Why Nigel Clough made me jump off a cliff... and why Jol is a huge miss for Fulham

By Robbie Savage

Published 22:59 22/07/10

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All the opponents who've told me to go and jump of a cliff have finally got their wish.

I've squared up to Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira in my time but I've never done anything quite as scary as Derby's team bonding session yesterday.

Our boss Nigel Clough took us to Swanage, where we were led down a path to a cliff ledge 40 feet above the sea. Then we had to plunge into the water below.

It was terrifying for those of us who, like me, are scared of heights and even more scared of sudden death!

But with our legs bent and our arms out to keep us safe, we all got through it - even our press officer Matt McCann.

Before that we had to climb up a 20-foot cliff. "That's twice as big as me," said our keeper Stephen Bywater, who is listed at 6-foot-3 but must have done a bit of growing during the summer.

People think these kind of bonding sessions are daft. They definitely aren't.

Players without much confidence have to prove themselves in front of the lads. Players with a phobia have to overcome it, encouraged by the rest of us. All of this helps us to play without fear on the pitch and to look out for each other. It makes us a tighter unit on and off the field.

We drove to the dive site in the coach we've had all week - Liverpool's old one. Inside it's as plush as you'd imagine, with PlayStation games available on screens built into the seat backs.

Of course, there's bound to be a drawback and in our case that my great mate Dave The Driver was behind the wheel. He'd brought his old sat nav with him - the one which tells you exactly which route to go if you want to get stuck in traffic.

The lads were relieved when we had to take the bus on a ferry to the diving as we figured that not even Dave could get lost on one of those.

But I mustn't be too hard on him as he's still getting over a surprise failure in our annual table tennis tournament.

Dave was beaten in the final by Johnny Metgod last year, but with our Dutch coach away he couldn't capitalise on being the heavy favourite this time around and went out to Paul Green in the first round.

Nigel Clough showed off a great backhand but was another faller while I saw off Greeny 24-22 in an epic to reach the final, where I won the first game but ended up losing to champion Chris Porter.

A word too for our surprise package Andy Garner, who shocked everyone by reaching the last four.

Not bad for a coach who is 44 years of age - but as the lads said, it must have been his first semi in years.

Missing out on Martin Jol is a huge blow for Fulham.

He's a great manager who was so unlucky to get the sack at Spurs, did well at Hamburg and only missed out on the Dutch title by a point with Ajax last season despite finishing with an amazing goal difference of +86!

I'll never forget going to White Hart Lane with Blackburn in March 2006. Jol's team went 2-0 up but we pulled it back to 2-2 before Mido scored the winner.

At the final whistle, Jol made a beeline for me, wrapped me up in a massive hug and said, "You were a lion out there today". What a compliment - I just hope he wasn't talking about my barnet.

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