"BRAZIL HAD R9 UP FRONT, PLUS RONALDINHO, KAKA, ROBERTO CARLÓS, CAFU...AND I GOT MAN OF THE MATCH!"

The former Crystal Palace and Birmingham goal-getter discusses mixing it with Brazil’s best, his life as a pundit and waiting on his Selhurst Park statue

- Lewis Watson

Are you enjoying retired life, working with the Soccer Saturday team?

Oh, it’s a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure that comes across on the television. We have a fantastic team and each show flies by. It can be chaotic at times. Merse [Paul Merson] ran to the toilet in the ad break the other Saturday and he clearly didn’t realise how short the break was - I had to cover his match! We're also caught with food in our mouths plenty of times, but I think the viewers enjoy seeing that side of it all.

You scored on your debut for Crystal Palace back in 1998, after coming on as a late substitute against Sheffield Wednesday. Does it get much better than that?

I don't think it does. It’s what you dream about as a youngster, getting to play in the Premier League and scoring on your debut! Crystal Palace were going down anyway, but the fact that it won us the game in the last minute was so special. Attilio Lombardo crossed the ball in and I managed to squeeze it beyond Kevin Pressman into the bottom corner. What made the goal even better was that all of my family were there to see it. I relive it quite a lot; when I watch the footage, I always think how skinny I was.

You famously played for free at Palace during their financial difficulties - do you think you were appreciated for it at the time?

I'd like to think so, yeah. I'm still waiting for my statue at Selhurst Park, though! In all seriousness, I just wanted to play football. Because I was so young, having not long broken into the team, it didn’t make much difference to me like it did to some of the older guys. Money didn’t motivate me but game time did, and it enabled me to become a regular starter. I can understand why a group of senior lads felt they had to leave, as they had mouths to feed, but I was still living with my mum. I know it wouldn't have been a massive amount of money for the club, but I was happy to help.