was right at the start of my career, but again, it like toughened me up a little bit, and yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

It's pretty wild. At least you knew it could only get better from there, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Well, you'd like to think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

So you were born in Manchester? Who's your team?

SPEAKER_04 4:43

United.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

You're a United family.

SPEAKER_04 4:45

Okay, yeah, that's it. Yeah, grew up not far from Old Trafford.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

So what's the family dynamic like?

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Is it just like they're all on our side, we're all Reds, and then um my wife was actually born in the UK as well. She's from Greater Manchester as well. Oh, cool. But they've got a few blues on their side, so in recent years, they've been giving me a bit of stick, and I can't argue with it, but hopefully we'll come good now.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Where does home feel like for you?

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Like Perth is home, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Like so when you go to Manchester, does it feel a little bit like home, or is it more just perhaps you haven't been back to the street?

SPEAKER_04 5:17

No, I've not been back since I left Stoke. Yeah, I've not been back for over 10 years now, and I've still got um a couple of uncles over there and cousins and whatnot, and yeah, a few members of family, but all my immediate family's in Perth. So yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

Did you go to many games growing up at Old Trafford? Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Yeah, yeah, dad used to take me. The one the one that stick comes to mind or sticks out is um I don't know if you you've probably seen the goal, Wayne Rooney arguing with the referee against Newcastle, yeah. And then the ball pops up and he follows it in the top corner. We were in the Shefford Ends behind the goal that game. Wow, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, there was a few games we went to.

SPEAKER_05 5:55

That's so cool. Yeah. Because, like, as Australians, like it's your dream, right? To go watch games over there. It's like the pinnacle for the fan.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah, yeah, that is incredible. I would I thought you were gonna say, Did you ever watch any Perth Glory fans? Like, do you have any games? Sorry, like did you have any Perth Glory? Like, who's your Perth Glory goat? Um like the you know what, not even but like who's the Western Australian football goat? Like of like who's he's just the king in the west, other than you, of course. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

When I when I was there, I Josh Risden was always one. I think he's just when I used to play, I always used to look at Riz and just see him going up and down the line. And I don't know where he got it from, but he just had that grit and he he became captain, or he captained a few games later on whilst I was there. And I I don't know, he didn't say much. He's he's a quiet cat, but one of those leaders that does the direction he does it on the pitch and he just keeps grinding away and keeps going and always just used to turn up. And he was always one that stick sticks out in my mind as being the ones that was like, yeah, it was great, great to play with him there. And there was like lots of other players there, especially when I was younger, and there was a lot of senior senior boys there, and um Liam Reddy or you know, spoke about him other podcasts and whatnot, and Andy Keo, Shane Lowry, even like Dino Jublich, and you know, it was uh yeah, he was stacked with experienced pros, especially in the A League. And yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_05 7:18

Diego Costa was there too while you were there, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Uh yeah, yeah. Cashow.

SPEAKER_05 7:22

Casho, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:24

Another grateful boy, yeah. Yeah, again, like when Diego turned up, he didn't speak a word of English and didn't say too many words by the end, but he was yeah, exceptional. Good for us, and yeah, he was yeah, he was in probably one of the one of the best players I've ever played with, like technically, and you know, with the ball at his feet, he was he used to do things like outrageous. How's he done that? And uh yeah, but it was the same in training, the ball was just glued to his feet, and yeah. It was funny when Kenny, when Kenny Law was the manager, he um he he just used to laugh and chuckle and be like, oh Diego, and it was just comical watching Kenny's reaction to some of the stuff that Diego was doing, you know. Well, because it was just so ridiculous. Yeah, it was yeah, he was just dribbling people past people, pulling it through the legs for fun. And this was a guy getting to his mid-30s, yes, yeah, doing it with ease.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Yeah, I love those plays. I feel like they have just a certain pass as well. Like they they have a free pass. You know, I'm watching him, like Diamante, those type of play. They do stuff that if anyone else did it, like the manager would probably spray them. Like, you know, they'll like they'll get in up and then like spray it across their own like 18-yard box. Like, what are you doing? But then you're like, oh, it lands perfectly on the center back's feet or something like that. Yeah, but that's what's it?

SPEAKER_05 8:32

Still matter, like it's crazy tearing it up. It's wild.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yeah, definitely tough. So we're not speaking about them.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Yeah, it's about making the transition from academy to pros. Because you played in the lower leagues of English football. You you hear stories of of what that's like, you know, the grind, it's 40 plus game seasons. What was that like for you making that transition?

