"THE LEAGUE CUP FINAL WAS MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND - I'M STILL ANNOYED I WASN'T EVEN ON THE BENCH"

The ex-Middlesbrough defender on Chinese football's grand plans, getting battered by Bayern Munich and suffering Euro 96 heartache

- Colin Cooper

In recent years you've spent time working in China. That must have been quite an experience?

I had two spells there. The opportunity first came not long after I left my job with the FA. My kids were grown up so I gave it a go and never regretted the move. It was a fascinating experience and very enlightening. I was technical advisor to the national team, working for both the Chinese FA and head coach Li Tie, the former Everton player who had replaced Marcello Lippi. I initially went over because they were looking for ex-professionals to put development pathways in place for the young players. China wants to become a powerhouse in football and believe that with 1.4 billion inhabitants, it can be done. They're not wrong, but it can't happen overnight. Football isn't the country's biggest sport and outside the big cities, there are vast areas where martial arts dominate. My advice was that they needed to give it time, to allow the structures we put in place a minimum of five years to get going. Previously, their FA would just throw money at a project without too much thought behind it, so they brought in big names such as Lippi and a few of the top coaches from Spain and Croatia. The national team and the Super League were very much detached with no real continuity, but it's improving now.

You made more than 600 professional appearances as a player, starting off as a left-back, then as a centre-back...