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| ARCHIVE NEWS STORY |
CRAIG LINDFIELD: THE BIG INTERVIEW
Paul Rogers
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Imagine getting promoted from the Academy to Melwood, being asked by Rafa to travel with the first team to a match and then being told you’re not only in the squad, you’re actually starting.
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Alongside Robbie Fowler, a player you idolised as a eight-year-old just starting out at the club, no less.
Then, just for a minute, imagine how would it feel if Fowler played you through for your first shot on goal in the first team and you smashed it past the 'keeper and into the net.
Oh, and it actually proves to be the winning goal in the game. On your debut! Things like that don't really happen, do they?
In Craig Lindfield's case, they do.
On July the 22 this year Lindfield, a teenager from the Wirral, was handed his first team debut by Rafael Benitez. On July 23, the Lindfield family woke up to see their son's name splashed across the back pages of the Sunday 'papers. This is his story…
Let's go back to July 22. What was it like to make your first-team debut against Crewe?
"To be honest, when I first got the call up I was completely surprised because I'd only just moved up to Melwood. I didn't even know I had the pro-contract then so I wasn't expecting to play at all. Even when I got down to Crewe I didn't know I was starting either."
Going back to the moment you found out you had been included in the travelling party for the friendly, did you get a phone call saying you'd be needed for the first team squad?
"They gave me a call on the Thursday before the Saturday to tell me to come in tomorrow and train with the first team. I didn't think anything of it really. I was just thinking great, a bit of experience with the first team. I wasn't expecting to get the call up to actually play."
Training on the Friday with the first team players must have been quite an experience…
"It was. Steven Gerrard, Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher were all there. It was a great experience, really unbelievable. I was just looking around seeing all the familiar faces and it was like a dream. Totally surreal."
Did you see a massive step up in quality compared to what you had been used to?
"It was a lot faster, a lot stronger. You have to know where you want to pass the ball or you get closed down very quickly."
Did anyone surprise you in particular with how skilful they were?
"Xabi Alonso is quality! With his range of passing, he just never lost the ball."
 | | Lindfield on Robbie Fowler | | "Before the Crewe game, in the dressing room when I'd just been told I was starting, the nerves hit me a bit then but it was better that way because I didn't have time to think about it. It was just put on me. I was sitting next to Robbie when I was getting changed and he turned around to me and said, 'Don't be nervous lad, just go out and do your best and you'll be good enough. You'll get a goal'. Funnily enough, it was him that set me up!" |
"Rafa was watching but Paco [Ayesteran] did the majority of the talking. Rafa was on the sidelines watching."
Did you get nervous when you were out on the training pitch?
"I think the adrenaline just carried me through to be honest. I was just so made up to be there that I just kept running and running. I didn't get tired at all. I was nervous at the start but the players were talking to me and they made me feel a lot more comfortable. Before the Crewe game, in the dressing room when I'd just been told I was starting, the nerves hit me a bit then but it was better that way because I didn't have time to think about it. It was just put on me. I was sitting next to Robbie Fowler when I was getting changed and he turned around to me and said, 'Don't be nervous lad, just go out and do your best and you'll be good enough. You'll get a goal'. Funnily enough, it was him that set me up!"
On the Friday, what happened after training? They don't pin up the teamsheets on the wall any more, do they?
"No. We just went out and trained. It was basically two teams of 11, one in bibs and one without. We just trained in our teams and went down on the Saturday."
Having been told you were in the squad for the game the following day, did that make getting to sleep that little bit harder on the Friday night?
(Laughs) "Yes, I was up until about 10:30, 11. Normally I'd be in bed earlier for a match day but it was hard to get to sleep with nerves and excitement. I had loads and loads of phone calls off family - all ringing me asking for match tickets! I was made up. It was unbelievable."
How was the coach journey to Crewe? Did the nerves start to kick in?
"Not really because the golf was on the TV so that took my mind off the match. I was sitting next to Sami Hyypia and that was a bit surreal. I actually got told to move up because Sami sits in the same seat of the coach for every game. I wasn't to know – it was my first time."
Sitting down next to Robbie in the dressing – was that the moment you thought, 'This is what I've dreamed about since I was a kid?'
"Well, I've been at the club since I was eight. I've been right through the Academy. I've been here ten years now and this is what I've worked for."
As a young player you must have had to make a lot of sacrifices over the years…
"I wouldn't say it was that much of a sacrifice. I've never been one of the lads who goes out drinking and stuff. I don't see the point of it so it wasn't that hard to stay disciplined. The three nights a week of training over all those years was definitely worth it - just for that moment of stepping out on to that pitch. It was amazing."