SPEAKER_04 8:53

Um, yeah, it was it was tough. Again, a massive learning curve in my career. And um when I was, I think when I was 17, um like I said, Pompey were going through a lot of financial trouble, and we played in the League Cup um in pre-season, um, the Carabao Cup or whatever they call it now. Um and a lot of the senior players were basically told that they couldn't play because I think they'd have to, or they refused to play, or something like this, and because there was obviously a lot of drama going on with wages and stuff, they basically put all the young boys in and sort of made my debut in the league cup, which was an amazing experience. But I'd also I'd done well in that couple of months where I'd kind of you know kind of forced my way into the the pitch or the the frame, um, so to speak, uh within Pompey's first team setup. So I felt that going forward and playing well in the League Cup, I kind of saw myself being involved. But unfortunately, I got injured in a preseason game against I think it was Swindon or someone like that, a couple of weeks later and did my knee, and I was out for like four months, um, which is unfortunate, but again, it's all part and parcel of being a pro and injuries happen, it was just bad timing. And and then when I came back, I was still training with the first team, but um you know there were players in my position halfway through the season, so I got shipped out on loan, um, yeah, played non-league and loved it. It was great, just being a another change room, a different environment where players, the first loan move I had to have it at Waterlooville, they had obviously lads who were it was part-time, so you train twice a week. I'd train in the week in the morning with Pompey, and then I'd go Tuesday, Thursday nights with them and play with them on a weekend. But lads who were like electricians and property, you know, builders, yeah. Um when I later on when I was at Stoke and then I went on loan to Macclesfield, there was full-time, so the that was a conference national at the time, and then that's there a lot of the teams there are full-time, so those boys are still having to work, but then manage that around um you know playing football as well.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

Yeah, I was gonna ask you obviously another well-known club, Stoke, and then you were loaned out. What was that process like?

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Um well when I left when I left Pompey, I felt like I'd done enough to stay there, and I'd had Guy Whittingham was the manager at the time, and I'd had discussions with him about me staying longer at Pompey, and which is what I ideally wanted to do. I was happy there, and it just got relegated again, so I felt like there was more opportunities going into the the next season for me to play or at least be involved. Um, and I just I remember running around the Fratton Park chasing him up. It felt like he was hiding from me when because my agent had called me in that week saying that um oh this even though he'd said that they wanted to keep me, he said, Oh, there's nothing on the table. And this was a week or two before I was supposed to be going back home to Perth. And you know, in my mind I was like, Well, I'll stay at Pompey and then I'll come back next pre-season, and then next thing you know, I'm back without a club. I went on holiday to Egypt, and then um my agent was like, Oh, Stoke City. Um I think it was the ex-academy director who was there at Pompey, had gone up to Stoke and he liked me and wanted to take me up there, so that was it. I kind of went there, trained with them for like a few days, and then signed a contract, and then it was just nice going into the offseason, going back home knowing that I had a club. But in hindsight, um, I don't regret any move I've made in my career, but maybe I should have been a bit more calculated and kind of waited a little bit longer um before jumping the gun and signing for a club that was in the Premier League. And I was getting to an age where I needed to be playing first team football, um, which I think again is another um, you know, something for young players to really consider when they're you know looking at their future or made that level, you know, going out and playing first team men's football um is far more important than playing in the youth team for five or six years and getting nowhere, um, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

How did you find adjusting with I can imagine as well, like you you just said you've gone from being clubless to signing for a Premier League team, then you go to Mackel? Yeah, Mackel after that. Like that's three different mindsets. Like, how did you mentally adjust to even just the change rooms?

SPEAKER_04 13:18

It wasn't it was nice. My first year at Stoke, I played in the under 23s, and like I said, it was it wasn't competitive football, it was just you play against other like great players who were of similar age, yeah. Um, you know, like Arsenals, Reserves, Chelsea's, United, all those. Yeah, it was it was good football, like a lot of techie players, it was great. Um, but then it was so I was rolling in to I I actually I remember they said to me, Go into Mackelsfield, or you can come here like on a Friday or a like a couple of days a week, stay at Stoke, um, and then play with us at the weekend. And in the end, I ended up training there all week because I just loved being in that environment with lads who, you know, where you felt a bit more wanted and you were working towards something, and it was just more enjoyable for me to go to Mackelsfield rather than go and train with the kids, or even though I was young at the time, you know, in that completely different environment. And I was going from driving into a car park with Ferraris and G-Wagons and you know, Lamborghinis to you know, Ford Focuses and micros and stuff like that. But you know, it was choke and cheese, but I'd say at that time I loved that a lot more than being at Stoke.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

Because you used to have the envelope, so you're like, I'll take that.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

I was getting paid at the end slowly. Well, you really had seen it all. What was the weirdest or maybe craziest thing you'd seen in non-league football or even when you're at Maccaso? Maybe it was a rubbish dressing room.

SPEAKER_04 14:46

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, that envelope story's that's pretty wild. Yeah, a few muddy pictures, and yeah, I don't know. I really there's nothing that really comes to mind. It was a long time ago, mind you. So, no, nothing really stands on.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Like some change rooms though? Like, were there some away change rooms?

