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James Milner; £165,000 P/W


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On 26/05/2019 at 19:37, Anubis said:

My mum loves him. I think she might actually love him more than she loves me.

 

She’s now escalated to calling him ‘my adopted son.’ At this rate I’m going to be cut out of any will she’s made.

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  • 4 months later...

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/james-milner-book-boring-jurgen-klopp-hot-tub-selfie-liverpool-leeds-820008

 

James Milner exclusive: 'The jokes never bothered me - you’ve got to laugh at yourself'

 

Interview: Liverpool star discusses his new book, Jurgen Klopp's hot-tub selfies and finally getting on board with social media

 

 

There is a story James Milner shares which encapsulates quite how hands-on, intense, yet friendly Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is, all at the same time.

 

During the off-season and international breaks, Milner explains, Klopp expects regular text message updates from his players. Those involved in national team games must let him know how they feel coming off the pitch, while the others on set fitness programmes are expected to send daily completion messages.

 

Milner tends to send a quick “Session done” and his manager usually replies with a thumbs-up emoji. Last summer, Klopp started responding with cowboy hats, although even now Milner is unsure why.
 

And then there was the time Milner’s phone flashed with a picture message, and he tapped the screen to reveal Klopp sat in a hot tub, beaming.

 

Perhaps, Milner thinks, his manager was trying to tell him to relax. "He looked like he was enjoying himself,” Milner tells i.

 

It is a glimpse into what makes Klopp so successful: an ability to demand constant contact with his players, but also to keep it light and fun and personable. Although, even if the players initially thought he was joking they are under no illusions as to the seriousness of the request.

 

“He’s not been happy a few times when people haven’t messaged him,” Milner says. "I don’t know if people thought it was a joke the first time he asked and nobody texted him. He said, ‘Boys make sure you message me otherwise there’s going to be fines bandied about.’ It’s important, that information.

 

“That’s what he’s like: he loves his job, he’s 100 per cent in it, he’s so focused and demands the highest levels, but he enjoys himself while he does it and can have a joke. What you see is what you get. Can he do anything to help the player? Can they come back for treatment? He’ll be thinking about his next team. He wants to have that information.”
 

It is amazing what people can share these days: straight from a hot tub to the palm of your hand. The Information Age is something Milner does not feel entirely comfortable in, but it is a part of society he is gradually embracing. In his long career - breaking through at Leeds United at only 16 years of age to still playing regularly at 33 for the current Champions League holders and Premier League leaders - he has noticed the gentle transition from mobile phones being banned in dressing rooms and the team coach - back when they were used only for calls and text messages (and the odd game of Snake) - to being integral tools in players’ preparation for matches.

 

“There’re things that are amazing about it, everything you can do with it and the way it makes life easier, but then on the other side maybe we don’t engage enough with each other as much as we could, and if you meet up with a friend you’ve not seen for a while normally you’d have five stories to tell them but they’ve already seen it on social media,” Milner says. “That’s the way of the world. You see people walking down the street and they’re looking at their phones, talking to people. It’s definitely changed a lot from when I started playing.

 

“Back then the managers wouldn’t want people having phone calls and texting on the bus, whereas now lads are playing games to chill out, stay relaxed, listening to music, things like that. Banning it would be unheard of now. That’s how lads get in the zone.

 

“It filtered in. I’m probably still a bit old school: if there’s music on in the changing room I’ll listen to that, I won’t listen to my own music, once we’re on the bus my phone will be away and that’s me, whereas other people will feel better on their phone. Whatever is best for them, as long as you’re ready when you go over that white line.”
 

The mobile phone culture is a subject Milner often returns to in his new book, Ask a Footballer: My Guide to Kicking a Ball About, an at times laugh-out-loud (I think people refer to that as ‘lol’ or use a ‘laughing face emoji’ these days) insight into football, consisting entirely of answers to fans’ questions (apart from a small section with questions from Jordan Henderson).

 

For somebody who comes across as not quite getting the social media world we live in, ironically Milner has written a book, fuelled by fan engagement and relayed in bite-sized chunks easy for those short attention spans to dip in and out of, ideal for that audience.

 

He is happy to provide a response to why one City fan calls him a “snake” for celebrating in front of them with Liverpool and tackles head-on his boring persona, perpetuated and sent global by the @BoringMilner account which started posting mocking tweets about the midfielder on Twitter in July 2013.

