Klopp, small shinpads and whether he really is boring - Milner in his own words

James Milner never imagined he would still be playing top-level football at 40, let alone holding the Premier League’s all-time appearance record. Speaking in this week’s edition of The Football Interview, the Brighton midfielder tells BBC host Kelly Somers that the milestone – 656 games and counting – crept up on him while he was “just concentrating on doing my job.”

From £70-a-week trainee at Leeds to Champions League winner at Liverpool, Milner retraced a career that began in November 2002 when, aged 16, he became the competition’s youngest goalscorer. “Three or four months earlier I’d been doing my GCSEs,” he laughs. “My mates were still in sixth-form and coming to Elland Road to watch.”

Two goals in three days over the Christmas period announced him to English football, but it was Wayne Rooney’s simultaneous emergence at Everton that diverted the spotlight. “The majority of the limelight was on him – that probably helped me,” Milner admits.

The interview, broadcast on BBC One at 23:40 BST on Saturday 21 March, ranges across two decades of dressing-rooms. Asked to name the best manager he played under, Milner pauses only briefly. “All-round, I’d have to say Jurgen,” he says of Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp. “What I learned from him, the relationship we had… we could say exactly what we thought and know we were both 100 per cent in everything we did.” Milner reveals the pair “didn’t have any big clashes,” though Klopp would occasionally tell him to “shut up” and loved to keep players guessing by flipping the half-time tone. “You’d expect a rocket and he’d be really soft; other times you’re on fire and he’d go mad over one little thing.”

Klopp’s Liverpool era provides the game Milner would most like to relive: the 4-0 semi-final triumph over Barcelona in 2019. “Losing heavily in the first leg, players missing… to turn that around was incredible.” Close behind is his first Elland Road strike for boyhood club Leeds, the club he supported as a five-year-old when his father lifted him aloft to celebrate the 1991-92 title.

Relegation with Leeds and two Champions League final defeats represent the lowest points. “To lose European Cup finals is very low,” he says, still rueing Gareth Bale’s overhead kick and Thibaut Courtois’ “robot” performance in goal. On a personal level, a nine-month knee lay-off at 39 left him unable to lift his foot for six months and unsure of a future. “That was probably a driver – it was so unlikely. You want to prove again you can beat the odds.”

Milner, famed for his durability, is less enthusiastic about modern trends. He winces at the tiny shinpads sported by Brighton's youngsters – “you can’t really tackle now” – and admits he is “not overly in favour” of VAR. Pitches, at least, are better: “You used to have November-January where it was a bit ropey and you’d keep it wide.”

Off the pitch, a star-studded 40th birthday in January underlined football’s transient friendships. “One day a transfer happens and that’s it, they’re gone. Men aren’t great at keeping in contact.” Yet the night also reminded him of the camaraderie built across 656 games, three Premier League titles, a Champions League, two FA Cups and a League Cup. “When you’ve played as long as I have, you meet a few people,” he smiles.

For Milner, the record is merely a by-product of a relentless quest to contribute. “Individual stuff is something maybe you look at when you’ve finished. For me, it’s always about the team.” With Brighton’s season ongoing and his body still willing, the veteran shows no sign of resting on those laurels just yet.