SPEAKER_04 15:00

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:02

Then you obviously later on came to the A-League in Perth, which is huge for you because you know, growing up there, what was that like?

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Yeah, well, I've been released by Stoke, and then um, you know, and that a setback in itself, but I was, you know, I wasn't phased by it. Um, you know, I had some before in the past when I was a kid, and if that happens, you know, sometimes you're not good enough, and it's at the time a hard pill to swallow, but you get over it, and you at that age, if you determine to keep going, you will. Um, and then yeah, I came back to Australia in the off season. Um Glory had just gone through like the salary cap scandal. Um, so they'd shipped off a lot of players. Um, and Kenny, Kenny Lowe was my NTC coach as a kid, and he messaged me saying, Do you want to go meet up for a coffee? And I did I I had a feeling he was gonna ask me if I wanted to sign for Glory, but you know, I just kind of played it by ear and was like, Oh, we'll we'll just see what he has to say. Um, and it essentially had the contract there at the coffee shop and was like, Can you sign please because we haven't got any players? So yeah, again, it was it it was a nice, nice time to kind of reset, um, come back home, move back in with mum and dad, uh, you know, my brother as well, and it was just yeah, some of the best years of my life again were with there at Glory.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

And so you've gone from low leagues in English football, then you come back home, then you go to Asia. What was Korea like? I've spoken to a few Australian players.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

My brother played there as well, so I know what the league's like, very physical.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

How did you find it? Like, did you find the elements of it surprising, or did you know what to expect?

SPEAKER_04 16:38

A little bit. Like, I'd I'd spoke to ex-Sydney FC player Brendan O'Neill, was obviously Poang Steelers before I was there. So I I rang him and got on the blower and asked him what it was like. And his wife was sending us loads of restaurants and places to go and things to see. And you do it all there in about a week, and then it's like, what do we do now? You know, it's not it's not the biggest of cities, Pohang. It's kind of they call it the countryside of Korea. Um but it's it's a beautiful, beautiful city, and it's like by the coast, and you know, in the summer it's it's hot, hotter than what I anticipated, really muggy as well. Um, so we got down to the beach in in the summer, you know, in between games and training and stuff. And it was, yeah, really, and the people there are lovely. And I had two two fans from flown all the way over from Korea. I don't think specifically to see me, but they kind of made it out as though it was. But they were on the honeymoon in Australia and they saw that we were playing last night, and then being Pong fans came to watch me play. That's cool on a Tuesday night at Allianz. There you go. Yeah, so yeah, they're lovely people. You know, we made um a lot of fond memories there and made some great friends, and yeah, it was ultimately a great experience.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

How did you even find that cultural change? Because I know obviously they don't speak a lot of English. My brother had a translator, even food, like some of the Brazilian players didn't, you know, stay long because they couldn't cut it with all the food. So, what was that like for you?

SPEAKER_04 17:59

Yeah, it was different. I I mean, pre-match meals here with George puts on, you get you got your pasta and your chicken and some of the what's the spreads there? Well, yeah, I don't know the the names of some of the foods exactly, but it was cream. Honestly, I was what I was I was watching players have the pre-match meals and think, how are you gonna get through a game with just eating that? Like they don't eat a lot, and it's it's not really nutritious. And I don't know. What are we talking about here? Like, is it like rice? A little bit of rice, but not I don't know, it's kind of small plates, almost like a tapaz Korean style, you know, and it's kimchi, is it? Yeah, but like having kimchi and like spicy foods and stuff like that before games. No, last thing you want, eh? So yeah, yeah, it was different and having to adapt to that and um came to blows or clashed with the coaches a few times, and I feel that over there people aren't as outspoken as what they might be here, and you know, boys here they're effing and Jeffing and whatnot, you know, very blase as you do when things when you're angry or frustrated and you show emotion, whereas over there players don't tend to do that, and people there are a lot more reserved and kind of keep themselves to themselves. So when a foreigner comes and starts spraying people, yeah, or you know, starts talking about this not being right or whatever, you know, you might just have a whinge about something and it can be taken out of context completely, and it gets reported. And a lot of the time, what I found, especially my first year, you've got your translator, and uh you've got to be very careful what you say to the translator because it always gets fed back to the coach, and it was something I had to learn quite quickly after being called into the coach's office saying, Why are you saying that? Why are you saying this? Oh, so you've got to be able to do it. The only person I've told is this guy sat next to me. A little bit. Yeah, but that's his job. Yeah, okay, he works with a club. And I was because I was there three years, the first year I was kind of had my opinion of him. Well, yeah, he's a bit of a snake and all this and that. But as but as time would that's it, but when you when you when you kind of get to know where the boundaries are and where the line is drawn, it then becomes easier to game that you have to play. Yeah, I think he was you know, he was a great guy. Um, Daniel Key, if you're watching this, he might not be. He might be. Yeah, no, he was honestly a good friend and yeah, someone I'll keep in contact contact with going forward now. But that's it. Early on, when you're not used to it, and he grasses you up like that, he dobs on you.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Sammy's a daubber. It's untarge the yeah. I'd be a good translator.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Tell us about that run you made in Asia. That runner-up, Asian Champions League. What I love about Asian football is I it's so cool because there are so many distinct styles. I feel like there is a in South America, there's a South American style of football as the lights just come on there. A little bit of theatrics there for anyone that's watching. But in Asia, it's so different. I feel like the Japanese teams play one way, Korean teams play one way, the Saudi Arabian and Arab teams play a whole, you know, it's very different. There's so many, it's like a melting pot of styles. How did you find it? Yeah, there is.

