Oliver Holt: Bellamy, Fowler, Holloway and the 10 most interesting people I met in 2010

Published 21:00 31/12/10

MirrorFootball asked our chief sports writer Oliver Holt to name the 10 most fascinating people he'd met in 2010. The resulting piece is one of the best things we've published all year. Enjoy...

1) Wally Downes

The first time I met Wally, a few years ago, was at the Football Writers' dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. He was upset about passages referring to him that had appeared in Neil Warnock's autobiography, which I had ghosted. He said they had upset his mother.

He invited me downstairs for a fight. I said I wasn't going to fight him but I followed him anyway. When we got to the appointed place, he took a couple of swings at me and missed and so we both trooped back upstairs and rejoined the party.

I met him again at the same dinner this year and we got on absolutely fine. We've got a mutual friend who never stops telling me about Wally's abilities as a coach and beyond his bluster, he seems like a bright bloke who reads the game extremely well. It wasn't a surprise to me that he had such an immediate impact when he joined West Ham.

2) Craig Bellamy

Bellamy is one of the most misunderstood people in football. I went round to his house outside Cardiff during the Ryder Cup with a mate of mine, he ordered in some Thai food and we watched Valencia v Manchester United on the TV.

Craig spent much of the evening talking my mate through his fitness regime. His attention to detail is mind-blowing and his knowledge of the game is encyclopaedic. He might have a reputation for being a trouble-maker but he is actually one of the most professional, conscientious players I have ever come across. The problems only start when he thinks someone else at the club he's at is not as dedicated or as committed as him.

3) Robbie Fowler

I hadn't seen Robbie for about five years when I went to watch him play for Perth Glory against the Brisbane Roar in November. But I had a quick chat with him before the game and asked him if it would be okay to speak for a little longer after the final whistle.

I used to know him well when he played for Liverpool. He was always a good lad and he still is. But he's changed. Not only has he mellowed but he's developed a fierce appreciation for the game that he didn't have before.

He always loved football but maybe he did not realise quite how important it was to him. Now he does. He spent most of the interview talking about his dread of retirement. It's rare that you get a footballer who is so honest about his feelings but Fowler was terrific. He wants to go into coaching when his playing career finishes. I'm glad about that because he's got a lot to offer.

4) Andy Anson

I was at the same university as Andy Anson. The first college game I played in, he was on the other side. And he is a close friend of one of my best mates. So I felt well-disposed towards him when he was put in charge of England's bid to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

I met him for a drink at a hotel in Cape Town early in the year and he realised then that it was going to be hard to beat Russia because of their financial might. But he gave it his best shot and I thought he did a good job.

I thought he made a mistake trying to gag the BBC and complaining about Panorama but the fact that the bid was not successful was not down to him. It was down to the clowns on the Fifa ExCo and the corruption that runs through Fifa.

5) Matshelane Mamabolo

When I first met Matshelane 10 years ago, he was just starting out as a reporter for The Star newspaper in Johannesburg. Things were beginning to change in South African journalism and, under the tutelage of a wise and far-seeing sports editor called David Legge, Matshelane was one of the first of a new generation of black sports journalists allowed to pursue a career in what had been a white-dominated profession where rugby and cricket were kings.

I have seen him regularly since and he has stayed with me in London and when I went back to Johannesburg for the World Cup last summer, I already knew he was now the editor of a weekly football supplement in The Star called Shoot. I relied heavily on him, like I always do in South Africa, for information, guidance and the generous supply of story ideas. He mentioned that he was now training to be a pastor at a church in one of the most dangerous townships of Johannesburg and when I suggested I should take a couple of kids from the church to a match, he organised it for me.

I took Vusi and Absalom to Holland v Denmark and the wonder on their faces as they stared around at Soccer City and marvelled at the orange extravagance of the Dutch fans will stay with me for a long time.

6) George Haigh

George is 98. He is the oldest surviving player ever to have appeared for Stockport County. I think he may be the oldest surviving player ever to have played league football. Whatever, he is a remarkable man.

I met him earlier this season at the Kassam Stadium when he went to watch County play Oxford United. A few weeks later, I went round to his house outside Banbury. He lives alone and looks after himself and his house is spick and span.

I sat in his back garden and listened spellbound to his stories of football in another era. This is a man who once marked Stanley Matthews and played against Bert Trautmann when Trautmann was a prisoner of war. George is such an articulate man with such a detailed memory that it felt like you were back playing pre-war football with him.

7) Adam Stansfield

I never actually met Adam Stansfield but I feel like I did. Stansfield was an Exeter City player who died of cancer in September this year. I never saw him play but he was loved by Exeter fans and by fans of all his former clubs because he played with total commitment to the cause.

A few weeks before his death, he turned up for pre-season training with the rest of his team-mates and even though they could tell that he was suffering, he still pushed himself all the way through the session. I saw pictures of the tributes to Stansfield in the papers and took my daughter down to St James's Park to look at them. The Big Bank terrace at the ground was a mass of floral tributes and messages to Stansfield. They were full of stories about how Stansfield had taken time out to perform various kindnesses.

Many fathers wrote that his playing style and his honesty on the pitch made them feel that he was an inspirational figure for their sons. Like I said, I never met Stansfield but I wish I had.

8) Ian Holloway

I met him for the first time at the Northern Football Writers' dinner in Manchester in November. I suspect you probably don't forget your first meeting with the Blackpool manager. I won't.

Ollie stayed behind after the dinner to chat to friends and became embroiled in a conversation with journalists about whether he had fielded a weakened team a couple of weeks earlier. The conversation got lively. I have never seen anyone defend their corner as passionately as him, although Sir Alex Ferguson might run him close.

9) Paul Stretford

I bumped into Stretford at the World Cup game between Holland and Denmark at Soccer City. He was with his mate, Freddy Shepherd, the former Newcastle chairman, who was giggling at him because Paul was on crutches.

We had a brief chat about things and touched on the disappointing form of Wayne Rooney, Stretford's client. He said he was sure Rooney would soon be back to his best. I wasn't surprised when Stretford got the blame for all the melodrama that accompanied the negotiations over Rooney's new contract but I don't really see that it was all his fault. He was just doing his job. He got his client a pay rise. That's what Rooney pays him to do.

10) Alan Shearer

I've only spoken to Shearer in formal situations before - press conferences or interviews - but I was on the same table as him at the Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards this year. The rest of the Match of the Day team were there, too, and they were all great company.

Shearer was fascinating on Andy Carroll and what he needs to do to make sure he has a long and successful career at Newcastle, and he was the life and soul afterwards. Some of the stick he gets for his punditry is unfair and I thought his argument with Alan Hansen about Theo Walcott was great television.

I know he once said that creosoting his fence was his hobby but he's come on since then.

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