 

“It never bothered me,” Milner says now. “I was at Manchester City in one pre-season and it was Vinny Kompany who first said, ‘Have you seen this?’ Because of some of the things that were said, we wondered if it was somebody we knew.”

 

They are yet to discover who controls the account. Milner called them out when he did the Ice Bucket Challenge - people were filmed dumping a bucket of ice over themselves then nominated three others to do it, to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease - but the person behind @BoringMilner did not bite. I point out that the account, which has 656,000 followers, follows only four people: Milner, Adrian Durham from TalkSPORT, Mamadou Sakho and Micah Richards.

 

“Micah messaged him or her because he was always trying to get to the bottom of it,” Milner says. “Some of the things are quite funny. You’ve got to laugh at yourself. A lot of people refer to it, I get plenty of “boring!” shouts when I’m warming up, it’s just funny.”

 

Milner was a late adopter of social media. He started using it in part to address the boring persona, and also to engage with fans. “There were a lot of opinions about me being boring because they didn’t know too much about me. I think it’s important you split your public and private lives. You have that side with your family that is just for you, but also through social media I’ve given people a bit more about myself. The Yorkshire accent probably doesn’t help in terms of the boring thing, either.”

 

Another factor was that, where the phoneless dressing rooms of his early career were loud and full of jokes and pranks, Milner felt as though he was missing out on what everyone else was talking about.

 

“Still a lot of banter goes on but a lot of people are on their phones. Big conversations come up - have you seen this or that? It might be a clip of something that’s happened in a game, or a talking point. I hadn’t - I always seemed to be the last to the party!”

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he is gently ribbed about being the old man of the team at Liverpool. Virgil van Dijk calls him “grandad” and if there is grainy footage of a game on TV from 40 or 50 years ago the defender will squint at the screen and ask, ‘Which number are you, Milly?’”

 

Yet, like @BoringMilner, it is a role he embraces, endeavouring to use his experiences to help Liverpool youngsters in the way he was guided through as a teenager.

 

“At Leeds the players looked after me: Dom Matteo, Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, these sorts of experienced heads put their arm around me and helped me out and I learnt a lot from them at a turbulent time at Leeds. Hopefully I can do half as good a job helping the younger guys at our place as they did with me.

 

“There’s a lot I can relate to. I’ve seen it through my career. I’ve been through it before and just knowing how they’d be feeling in certain situations. You might be nervous about things the first time you do something, I can help them get rid of that nervousness or any mistakes or fears they might have, try to settle their nerves and help them enjoy playing football.

 

“A few years ago when Joe Gomez was a bit younger the Spice Girls came on in the gym and he had never heard of them. I was like, 'Wow, I’m getting on a bit!'

 

“I feel in between the two generations: the old school and the new school. It’s a good place to come from. Speaking to some of the younger guys in the squad, they can’t believe some of the things that used to happen.”

 

Perhaps 20 years from now young players will be shocked to hear that Jurgen Klopp used to send the odd hot tub selfie to his players after they had completed a training session.

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5 hours ago, Mark M said:

Repped for putting that article up. Good read.

 

Come on LFC new Nike deal confirmed lets put some if it towards an extension for big game James 


Think I read the other day that talks have started over it. Hopefully get him signed up soon. 

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Of course Milner is worth another deal but economics need to be a major part of it too. I'm sure they have some sort of algorithm or even rule of thumb that measures a players age versus length of contract and salary etc. Why would Milner want to go elsewhere anyway? Won't be about money as much as length of contract and possible coaching role. I think he'll stay and don't care either way as Klopp is the main reason why we are as good as we are now.

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On 02/06/2015 at 00:02, Bruce Spanner said:

 

29 years old and a very 'average' career which has seen him sit on City's bench as their Jack of all trades.

 

He'll command a hefty signing on fee as well.

 

James Milner, James fucking Mllner will make off this deal around £25,000,000 basic pay, before you even start to think about bonuses and endorsements. 

 

Fucking.ing.hell!

 

The shark has just been jumped!

 

On 01/06/2015 at 23:57, Mr T said:

Fuck football, I'm done with it in any meaningful way.

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