Chris Chilton Interview

Last updated : 26 July 2008 By Andy Beill

Backpass Magazine - Issue 4
Chilton on: The 1970-71 season...
"When you look back, if he [Cliff Britton] or Terry Neill had brought in another couple of defenders, we'd have probably been promoted that season, instead of finishing, what was it, fifth?"

The current England team...
"I watched England play Trinidad and Tobago at the end of last season, especially the lads up front, and bloody hell. The lad Defoe moved well, but Dean Ashton? Peter Crouch? Ashton looked so heavy - he certainly didn't get beyond anybody. If I was nothing else, I was mobile - that was what used to destroy teams, and get you chances."

His injuries...
Six broken noses and more than 200 stitches to head wounds for a start. "If there's one thing I do envy modern forwards, it's the protection they get," admits Chilton. "Most games I came off and considered I'd got off lightly if there was any skin left on the backs of my ankles. You could tackle from behind, and some defenders were very good at looking as though they'd got the ball cleanly when they'd actually come right through you."

The money in today's game...
"There were times in the early days we'd get back from a game, and I'd walk to my home from the ground, usually nursing an injury and wondering whether it was really worth the £3 a week I got on my first contract. It got better, but not by that much. The Hull Daily Mail tells me the current top earner at City, Jay Jay Okocha, is on £15,000 a week. Good luck to him, but I don't think I earned that in a year, even at Coventry."

Article kindly provided by Backpass Magazine. Full details of how to purchase issue 4, with the Chris Chilton interview in full, (online, by post or in the shops) is available at www.backpassmagazine.co.uk