SPEAKER_04 21:10

Um, yeah, one thing I found. Yeah, it was an amazing experience. The run we had, I got injured when I'm in my debut at Poang in the K League, and then missed. I tore a ligament in my foot, and then was out for three or four months. I think it was three months again or something like this. And then I was getting pressed by my age and and coaches, and when are you gonna be back? And my goal and my target was set for playing in the Champions League. The group stage was in like June time. I thought I'll get back for that. And we had we went to Bangkok and it was it was still when there was a lot of COVID restrictions, and we were all all the four teams in the group. We did the group stage in 20 days or something like that. So six games in 20 days. The other one that's wild. Yeah, it was it was a heavy, busy season. Schedule and we were all put in the same hotel, COVID tests every two days. All the walls and the flooring was plastered with just like an insular cycle. Yeah, like plastic, um, like coating, um, like cladding, and then we had we'd put our orders in for food two weeks before leaving Korea, and we were given breakfast, lunch, and dinner at your door before um, you know, when you woke up, your breakfast would be there on your floor, what you'd kind of put all out. Um, yeah, it was mental, absolutely crazy times that we'd live through all that, and kind of doing that as a professional footballer, it was yeah, mind-boggling. But we did it. Um, the football was great. We got through the group, uh, and then yeah, played again more group stage. Oh, sorry, the round of 16 in Japan in Serezo Saka. And going back to what you were saying about the teams being different, I found the Koreans were physical, um, and that's it. The the Japanese are more like I feel like the perfectionists that they want to kind of walk the ball into the goal. Beautiful football. Yeah, like tiki taka, and yeah, it's got to look good for it to be good. Um, whereas the Koreans definitely roll the sleeves up a bit more. And I don't think I ever lost the game, or maybe one game. I played probably like four or five games against Japanese teams, only lost one game against, although they're you know known to be better than you know, the J League's supposed to be better than the Jay League. Like could be. I feel like there is, yeah. It was like you you saw the red mistake come over a few of them, and they really yeah, have a go. Yeah, but that's it, and then the bonuses as well. So the money comes into it, there's more on the line, and when you add that to it as well, people people lift, yeah. When there's a nice carrot dangled in front of you, they'll they want to go a bit harder.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

So yeah, cool. How was China?

SPEAKER_04 23:49

Uh again, another crazy experience, and uh I did I did like China. Um, I I'd been offered a new deal in Korea, so I'd Pong had offered me a new two-year deal. Um, and again, I I wonder what it would have been like if I'd stayed there, but I didn't because I'd kind of made the decision and my wife, and it was more of a you know, like a family decision as well. Where we've been in Korea for three years and we were kind of not going through the motions, but we kind of been there, done it. Yeah, we wanted to see more, do more, and um yeah, experience a different culture and country, and as well for me, a different football, you know, environment league team. Um, and we just felt that that was the right time to leave and yeah, went to China, signed for Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, which is a mouthful. That is um, yeah, an amazing city, amazing country. Um so big, so vast. And I actually I I don't know why, but I expected more people to speak English in China than I did Korea. Also, Korea was more. Yeah, there was a lot more English than Korea. There was hardly any in China, or where I was. We went when I left, we went to Shanghai, and obviously there's a lot of foreigners in Shanghai, and it was a lot easier to you know talk to people and get information and work out where you're going. But a lot of the time you're in Tanjian, it's uh because everything's off the grid as well. You know, you can't use you need VPNs for Instagram, and so even and I I don't know who controls the VPNs, but whenever there's something going on in Beijing, there'd be the VPNs would stop working, and it could be a week or two before they come back on. So you're uh you're kind of off the grid. You can still FaceTime family, but like WhatsApp, but that's all down. So like for two weeks, you can't really do anything. It's yeah, it's strange, it's kind of good though, like having a break from the street.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Just gives you that mental, you know, you switch off mentally from the social media, bro.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

Yeah, so maybe that's why you're so relaxed, you know. You just had that social media detox. There you go, yeah. And yeah, it was just seeing a different culture, and yeah, it was the football. I enjoyed the football, the crowds there were amazing. Obviously, there's a billion people in China, so you expect there to be a lot of people going to watch football games, which there was, and I think our average home attendance was like 27,000. And yeah, passionate fans as well, like really a lot more outspoken, the Chinese than the the Koreans. You really felt. I feel like in Korea, even if you lost, everyone was like, Oh, Gin China, Gin China, like it's okay, you know, like it's fine. No, in China, it almost felt like if you're losing, they're all said, like, oh, we hate you.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Scary. Even like culturally amongst the team, what was it like? I did was it um you said there's a little bit more of that respect in amongst the Korean amongst Pohang? What was that like?

