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The
second part of our feature interview with A Man Called Horse, Geoff
talks about his time at Birmingham City, his ambitions at West Brom
and beyond and about the special relationship he enjoys with supporters
at all his former clubs…
“I think the fans can see that I always work hard and give
everything I’ve got in every game. I never stop running, the
only time I do is when I can’t go any further which is when
the gaffer will take me off, which is what happened in those finals
for Blues, I’d just given my all and couldn’t do no more
running. When they’ve watched me a bit, people do say that
I’m a better player than they first thought and I like to think
that I’ve got a bit more about me than just the running, but
that’s the foundation of my game and supporters do like to
see that.”
Even that honest approach to your craft isn’t always guaranteed
to keep you in favour with your manager however, and Geoff is the
first to admit that initially, things didn’t g as well as he’d
hoped after he made the switch from Fulham to Blues.
“Trevor Francis was a completely different character to Kevin
Keegan and he had a very different approach to training and to playing
the game. It didn’t really suit me and I’ve got to be
honest, I didn’t really play my best under him, I don’t
think I really showed my true form, my best form, while he was there.
But as soon as Steve Bruce took over, things were totally different
for me and I got things back on track. He had a totally different
outlook and I started playing some good football.
“Saying that though, we did have some successes under Trevor
and it was a pretty memorable season one way or another, going back
three years. We were up top of the league for most of the season
and we had that great run in the Worthington Cup and finished up
getting to play Liverpool in the final at Cardiff which was a fantastic
day, even though we ended up losing on penalties.
“I was sat on the bench, I’d been brought off just before
extra time, so it was just awful for me just sitting there watching
it go on, but probably it was even worse for the lads who were having
to take them. It was just a horrible way to get beat in a cup final.
“To be honest though, the bigger disappointment came in the
play-offs when we got beat up at Preston. We didn’t live up
to our true potential under Trevor, we didn’t play well enough,
either on the day at Deepdale or consistently enough over the course
of the season, because we had enough in the squad to perhaps even
get automatic promotion that year.”
That night at Deepdale will be engraved on the memory of every Bluenose,
but given that Albion had also suffered our own play-off beating
at the Reebok Stadium, Blues’ misadventures did give some of
us a little bit of malicious solace as Blues first conceded a last
minute equalizer when they seemed Cardiff bound and then lost the
tie altogether on penalties after raging controversy over which
end the spot kicks were going to be taken from. Unsurprisingly,
Geoff remembers events vividly.
“It was an emotional night, really peculiar in every respect,
loads of pressure on everybody. It was live on Sky as well, so all
over the country people were sitting at home watching it on the
television and when it went to penalties, they saw Trevor take us
all off the pitch before the shootout when the referee changed the
end we were taking them from. That was disappointing and if he had
the chance again, I’m sure he’d do things differently.
Looking back, I think doing that just unsettled the lads and it
made it very difficult for us to go on and try to take the penalties
and of course, we ended up losing. After that, I think it was always
going to be hard for Trevor the next season and we did struggle.
“But Steve Bruce coming in after Trevor left was the best thing
that could have happened to Birmingham, as he’s proved since
then. As soon as he came in, most of the players had a new lease
of life and then he brought good quality players into the club afterwards
to add to things, players like Matty Upson, Stephen Clemence, David
Dunn have come in now, and he’s managed to totally transform
the club. When he went into St Andrews, Birmingham were twelfth
or something in the First Division, nowhere near the top six but
we just went on a great run, qualified for the play-offs, and went
on to win them. You’ve got to give him great credit because
Blues have gone from struggling in the First Division to the verge
of the Champions League, which is some achievement in the pace of
a couple of years. The board has backed him really well, and now
they’re neck and neck with Aston Villa which is brilliant for
all the fans.”
Everybody here at The Hawthorns remembers 2001/2 with particular
fondness as we hunted down and finally overtook Wolves in the final
stretch, but it turned out to be a pretty handy year at Birmingham
too, as Geoff remembers only to well.
