Fast forward 28 years and it was England goalkeeper David Seaman who was named player of the tournament in a summer that could’ve been so much more for England. We caught up on his time with his country and if he’d do anything differently, if he was to do it all again.
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00:00In terms of your England time, whether that be England or a club level, you were very
00:08successful throughout your career. Is there anything that you would have done differently
00:11looking back, whether that be with England or at a club level?
00:15Yeah, I would have loved to have won something with England. I was there at the start of
00:20the Football's Coming Home song by Skinner and Baddiel, and I want to see it come home.
00:26I really do want to be there when we win a trophy because that's going to be one hell
00:30of a party. I sampled it as a player and now I'm really sampling it as a fan and I see
00:37what it means to everybody. That's why I say I want to be there when we win something because
00:42it's just going to be a great time. It's been a long time, obviously, and we've got so close
00:47recently, but I want to be there when football comes home.
00:54You mentioned, obviously, you experience it as a fan now, but for those moments as
00:58a player, is that still the highest honour you've ever had in your career?
01:03For England, yeah. Obviously, I've won a lot of trophies with Arsenal. Playing in my first
01:10World Cup for England, even though that was just after U96, was a very special moment
01:14for me because I'm a lad from Rotherham and we didn't grow up with a lot of family. My
01:19mum and dad were really hard workers. My dad was a steel worker and my mum worked in a
01:24bar. So, money and the pleasurable things, shall we say, went around a lot. I got to
01:32play for my country in a World Cup. When I look back, I think of Arsenal and I won the
01:38double twice, won the lead three times and the FA Cup four times. I was successful a
01:44lot with Arsenal, but that's my only regret is that with England, I didn't get to win
01:49a trophy.
01:51We've talked about some kits before that have been famous at some tournaments. I've always
01:55got an image of you in that colourful goalkeepers kit. Do you have a favourite kit at all that
02:02you represented with England? It seemed it was either a bit plainer or completely wild
02:08and wacky. What was your take on those?
02:10For me, you could keep the wild and wacky. The red one was very wild and wacky. The yellow
02:15one was okay. My favourite one, I think, was the black one that I wore in 2002 with
02:22the red stripe on it. I really liked that kit. But yeah, the red one, I remember when
02:28I saw that and I was like, have I got to wear that? But it turned out to be a really good
02:34seller because the kids loved the colours of it and everything. So, they sold out on
02:39that one. But yeah, I think that the red one and the yellow one are the most memorable
02:44ones as dodgy looking kits. Even David James had to wear it in Soccer Aid at the weekend.
02:50I remember Petr Cech looking at him and going, wow, what is that kit? And I was like, easy
02:54Peter, I wore that, don't worry.