Carl Asaba, Sheffield United derby-day hero

The Star, Sheffield

Carl Asaba chats to The Star about his iconic goal against Wednesday in the 100th Steel City derby, and his love for Sheffield United

Transcript

00:00Have the nerves started to kick in yet?

00:15I hadn't been up in Sheffield that long, so I was still living in the hotel.

00:20As I've said many times, I wasn't aware just how huge a match it was.

00:26Walking around the streets, you used to be able to go to the high street and shop back then.

00:33People would be stopping you, saying you can't lose this match, you've got to do it.

00:39Then the nerves started building.

00:42Is that something that almost helped you a little bit?

00:46I was talking to Anel Ahmed Hodgic this week and he talked about players not thinking too much about the occasion.

00:52Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

00:54It is, at the end of the day, a game of football, isn't it?

00:56When you start to think about everything else that surrounds it, perhaps that takes your focus away a little bit.

01:01Did it help you that you weren't fully immersed in what this game perhaps meant?

01:05There was a bit of, and I mean this in the right way, a bit of naivety there from your perspective.

01:10You were new to it.

01:11Yeah, I think that probably helped me because, as you say, you can get really wrapped up in it.

01:18In lots of derbies you see crazy tackles going in where people, the emotion and the occasion gets the better of them.

01:26They act in a way that they wouldn't normally do.

01:29People talk about this to us who have never played football at the level that you have, obviously.

01:35People talk about play the game, not the occasion.

01:38But when you walk out, as you did, when there's nearly 40,000 there and there's all the balloons and the songs

01:43and the pure passion and hatred which is there between the two sets of fans and two clubs,

01:50how difficult is that to put that to one side and just focus on your job?

01:55Well, honestly, going into that match, I played in front of 80,000 at Wembley against Man City.

02:02I played at Wembley a number of times.

02:04I played in big matches.

02:06The atmosphere going out at Hillsborough, even in the dressing room at Hillsborough,

02:11you're looking at one because it was bouncing.

02:13I wasn't prepared for what it was going to be like.

02:17We left Bramall Lane in the coach.

02:20The drive from Bramall Lane to Hillsborough in itself, there were people everywhere.

02:26The colours, it was a Sunday.

02:28It was April Fool's Day.

02:29I was definitely going to score because it was my day.

02:33But, no, it's a massive occasion and you've really got to focus on the game in hand and not get carried away.

02:43Yeah.

02:44I mean, am I right in thinking that you'd scored at Hillsborough quite recently

02:48before your goal against Wensley for United?

02:50Am I right in thinking that?

02:51Yeah, I didn't enjoy, you know, when we went there with Gillingham,

02:56the way the people, the actual people who worked at the club spoke to us

03:00and acted towards us when we went in the ground.

03:03They popped my back up, so I was delighted to have scored there.

03:07And, you know, I was going back to that ground thinking,

03:11remembering what the occasion was like as Gillingham.

03:14And, to be fair, the fans, they weren't bothered about Gillingham.

03:19There was no added spice.

03:21So, I went with the expectation it was going to be similar, maybe a little more intense.

03:28Nowhere near the scenes I saw, you know, we went out, there's balloons everywhere,

03:33the stands were full and the noise, it was just crazy.

03:37So, yeah, it's a big old game.

03:41It's interesting you mention that.

03:43Was that a little, did you get a sense of, oh, it's little old Gillingham?

03:46You know, was it that sort of sense that you got when you were there?

03:50Yeah, I won't go into too much.

03:53But, yeah, they did offend a lot of us, to be fair, the way they spoke.

03:56And you've heard that over the years.

03:59You know, Sheffield Wednesday, for me, when we beat them there,

04:04I think, you know, they'd come out of the premiership,

04:07they had still massive stars there.

04:09But I think it was a bit of, that's where the changing of the guard really happened,

04:15where Blades went on to become the stronger team in the city.

04:20Up until that point, just before it, the Owls were the bigger team.

04:26So it was quite a big match.

04:31And they did have a sense, you felt there was an entitlement,

04:38because they were the bigger team.

04:40So are you saying all these years on that you were the catalyst?

04:44Is that what you're saying?

04:45No, no, no.

04:48Many years, whenever I seem to leave clubs, they do far better, you know,

04:52with Sheffield United, with Stoke.

04:54I was the anchor, if anything, holding them all back.

04:57No, I've never been a catalyst.

04:59No, you're being far too modest there, maybe.

05:01I'll take you back to that, as you say, April Fool's Day 2001, I think it was.

05:05You know, 70th minute, it's 1-0.

05:07Lauren Judafo scored the opener.

05:09Dev crosses in from that right wing in front of the Blades fans.

05:13And you're seeing the ball come in and thinking, I assume,

05:16you know, I fancy this.

05:17Just talk us through what you can remember.

05:19Fancy, do you not remember me as a striker?

05:22Fancy, the ball was in the air.

05:23You're thinking, don't come to me.

05:25I'm thinking, gee, if you get your head on this, Carl, you've done well.

05:29No, it was just one of those, the ball was going away from goal.

05:34You know, if anything, I was a little bit more advanced of the ball.

05:38And I just knew I had to try and shape it onto the target.

05:44It wasn't the greatest header as far as power and everything.

05:49But I'd never, you know, there's quite a few of my goals that I look back on.

05:54And I couldn't do it again.

05:56You know, it was just the perfect header for me to do that one time.

06:00You know, the amount of managers who would have screamed at me over the years,

06:03how can't he hit it on target?

06:05You know, in training.