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Yeah, I'm I made more friends in Korea with the local boys than I did in China, as whereas and then I guess with the foreigners, because you're kind of in your own basket with all the foreigners where you have to. We all lived in the same hotel in China, um, so that was nice, and some of the other lads had kids, so we got to know their families, and it was yeah, it was that was a nice, nice place to be. Um, and it was across the road from the training ground, which was handy. Um, yeah, the the Chinese, I don't know that it I think it all ultimately came down to the coach that we had in China. He was a bit I don't know how to word it, a bit of a dictator. He was uh, you know, it was his way of the highway a lot of the time, which you know, in some respect, that is the way it is in most football clubs, but it was just the way you came across and dealt with certain situations for me personally that I didn't agree with, and yeah, we we clashed. Was he Chinese? Yeah, he was Chinese, Chinese. And I I also often think like if because there are foreign coaches over that way as well, and you've seen a few Aussie coaches now go over to China, what my experience would have been like if I'd had a foreign coach. But when I was in Korea, I had a Korean coach, and when I was in China, I had a Chinese coach, so it was you know, it was all even the training sessions and the way things like we trained in the afternoon, whereas here we always train and before my time at glory, everything was in the morning. There it's in the afternoon, and me and my wife often talk about whether what we preferred, you know, waiting all day for training. And I actually I did like it because you kind of you do more in the morning as opposed to night where you you know after training, I'll go home and I'll chill, pick Lenny up from school, and then it's you know, you just want to relax in the evenings. Whereas when training's later on, you do more in the morning, you're out, you're getting breakfast, you're going for walks, and yeah, we did all that, and that I really enjoyed that. And they also do it as well because their meant their philosophy is well, you play at that time, so you should train at that time.

SPEAKER_06 28:35

Yeah, you know, while it makes sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

And some clubs here they train in the A-League. I remember at Glory we used to train the day before in the evening and trying to yeah, yeah, probably the hate to is as well over there in Perth.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Yeah, yeah. You know what's an interesting one? I was just thinking, like, what a weird experience that would be if you're trying to communicate with your manager through a translator. Like if you're getting sprayed, and then you've got to have that almost two-second delay of just waiting for the translation. Yeah, that would have been a rule. Sure, it would have been a little bit. You're getting sprayed, then the translator's like, Well, does the translator have to match his energy?

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Well, that's it, they often don't. And it's yeah, it's a strange one. You can you can kind of get a the tone of voice kind of gives a lot away.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

He's there, just scream, just spraying drying.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Yeah, but it we never got into like shouting matches or anything like that. It was always, you know, calm and it was yeah, unique experience. Yeah, it was, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:25

It's pretty wild. You've experienced everything. It opens up, yeah.

unknown 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

Yeah. Well, going from your career, we're gonna go into the cool break and cool things off, presented to you by San Miguel, of course. Uh, what do you do to switch off?

SPEAKER_04 29:39

Look after the kids, they run me around and off, and yeah, that's yeah, they're my world. Um oh Dave's giving me the sorry, I'm on TikTok. Yeah, I just started my TikTok uh a few weeks ago, which is fully. Yeah, well, I've got verified last week. Robbie helped me out doing that, so I've got my own tag. I don't yeah, is that right? Yeah, and uh just Alex Grant now. Uh before it was like Alex Grant 5679214 or something like that, but now it's just Alex Grant. So that's that's been handy. Um, yeah, but I'm enjoying it. It's kind of it's been good. My wife doesn't like it because she thinks I'm on my phone two months ago.

SPEAKER_05 30:18

How did that happen though? Like, what made you want to do that?

