Muzzy Izzet Interview in tonights Mercury

[Hugo Sanchez]

Anyone read it ? Comes across as a good family man but Dennis Wise use to lend him money ! Only 33 aswell, anyone think he will be a manager one day ?

[Leicester Lass]

Yeah I read it. Wasn't that impressed really, not much of an interview to be fair.

Oh well, will be interesting to see what he has to say in tomorrow's part.

[Hugo Sanchez]

Yeah I read it. Wasn't that impressed really, not much of an interview to be fair.

Oh well, will be interesting to see what he has to say in tomorrow's part.

Yea was just a few things but not so much a interview. Still the lad is a legend and intrestting to hear what he says. Wish i could do nothing all day aswell ... Oh wait

[Bert]

Anyone read it ? Comes across as a good family man but Dennis Wise use to lend him money ! Only 33 aswell, anyone think he will be a manager one day ?

He gave him money to help him out. Izzet used to clean Wisey's boots.

[Stevosevic]

He doesn't strike me as management material to be honest.

[Hugo Sanchez]

He gave him money to help him out. Izzet used to clean Wisey's boots.

Wise is a nice guy after all Still he didn't blame Taylor for the spending, kinda took a dig at the board.

[Geo V]

I wonder how long it will take someone on here to suggest we go for a Lennon/Muzzy midfield

[Corky]

He gave him money to help him out. Izzet used to clean Wisey's boots.

Later on Muzzy missed a bit of mud, Wise smashed his face in then sued Muzzy for £2 million.

[Cheese Me]

He gave him money to help him out. Izzet used to clean Wisey's boots.

Wise isn't fit to claen Muzzy's boots

[Vardinhio]

Wise was twice the football Izzet ever was...discuss!

In reality he probably was..

[TrickyTrev]

Wise was twice the football Izzet ever was...discuss!

In reality he probably was..

Dennis Wise kicked people and passed it sideways, he was gash. Would never get anywhere near a premier league side these days. Neil Lennon played the same position and had a lot more class.

[Geo V]

Wise was twice the football Izzet ever was...discuss!

In reality he probably was..

I'm not saying it because we all are meant to hate Wise but as a footballer he had nothing for me. He was OK but one of those players who didn't do that much. Izzet could pass the ball better than him, scored better goals than him and was a good alround player, playing most of his Leicester career in a 3 man midfield compared to Wise and his 4 or 5.

How he played so many games for England i`ll never know.

[TrickyTrev]

I'm not saying it because we all are meant to hate Wise but as a footballer he had nothing for me. He was OK but one of those players who didn't do that much. Izzet could pass the ball better than him, scored better goals than him and was a good alround player, playing most of his Leicester career in a 3 man midfield compared to Wise and his 4 or 5.

How he played so many games for England i`ll never know.

He was Glenn Hoddle's mate.

[Narborough Bod]

He was Glenn Hoddle's mate.

Wise was made to look good with some cracking players around him, Zola, Gullit, Jody Morris ....

[Geo V]

He was Glenn Hoddle's mate.

One thing about him though is he is a winner and doesn't care who he upsets to achieve his goals. As much as he irritates me, I can see him succeeding in his career but I`ll almost certainly bet he winds up people along the way, starting with the Newcastle fans

[Tommy G]

I think Izzet would have looked class if he had the calibre of players that surrounded Wise in the pinnacle of his career. Difficult to compare really..

[Raj]

Muzzy is a top bloke!

family man and seems to be a decent Geezer.

However seems a tad on the shy side and dont think he would be a columnist or on Sky or such

But hats off to any man who can retire at the tender age of 33 and be happy with a lovely family and memories!

[Durnerz]

I always said if Izzet transferred to a club like Liverpool or Newcastle (as big as they were in the 90's and early 00's) he wouldn't look out of place. Genuine class midfielder.

[Newcastle_Fox]

The last part of the interview from the mercury website,

Didnt know Muzzy planned to come back after Birmingham, not many players would want to do that. Good lad, whether we would have been able to afford him I dont know with the state of out finances then.

10:30 - 05 February 2008

Our two-part interview with Muzzy Izzet, concludes with the former Leicester City star telling Lee Marlow about the premature end to his playing career and the charity role which touched his heart

You couldn't see them circling round the Walkers Stadium; sniffing about, a quiet word here, a discreet message there, trying to bag our best player. But it didn't mean they weren't there. There was a queue of them: Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, all after the same thing - Leicester City's best player.

When Muzzy Izzet finally left City, after eight years, 323 games, 47 goals and a hatful of memories, he left on good terms.

He enjoyed arguably his finest season during the club's worst - carrying Micky Adams's side back to the Premiership after the nightmare of administration in 2002.

When he joined Steve Bruce's Birmingham the following year, there were no boos. No angry shouts of "traitor". The only real surprise was that he stayed as long as he did.

It was important, he says, that he left City on good terms - because his secret plan was to come back; to finish his career at the club he loved.

Woah, there... you planned to come back?

"Yeah," he says, "it's not widely known, but that's what I wanted to do. I wanted a few years at Birmingham, then, at 32 or 33, about the age I am now, really, I planned to come back here.