“The play-offs the season we went up were special, especially
with the memories from the previous year. We were desperate to put
that behind us, but they were hard - beating Millwall in any cup
competition is a massive ask as they’ve shown this year, but
especially when one of the games is down at their place over two
legs, and it was really hard. We played really well at home in the
first game, should have beat them four or five because we gave them
a going over but it finished level, and then we had to go down to
their place and we managed to nick it 1-0, Stern John scored in
the last minute, and that sent us to Cardiff. The Millwall win wasn’t
a great day because that’s when there was a lot of trouble
at the game which takes away from what you’ve done, but we
knew we’d done really well to win that and we were very confident
we’d beat Norwich.
“As it turned out, we had a great day at Cardiff in the final.
Iwan Roberts put them in front with a bullet header, but I got a
goal to equalize, I came in and nicked it and got us a draw. I came
off in the last few minutes and I ended up watching another penalty
shootout! I was dead on my feet, I’d got cramp and everything,
couldn’t run another step, so I had to come off and sit and
watch Daz Carter put us in the Premier League.”
Life at Birmingham City was nothing if not eventful for the Horse,
particularly last term when anything that could happen, did happen.
“It was a brilliant season last year for me, in the Premier
League for the first time, we did better than most people thought
we would and I suppose Birmingham have become a bit of a yardstick
for what Albion need to do next season if we do manage to get promoted
this season. It was always going to be a tough year for Birmingham,
the first one back in the top division, but they stayed up pretty
comfortably in the end.
“The great thing for the fans was that on top of that we managed
to beat Villa in both of the derby games, and they were really special.
They were the highlights of my season – I didn’t play
as regularly as I’d have liked to, but I was involved in them
two and they were great games, we beat them 5-0 on aggregate over
the season which was fantastic because there hadn’t been a
Birmingham derby n ages.
“I scored in both the games, and I ended up in goal in the
last few minutes at Villa Park when Nico Vaesen had to go off, so
to be in the nets in that one was lively. It was funny like that
last season, because I played at centre-half against Ruud Van Nistelrooy
against Manchester United and then again against Mark Viduka when
we played Leeds. I got a couple of red cards as well, I had a double
hernia op on top of that, so it was a very eventful year for me!
Thankfully this one’s been a bit quieter on that score.”
Although Geoff headed north for Wigan early on in the season, it
always seemed on the cards that one day, he’d find his way
to The Hawthorns, because he was well aware that Albion were always
keen to bring him here.
“When things weren’t going so well under Trevor at Blues,
I heard then that Gary Megson was interested in signing me and I
always seemed to play well and score some goals against West Brom,
so that added to it as well. Just in the last year or so, I scored
at St. Andrews last season as a sub, notched the winner with about
20 seconds to go, and then I got the winner again when I signed
for Wigan earlier this season.
“I live in Sutton so the chance to come back to the midlands
was great for me, but that wasn’t the only reason for joining
Albion. I wanted to come here because it’s a massive club,
great support, it’s desperate to get back in the Premier League.
I wouldn’t have gone to Albion if I didn’t think we were
capable of that. I signed a three year contract when I came and
hopefully I can stay with the club through that time and finish
my playing career here.”
But once he hangs up his boots, what’s next on the horizon
for Geoff Horsfield?
“You always need to have an eye on what you’re going to
do when you finish playing and I’m still interested in the
property game, though not bricklaying this time! I’ve got a
business back in Barnsley, building houses, and I’m looking
at taking that over into America as well hopefully, we’re going
to try to get into building over there. A lot of players are starting
to invest in property instead of pensions these days, it’s
something I enjoy and I’m looking forward to taking that a
bit further in the future. I want to stick to the developing side
though, because working on the site did my back in.
“Anything just so I don’t have to go back on the hod and
trowel again!”
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