SPEAKER_04 30:20

Uh the boys came in from TikTok um a few weeks ago and were just talking about players raising the you know their own personal brands and um you know playing around with it. And I I don't kind of look at it from that point of view, but I'm looking and I kind of wish now and almost regret not doing it whilst I was away because I can't video. Yeah, I I one came up the other day when I was in China and it was some woman walking a duck on a lead through town. I would have got millions of people.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

Yeah, well that's you can still post it. I could, yeah, you could Thursday tomorrow.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

Yeah, um so yeah, and I've been I've been enjoying it and just like documenting because I've got two young boys, it's nice something for them to look back on as well. And I'm trying to incorporate them into as much of the video as I can and a lot of BTS and I won't say BS then, but the BTS stuff behind the scenes I've been told that's what I'm getting the lingo as well. Um, yeah, so yeah, I'm playing around with it and having fun and yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Do you want your kids to play football? Because I know when I have kids one day, if they don't want to play, I'll be so off it. Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

And to be honest, if if they're not if they're into something else, I wouldn't mind them playing cricket because I could just be a cricket fan. I love cricket, yeah. And I could just sit there and watch them play, and that'd be great. But yeah, if they want to play football, my eldest who loves it. Um we need to get the look the younger one into it. And but that's it, you can lead a horse to water if he's gonna be drinking.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

But I'm just thinking for your TikTok, you know what I mean? Those ones with the kids where they get them like kicking the little messy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:51

But that's it. I don't want to be using them all the time.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Fair enough, I'm worth this game. We're gonna call our working title blind ranking defender's worst nightmares. Okay, so you're gonna rank this from easiest to defend to hardest to defend. Okay. Five to one, okay? There's five things. The long ball. Three long throw.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

Five. Yeah, it's easy. Okay. To be fair, not many teams use it. Not many, yeah. Not many teams use it. He's coming to the game a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah, yeah, but you're marking a striker, and he is just lightning quick.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

Four.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Yes, pace doesn't. I'm just hoping H is behind me so striker, not the quickest, super physical, knows how to use his body.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Two. Well, if I've got left one, uh, yeah, and you know what? VAR. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

For real. How is being a defender with VAR? I hate it.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah, yeah, I hate it. You've got the transition of you started your career, of course, it didn't exist. Now it does. I feel like it's it's who would want to be a defender nowadays? Like if you're a kid watching how the game is officiated, why would you want to be a defender? Oh, look, I love the art of defending. It's going the VAR's making it extinct at some point.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

I don't know. It it yeah, it it takes that, I guess, that talking topic out of a game after game for fans. And you know, teams in the past have always been on the end of wrong decisions, you know, whether they're right or wrong. It's that's football, and that's how it's been for years before VAR. Um, and I don't think it's going anywhere. That's that's the only thing. I think it's here to stay. They're not gonna turn around and get rid of it. So we've just got to live with it and adapt. And yeah, I mean, look, I just hate when you kind of a decision or something's happened in the game, and you kind of you got your eye on the referee and just waiting for him to go get on the phone to vape. Yeah, it's it's horrible. I had one in Korea, um, I think it was in my second season there, and there we were playing Guangzhou at home, and uh they had a young striker who kind of peeled off inside, they slipped him in, and he kind of just got the wrong side of me, and I tried to slide tackle him outside the box, and ended up winning the ball, but I knew I'd nailed him before winning the ball. Like I took most of him out before getting the ball, like he'd fallen over, then I win the ball. And I'm and the ball goes to the other end, we break, the ball goes to the other end, we get a corner, and I'm just you know, there's just that part of you that just knows that they're looking at this, I just know it. And then you see the referee, and he just gives it don't take the corner on the blower, and then I'm just going, I might as well get walking. And that was it, right? So I hate that side of it. Um, but look, it it helps you out as well at times, you know. Like I don't agree. The the penalty ones are always dubious, and everyone's got their own opinion on as to whether it's a penalty or not, or handballs, and that you know, I think maybe free kicks and red cards and pens, they could maybe stay uh some red cards, but you know, I think they could stay out of it a little more and just work on maybe offsides, and that'll do.

SPEAKER_05 35:14

Yeah, offsides, I reckon that's it.

SPEAKER_04 35:16

But even that, it's like what's like offsides. It takes like 10 minutes to press what the lines are. No, yeah, you've got to get that, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

Yeah, it's no good. Who's your defender goat?

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Defender goat. Uh well, growing up sporting Man United, I will Rio Ferdinand and Namanyu Vidic were the two I used to look up to. Um, yeah, loved them too. So I idolise. Did you have to pick one? Um out of the two, uh.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Yeah, he was something else. We're going around the world.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Okay, this is countries you played in Korea, China, England, Australia.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

We're gonna start with best food. China.

SPEAKER_05 35:54

Really?

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Okay, what was your go-to in China? Um anything in particular or just everything?

SPEAKER_04 36:00

No, it was just the food was good. There's like you know, like all the noodles and beautiful. Yeah, it was just I can't even think now, but yeah, the food was just great there. All the rice dishes and everything they had was good there. But I had some mad stuff there. What was the funky way? Sea cucumber on a pre-match meal once that was just served up on this plate in front of that. I was like, what is that? Chicken feet. Chicken feet are good eye. Chicken feet are a delicacy on it. You should try them, they're really good. Oh yummy eyes. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's just like you bite the skin, but can't say we're trying that. Um, don't knock it till you try it. Yeah, I'm I'm a big believer in that. So I've got a chicken feet.