"I know people say 'never go back' but it always felt like home. I knew a lot of people here. I'd had a word, too. There were people at Leicester that knew about this."

Would it have happened?

"I'm quite sure it would, yes," he says.

The question we want to ask him, though, is not why he left. It's why he stayed as long as he did.

Stories of his imminent departure were wrung out and printed on a weekly basis after O'Neill went to Celtic and City, inevitably, started to struggle.

At one stage, with Leicester relegated and administration looming, it looked like a deal had been done with Middlesbrough.

He nearly went, too, he admits. He travelled up to the north east and heard future England boss Steve McClaren outline his plans for midfield built around him.

City were offered £6 million for his services and the personal terms were staggering. It looked like only a matter of time.

Yet the deal never happened. Instead, Izzet came back to Leicester and stayed at the club.

Why? Oh, there were all sorts of reasons, he says. It was a long way up north. Neither he or his wife, Carly, really wanted to leave their home in Fleckney. And he'd have been further away from his family in London.

But mainly it was because City stepped in with a deal he'd have been a fool to turn down.

Yesterday, in the first part of our interview with Muzzy, he said it was unfair to pin the blame of City's demise on former boss Peter Taylor. Yes, he made some bad buys but at some stage, he reasoned, you had to look at the men behind the scenes rubber stamping all of his cheques.

It's an irony not lost on him, however, that it was the same men signing the big cheques who made him such a generous offer it helped to set him up for life.

"I looked at this contract with my agent," he says, "and we were both like, 'Bloody hell'! It knocked me sideways.

"It was a fantastic offer. It was over and above what I expected. I'd have been mad to turn that down. And, besides, I do like it round here.

"I'm ambitious, I want to do well - but not to the point where I want to jeopardise everything I love."

Yesterday, Muzzy told the Mercury how he was enjoying his retirement; staying at home, looking after his kids and popping out for the occasional game of golf and the odd pint with his mates.

He's also the patron of Wishes4Kids, a local charity he first got involved with thanks to a local girl who had a massive effect on the former City midfielder.

"It all came about by chance, really," he says. "The club called me and told me about this girl called Louise Moon.

"The thing with the charity is that they try to grant these kids three wishes. Louise was very, very ill - and one of the wishes was that she wanted to meet me."

Humbled, Muzzy went to the hospital. He was nervous, he says, pacing up and down, not knowing exactly what to do or the right thing to say.

He remembers standing outside the hospital ward, looking through the window of the door, and seeing a young girl lying in bed. "I couldn't really see her," he says, "for all the tubes and wires.

"She was poorly, but she could talk so we had a chat and I thought she was lovely. We got on great."

They got on so well, he returned again and again; sitting by her bedside, holding her hand, making her laugh with stories about her favourite football team.

When she died, although it wasn't a shock, it hit him hard. He went to her funeral and, when his daughter was born three months ago, he called her Lyla Louise.

"Those kinds of things do affect you," he says quietly. "You know, I was always all right when we used to go to the kids' ward at Christmas with the rest of the players.

"I could deal with that. But this was different. I had a real relationship with Louise. It was very humbling. She made me stronger as a person, too."

So to put a bit back - to help a local charity which does such good things - it's a small price to pay really, he says.

After we talk, he rings Louise's family, worried that he might have said too much. If they want, he'll retract the things he's said. They don't mind, they say. They were glad of his help.

He's done two interviews since he retired. One in The Observer last week - which was "full of errors" he laughs - and this one. "I'd rather just keep my head down," he says.

Does he look back on his career and feel proud of what he achieved?

He looks bemused. "I don't look back."

Really?

"No, I try not to. What's the point? I don't know... maybe I will when I get older. At the minute," he laughs, "my friends do all the reminiscing."

He watches City only sporadically, but will probably go more often when his son grows up. Maybe, he hopes, it will be better by then.

So you've not thought about writing a book?

"Not really. Who wants to know what I've got to say?"

But at least you've got something to say.

He doesn't look convinced. Maybe he will, he says, but he suspects the people who might want to, know enough about him already.

What about the La Manga incident, when City players were wrongly implicated in a sex scandal?

"I don't think we need to go into that," he says, "I think everything that needed to have been said about that has been said."

And the boozing? It's well documented that O'Neill's City team had its share of beer drinkers.

"Well, yeah, now and then we'd have a few. We enjoyed each others' company. We were good mates. But come Monday morning, we'd train hard. We trained like we played."

Do you miss it?

"I miss some of it," he says. "I miss the laughs. But I don't look back. Maybe, when I'm a bit older, I'll feel different. But I'm enjoying what I do now."

[Staf]

Anyone read it ? Comes across as a good family man but Dennis Wise use to lend him money ! Only 33 aswell, anyone think he will be a manager one day ?

I think he will manage a team one day cant believe he is only 33 he should do his badges and come down leicester

[FleckneyFox]

Fleckney

I live there

His Missus goes to my Dads running club!

[Bert]

Imagine if he'd still be playing now, the god would be back on our books.

[Ric Flair]

When you actually sit and think about Muzzy Izzet and his days at Leicester, if you catch yourself on a bad day or an exceptionally good day, then there's tears.

God.