David Seaman recalls his best memories of former England manager Terry Venables on the Seaman Says podcast
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00:00 I just remember him putting his arm around players all the time and laughing and smiling.
00:04 He even went to Tottenham and won a trophy.
00:06 And at the end of the letter he signed it off with 'Now I can say it, you're the best in the world.'
00:13 My manager, he was brilliant.
00:21 I just remember him putting his arm around players all the time and laughing and smiling.
00:28 You couldn't really feel upset, although I was never upset by him because he never left me out.
00:34 Even to the point where when he first took over as manager, one of the first things he did was come up to me in training and said, 'You're my England's number one.'
00:43 And for me that was amazing.
00:45 Because we didn't have to qualify, every time we would get together we would be a friendly.
00:49 But we would always watch videos of Holland.
00:52 We were like, 'Why are we watching Holland?'
00:54 Not just Holland, but mainly Holland.
00:56 And he would say, 'At some stage we're going to have to play Holland.'
00:59 And they've set the bar so high because they were really good at that time.
01:03 And then look what happened.
01:05 That epic result against the Dutch was just frightening.
01:08 It just shows you how much detail he put into stuff.
01:12 And then for it to work, it was just incredible.
01:17 No one has any words to say about him.
01:19 No, nobody.
01:20 And it's worldwide.
01:21 When he went to Barcelona, look what he did there, winning the league.
01:24 He even went to Tottenham and won a trophy.
01:27 [Laughter]
01:31 So during '96, it was strange because obviously I was playing alright.
01:37 And then people were asking Terry about what I was like.
01:41 And I heard him, or he got quoted or something, saying that I was the best in the world.
01:46 And I was like, 'Don't say that. I don't want that pressure just yet. Don't say that.'
01:50 And he was like, 'Oh, okay.'
01:52 And then after the tournament, after all that disappointment, only in losing the last game,
01:59 he actually wrote a handwritten letter to me.
02:03 I think he did to some of the other squad as well, other players.
02:07 And in it, he mentioned about how good the team and what they'd achieved and everything.
02:13 And at the end of the letter, he signed it off with, 'Now I can say it. You're the best in the world.'
02:17 [Laughter]
02:19 So it's just so nice and just something so special.
02:22 That's class. That's proper. That's class. Beautiful.
02:26 [Music]