Talk us through walking from the dressing room out on to the pitch…
"In the dressing room it was pretty quiet because it was quite far back from the pitch and we couldn't hear much. Once we stepped through the tunnel though… As soon as the referees popped out, it just erupted! That's the largest crowd I've played in front of so it was a massive adrenaline rush for me."
Did playing in the FA Youth Cup final in May help prepare you for what to expect?
"Yes. At first, when we played in the Youth Cup, the crowd was a big deal and then once you start playing you learn to shut it out."
How exactly do you manage to do that?
"It's just a natural thing I've found. People ask how you manage to hear your mates on the pitch with 10,000 people shouting but you just stay totally focused on the game."
What about the manager when he's shouting instructions from the sidelines - can you hear him?
"To be honest, sometimes you can and sometimes you can't but more often than not, he'll tell a player nearby and he'll get the information over to you."
What did Rafa say to you before you made your debut against Crewe?
"Nothing. He just called out my name, 'Lindfield number 11'. It was probably better that way because he just let me play my own game and didn't ask me to do anything in particular so I just enjoyed myself."
It obviously worked because you scored a fantastic goal…
"It wasn't bad. I scored with my left foot and I'm right footed. I just thought, 'I've just got to hit this'. On a first team debut, anything can happen and luckily it went in the right place."
Could you actually believe it?
I stood there for a few seconds and thought, 'Have I just scored for the Liverpool first team?' My first instinct was to run over to Fowler because he'd spoken to me before the game. That was the first thought that went through my head. He said I was going to score and then he set me up. It was great."
You might have even added to that goal later in the first-half…
"Yeah, I had a couple of shots. My best shot was probably my half volley. I don't know how the keeper got to that but he's a good keeper and he was on form that day."
Can you describe your emotions as you trotted off the field at half-time?
"It was unreal. I remember sitting on the bench for the second half and thinking it would be even better if it turned out to be the winning goal. In the end, it was. I keep using the word 'unreal' but that's how it felt."
Did Rafa speak to you after the game?
"No, he just left it. A couple of the players said 'well done' though."
Did you find it easier playing with such good players around you?
"I'd say it doesn't make a lot of a difference but it's just the movement of the others players that helps. Fowler, for example, his movements are so clever. If he's not able to get the ball, he can make space for me. You can tell the movements and passes are a lot sharper from the better players."
You've mentioned Robbie throughout the interview. He must have been in his prime when you first joined Liverpool 10 years ago. Was he been one of your idols?
"Yes, it was likes of Fowler… Gerrard hadn't quite got there but as I've grown up I'd say Steven was my number one idol. Rush was in the team as well when I started but coming to the end of his career."
Was Steven Gerrard training at the Academy at the same time as you?
"When we first started it was still at Melwood but we in different age groups and on separate nights so I didn't actually see much of him."
I presume he would be the role model for most young players?
"Yes, definitely. There's pictures and posters everywhere in the Academy of the likes of Gerrard and Carragher, two players who came through the same way. Even the likes of Darren Potter make you realise you can make it and break into the first team. At least in Liverpool you get a chance. It's not like Chelsea where you might not get a chance. If you work hard enough here then you'll get the rewards."
A few years ago it looked as though the Academy players didn't seem to be getting chance. Did you personally think that was the case?
"The Academy took a lot of stick a couple of years back but to be honest you can't expect them to produce five or six players every year. It's not like a production line - players don't just role out one after the other. My age group has been probably one of the best age groups to come through - the so called 'dream team' because we've got the likes of Steven Darby, David Roberts, Robbie Threlfall and Ryan Flynn who have all moved up and Jay Spearing who'll probably come up soon."
What was it like growing up at the Academy? Ten years involvement with the club is actually longer than most of the current players and you're still only 18…
"All the way though, it's just been stepping stones to get to where I am now - another rung on the ladder. Every year I'd say is basically about meeting the benchmark to get that contract, to get another year and another year. When I was younger, I never thought, 'I'm going to make it'. Obviously I thought it would be great to make it but at the time I was making smaller goals - thinking just get to U-14s, U-15s, U-16s…
What's the next rung on the ladder for you?
"Next step is to hopefully establish myself in the Reserve team and see what I can do. Maybe get a few goals for the reserves team. Like everyone else here, I'm just hoping for a chance and then I've got to take that chance. Sometimes Rafa watches the Reserves train so you've got to do your stuff every day and hope that it's good enough at the end of the day. All you can do is your best, isn't it?"
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