In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News Senior reporter Tim Thornton, Andy Carroll discusses playing in France, his hope to play until 40, a potential switch to management and further success for Eddie Howe and Newcastle after their Carabao Cup victory …
While we are sitting in a cafe with a view of the Garonne River, Andy Carroll looks relaxed and happy. He plays his football for Bordeaux, the six-time Ligue 1 winners, who assigned their status as a professional club in July and were relegated to the fourth level of France due to bankruptcy.
Les Girondins struggled to adapt to a new level at the start of the season, but the arrival of Carroll in September led to a revival of the results. He scored eight goals in his first 10 games and admits that life is good for him now, both on and outside the field.
“I thought I would like to experience something else and try a different way of life, try different football, and I ended up here and I love it.
“The lifestyle is very good, it is a wonderful place to be, the people are beautiful and the football is great. It's just a fun way of life.”
Carroll broke the British transfer record in 2011 when he left his boy's club Newcastle to draw for Liverpool. He made nearly 250 performances in the Premier League, scored 48 times and was tucked off by England nine times. But he says that playing abroad has had a huge impact on his life.
“I think it has completely changed my way of thinking. I think it is so long in England, it was so much busy, and I think football is everywhere in England and that everyone just wants to talk about it.
“But here you can escape a bit. I can play football, train every day, but come out and just be normal and have a normal life.”
Carroll has French lessons and jokes that his Geordie accent did not prevent him communicating with his teammates. He has become a key figure for the club while offering to climb back on the French football pyramid.
“I think it's something that gave me a little buzz. I wanted to be part of something that could be great.”
He became 36 in January and with another three years on his contract, his goal is to play in his forty.
“I have had many injuries and I think it's sad for me to think of all the games I missed, and all the comments I have had about,” you want to be injured, “or” you want to do this. “
“Everyone who knows me knows that that is not the case at all, I just wanted to play football, and now I can get a chance to play 36 to play and enjoy it, it's great.
Carroll was a spectator at Wembley earlier this month to see how his two former clubs Newcastle and Liverpool participated in the Carabao Cup final.
After seeing his boys' club coming at the top, he supports Eddie Howe to build on that first domestic trophy in 70 years.
“Eddie really made an impression on me. Of course also what he did at other clubs, Bournemouth, I just think he is an incredible coach and when I speak to the boys in the club, they all said amazing things about him and you can see, you can see that every player wants to play for him.”
The good friend of Carroll and former teammate of Newcastle Kevin Nolan recently accepted the manager's job at League One Side Northampton Town.
So Carroll could follow in his footsteps and go into coaching or management?
“I could do it. When he got that job, I spoke with him and I thought it would be the phone call to say, come on, are you coming? It wasn't, but you never know.
“It's a few years away, hopefully anyway, and let's see if there is coaching, management in it.
“But at the moment I am just focused on playing football and enjoying”
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