SPEAKER_05 36:38

No, thanks. Full of collagen as well. Yeah, it's collagen, that's it. My skin's alright, don't need the screen. Uh, best lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

Let's actually take let's take Perth out of it and see. Oh, let's take Australia. Out of the three, out of England, China and Korea. Because I feel like home is you can't.

SPEAKER_04 36:53

Yeah, well, obviously, England was closest to home despite the weather. Um between China and Korea. I'll probably say Korea. Korea was, you know, a bit more slower pace where I was, not as many people, and it's just it doesn't feel as chaotic as China did. Yeah. Nightlife. Don't drink. Okay. No, I thought I'm joking. Um, no, I do.

SPEAKER_05 37:17

England, probably.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

In moderation. Responsibly, of course. That's right. San Miguel. Um, best nightlife. Are we taking Sydney and you can take Sydney and shame you haven't been back to Major?

SPEAKER_05 37:31

No, you know what? Actually, put them in.

SPEAKER_04 37:32

Put them in. I like I like Sydney's nightlife. I think, yeah, Sydney's, it's obviously better than Perth. So everyone would probably not, even if you've not been to Perth, you probably know that. Um, but it is, yeah, the the city here has got a great buzz around it. I I never went on a night out in um Korea, not once. In my three years, I was there. Never went on.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Not one team bonding session. Not one.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Not one. Oh, we did like oh to be fair, yeah. Yeah, we did Korean barbecue. So that was it. Once a month, there'd be a sponsor from the club who put on a Korean barbecue for the team, and then occasionally there'd be the one where the players just kind of do their own. Um, yeah, had a few Cassis there and Cassis the beer and Korea. Um a couple of them. But in went out in Tianjin a few times. Good night. Um, it well, we had another foreigner there who, you know, like like the sauce, I like going out every now and then. And he ended up, he was a young boy, but we kind of took him under our wing. Like living in the hotel, he was kind of he didn't cook, he liked he was always getting takeouts and stuff. So my wife was kind of like cooking for all of us, and he was kind of like the little brother for my or the older brother for my two boys, even though he was like 20 years older than them. That's yeah, he was great, and I loved him, and he's like running my really good mates now, and we still keep in contact with him. I like seeming he's doing great now. He's at Shenzhen. And um, yeah, but my missus will go on night. I'd go home and look after the kids in the babysitter, and then he'd stay out with my missus and they'd be like, oh, partying and stuff like that. Oh, that's mess. It was great.

SPEAKER_05 38:57

At least she went out, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

That's it, yeah. Well, that's it. We didn't experience it in in Korea, so it was nice to kind of go. And yeah, the Chinese nights are crazy. Yeah, the nightclubs there and just pumping.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Yeah, cool. Best we'll take Australia out, best fans. Um I said in England, yeah, yeah. Just in general, like English, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

Even when I was playing like lower leagues, the fans are the fans were better there.

SPEAKER_05 39:25

Yeah, they're probably ones that are turning up to yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:29

In in terms of like, so for the football side, like being at the game and you know, chanting and building an atmosphere, yeah, definitely England. But in terms of like, like I said earlier, as people and getting to know them and you know how nice they were to me, the Koreans. Yeah, by far, you know, they've given me presents. Even when we played John Book in the ACL2 last year, I had um some Poang fans that came down to watch the game, and you know, they had my shirt in the stand and they gave me presents after the game, and they're just all thoughtful like that, and they're you know, they're great.

SPEAKER_05 40:03

Yeah, so cool.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

So I mean what respectful giving this game that you have last week back by popular demand. Oh, we've got a game up, we're yeah, yeah. Oh, great.

SPEAKER_05 40:11

Another one. You can have dinner with three people. Who are you inviting?

SPEAKER_04 40:15

Louis Rue. Um watch the new doctor. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Yeah. Do you reckon he'd probe you though? Like uh he'd just sit there in silence. That's where he does his best work. Yeah, I think that's yeah. I think he'd have some stories.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Oh, he would, yeah. Uh yeah, so he'd be one. Um, two more. So hard, eh? What a tough question. I wish it. He's just one that comes to mind straight off the bat. Um I feel like I need a comedian. Kevin Bridges. Do you know Kevin Bridges? He's a Scottish comedian. Well, actually, no, take that back. Go on on comedians, Peter K. Peter K's in an English.

unknown 40:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

No, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

But some people got him and Louis Thoreau. That's a very good dynamic, I'm happy. Get an athlete in there, or is there they're boring most of the other one?

SPEAKER_04 41:09

Oh, he's like um, if we chuck one in, who's a funny athlete?

SPEAKER_06 41:16

I don't know. You know what? Maybe someone you've born on.