06:07But in this match, you know, it all came good.

06:10And the commentator at the time said, oh, it wasn't a great header

06:13from Asaba, let's be fair.

06:15It couldn't have been any better.

06:16You know, it was just in the corner.

06:18We had Pressman scurrying across the line and couldn't get there.

06:23So, no, it was just incredible.

06:26And then the scenes in the stands, you know, it was bouncing.

06:31It was an incredible occasion.

06:33But the Blades fans, the joy that it brought, and you could see it

06:37and we were with them.

06:39You know, I get goosebumps now because, you know, 26 years on now,

06:45it's still so vivid in my mind.

06:47And I get stopped, you know, all the time, really,

06:51of people who remember it and it meant so much to them.

06:54So, I'm massively proud that I was involved in that.

06:58Yeah, quite rightly.

06:59Going back to that time as well, I was watching as a fan then.

07:02I remember Kevin Pressman used to, how he never played more for England

07:06on his form against United because he always tended to be

07:09like a brick wall in derby games.

07:11It always seemed to be, you know, him versus United, almost,

07:14in occasions.

07:15But, you know, sort of perfectly placed header to beat him.

07:18I mean, sometimes now, you know, when you're getting off to sleep

07:21at night or whatever, that image must run through your head

07:24because I can't imagine what that feeling is like, you know,

07:27in front of the Blades fans, you know, in a game like that.

07:30The 100th derby, I think it was, or it was a milestone derby, wasn't it?

07:34It was a milestone.

07:36You know, even that, when I'm out, like I was picking up my youngest son

07:41the other day from school and I'm stood there, head down, you know,

07:45waiting for him to come out and I heard two of the parents chatting

07:49to one another about, have you got tickets, have you?

07:52And I'm there thinking, you know, they're talking about this massive game

07:56in the city but yet I scored the winner in one.

07:58It's quite surreal, you know, to think in the 100th derby, as you say,

08:03Sheffield Wednesday were the dominant team in the city at that time

08:07and to score a winner in this derby match away at Hillsborough,

08:12you know, it makes me so proud and, you know, I just love it

08:17and it never gets old watching it.

08:19I'm just so proud of being involved and what it meant to so many people.

08:24Yes, have you got the YouTube video on repeat there of that goal?

08:28I won't blame you if you did, by the way.

08:30It's in my kid's room, they're not allowed to go to sleep

08:33until they watch it 50 times.

08:36No, I've watched it non-stop.

08:38I was more proud of setting up the first because, again, you know,

08:42you're hearing my name with Dez Walker, you know, the legend that is Dez Walker

08:48and, you know, that's it.

08:50I was proud because we were a hodgepodge team.

08:53We were ragtag, weren't we really?

08:56You've got Carlton Palmer, my next-door neighbour,

08:59Tron Solvelt was the captain.

09:01You had Gilles the builder, you had Saban.

09:04It was a really, really top team and we went there and we gave everything.

09:09Every player, Darren Bullock, he came in on loan

09:12and you've got Carlton Palmer having a go at him, but he didn't care.

09:16He just got on with it.

09:18It was a perfect, gritty performance from us all.

09:22Yes, and I guess you did this, obviously.

09:25You made yourself a household.

09:26As you say, you're still getting stopped 20, 25 years on,

09:30people talking about it.

09:31I guess for the class of 24, 25, there's a chance there to make yourself

09:35that hero, to write yourself in this club's folklore, isn't there?

09:38If you can perform in this game, no matter what happens in your career

09:42after that, you'll always be remembered in this city, won't you?

09:45I imagine that's quite a powerful thing for a footballer.

09:49Yes, but we were lucky enough in the first match this season,

09:55you've got Campbell writing his name and he's banging form at the moment.

10:01He did well.

10:02The boys really performed well that night and he scored a great goal.

10:07He knows what that's brought to him already.

10:11It's just a very tricky time to go there because, unfortunately,

10:18Sheffield Wednesday have got an incredible manager

10:21and an incredible management team and their team are really performing.

10:26It's going to be a tough game.

10:28To come back from 2-0 down at Norwich the other night,

10:31it shows they've got character, they've got belief

10:34and they don't let setbacks knock them.

10:37So it's a really tough match, but you know what?

10:40We've got an incredible team, we've got an incredible manager

10:44and just hope if our team can match the Sheffield Wednesday team

10:49with energy and desire, which I'm pretty sure they will

10:53because Chris Wilder accepts nothing less,

10:56I'm hoping we're going to get a result that we deserve.

11:00Yes, obviously you've stayed up this way, haven't you?

11:03The accent shows that you're not from Sheffield,

11:05but you've sort of become a Sheffielder, haven't you?

11:08You've adopted Sheffield in many ways.

11:10I know this club means a lot to you, doesn't it?

11:13It means everything.

11:15I've had three children born up here who have said many times

11:18I don't understand half the stuff they say

11:20because they've got the full Sheffield accent.

11:23But I love living up here.

11:25The Sheffield people have been wonderful to me and the club.

11:30The club means everything.

11:32The club's a massive part of my life.

11:35I'm missing doing the co-commentary.

11:37I'm not sure too many of the fans are missing me doing it,

11:40but I love doing it and being part of everything.

11:44I'm getting to watch the team.

11:46The club means a lot to me and so does Sheffield.

11:50Hopefully the red half will get the result we want,

11:54but I am happy that the blue team are coming back

11:58because there's so many fans.

11:59They deserve stuff to cheer.

12:01They've had such slows over the last couple of years.

12:03It's good. Just hope we nick them.

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