SPEAKER_04 41:19

Yeah. Warning. There you go. As in Shame Warning. Shame warning.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

I know he's not here anymore. Yeah, all right. Bring it in. Bring him, bring him back. Yeah. Yeah, okay. That's a that's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

You didn't specify whether they're allowed to be a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Yeah, no, that's okay. Anyone, I don't care.

SPEAKER_05 41:31

It can be anyone. Yeah, what are you eating?

unknown 41:33

Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 41:34

Um chicken bake. No, no. Um, probably like maybe a Thai or some Japanese restaurant or something like that. Yeah, nice. Yeah.

unknown 41:51

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 41:52

Oh, actually, no, again, changing my answer. Go for a curry. Beautiful. Go for an Indian.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

Make them all. You can tell them what by someone if they can handle the heat as well. It'd be good comedy. Love a curry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:02

Wild dinner. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Yeah. You you wouldn't you you wouldn't be at the dinner? No. All right, Alex, this is what we do. We are accumulating signatures for the ultimate jersey that we're going to give away at the end of the season. So please. There's not much room left. There's not much room left. I'm happy to help as well if you need me to.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

Yeah, okay. Well, you can you hold it. Of course. This is one thing. I always say this to the fans. It's like, you know, when they just give you the shirt and they just all crinkled. You can't sign it. You need into pull it type. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

That is a signature. Look at that. He says that Taveron. No, but you know what he's done? He's got there. Just take a look. Guys, there it is. The triple. You know what they do the waves? Usually there's one. You're showing off there. You just have to look to it. My wife looks in the glasses, what does that say? That's a nice signature. Very nice. Looking ahead this weekend, how big is this game against a red hot Newcastle Jets team, especially after the fortnight that the team's had?

SPEAKER_04 42:57

Yeah, bigger now. Because we have to win. Obviously, last night would have brought us to within I don't know how many points. Dave, four points. Thank you. So it would have brought us to within four points. So we need to close that gap. We've, you know, we're lucky that we've got Newcastle and Auckland in the last five games. They obviously played each other last week, and we're still it's always worse when you're depending on other teams to drop points, but that's just a scenario we're in, and we've just got to focus on cleaning up now. And essentially we've kind of set a target in the dressing room that we have to win all five. So to give us our best chance of finishing at the top and just see where we end up.

SPEAKER_05 43:38

It's definitely doable because I mean the season especially has been so wide open, like no one's really been besides those two teams, like really consistent, you know. So it's like the fact that it's still so close. Yeah, I think that's it.

SPEAKER_04 43:48

I think at the start of the season we had, you know, some a consistent run. I think we had four four wins on the bounce and maybe a draw as well. And I think if we can find that now, yeah, yeah, we've kind of been a bit iggledy piggledy like everyone. Else, like you said, in the the mid-block, and yeah, if we can finish strong, injuries as well, you know.

SPEAKER_05 44:05

That's obviously not been great. Lollies been out injuries, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

Yeah, and also as well, finals. Like that has just adds another element as well. Like you've experienced it from when you're at Perth as well. Like a lot of it's just either form doesn't really matter. A team can come first, they can lose. How often do we see it in the A-League as well?

SPEAKER_04 44:23

Yeah, it's changed a bit now since obviously I was away. It's they brought the two-legged semi now, so you play home and away, and that'll be something I'm new to. Um, you know, so you have to be good over two games and get the result like that, you know, and that's it's not easy. Um, but yeah, look, we we've definitely got the squad to do it. Yeah, for sure. Um, you know, the the players in that dressing room are immense, and in all fairness, we should be we should be at the top with the squad that we've got. I mean, um yeah, that's that's ultimately it. And that's the disappointing. You can probably tell in the tone of voice, like it's it is disappointing because we should be higher up. Um, but it is what it is, and you know, we just have to focus on these next five games, like I said. Yep, still five games to go at home this week, top of the table classes.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Huge, make sure you get there. Absolutely. Sunday afternoon, Allianz Stadium. Are you kidding me, Sammy? Doesn't it much better than that? We will be there.

SPEAKER_05 45:16

Uh, thank you for jumping on today. Uh, if I've got one more question: if you weren't a footballer, what would you be?

SPEAKER_04 45:24

If I wasn't, um, I was talking to because we've been at the pool today for recovering, the firefighters are there, and my dad was a fireman for 25 years. So I like the idea of following my dad's footsteps in a firefire.

SPEAKER_05 45:37

Yeah, it's awesome. It's a really saving lives.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

Putting out fires.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

That's an awesome insight.

SPEAKER_05 45:42

Yeah, that's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Dan, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Appreciate you guys for jumping on the day after a game as well. You could just be at home making a vlog for your TikTok, you know. We really, really appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. Good luck for the rest of the season as well. And good luck on Sunday. Thanks, guys. Cheers. Let's go, guys. And as always, make sure you like, subscribe, and be back in a few weeks because it's international break as well. But most importantly, we will see you on Sunday. Forts of Sydney FC, guys. See you next time.