The first time I watched him, you could just
see he had something different in him [compared] to what normal players have. He was probably two. I used to just throw him it, and he'd just
hit it with his right, hit it with his right. I'd throw it and throw it
and he'd play that for hours. I'd talked to all the right people
and they'd all said exactly the same thing: "No, no, this is either a one, or THE one." He's obviously been a name
that everybody's spoken about, even down the road I think his
name was
going about when he was 16 years old, and he was being spoken about. Billy! "You're no' going to school today." And I was like, "Alright." And he was like, "You're going up
to train with the first team." I was like, "Aw, buzzing, class." "Don't tell your mum." "Oh, my God, that's Frank Lampard.
Frank, can I get a picture?" Billy was like... Best timing ever, Mum, brilliant... Got absolutely everything in here,
everything you need. I got a taxi straight from Glasgow to Norwich,
through
the night, with the dog. Just because of, like,
"I'm no' going home myself, I cannae." I was like his dad at times, looking after him, and I was probably harder on him
than anybody else in the squad, because I knew what he was capable of. When you get called up for your country,
there's no better feeling. Oh, and Gilmour scores! Obviously I'd heard a lot about him
through my contacts at Chelsea at the time. And you're looking for someone who can
maybe be the future of Scottish football, and cert
ainly at that stage of his career
Billy was one that we earmarked. For everything that he might
still achieve in football, at the end of the day,
he's still just oor wee Billy. Mad, innit? It's quirky, Brighton is quirky. That's what I always say to people -
it's a quirky place. But it's different, I like it. There's always something going on in
Brighton, literally, that's what I've found out. If it's someone DJ-ing
on the beach in the summer, or there's little events, comedy clubs... Loads of s
tuff. The family come down, they love it, and
when they do they always come to the pier. And especially, I've got two little cousins
and my little brother, they'll come down and go and play
mini golf or bowling, go to the arcade. I bet you don't take that for granted,
that the family still do that? No, definitely not. Sometimes I won't be playing,
I won't get on the pitch and... "Oh, it's good, we got to see you for 10
minutes after the game and got a wee chat." But they always make the time and
effort
to come and see me, especially now. So, I would say my earliest memory... I remember the couch, the three-seater, and I used to throw him,
it was just a sponge ball, and he was probably two. And I used to just throw him it and he'd just hit it with his right,
hit it with his right. Any time he picked it up,
I was like, "I'm no' playing." I said, "You cannae pick the ball up,
you've got to kick it, got to kick it." Then I'd throw it and throw it
and he'd play that for hours. I never had o
rnaments in here. They used it as target practice
if I had any ornaments! Flower beds, wasn't it? Hanging basket, flowers. Hanging doon, and me and Billy would use
them as targets, as if they were top corners. "Right, see how many attempts
it takes you to hit it." Yep, constant.
Even rain, hail or snow. I remember Billy must have been...
maybe not even two, and I had to go and try and find
the smallest welly boots you could get so he could go outside and play in the rain. Because he used to alwa
ys just stand
at my mum's patio door, crying. He wanted out, he wanted out. Even his mum, if we were ever
on the Astro in the summer... "Don't come hame for your lunch, son. "I'll bring your lunch to you
so you can stay at the fitba." I'm like that: "Tell him to come hame
for half an hour!" She's going, "No, he might be
in a game of cuppy or something." So, she'd take their lunch
up to the Astroturf for them, pass it through the fence
and then come back down. And then we'd see them about dinnert
ime. First time kicking a ball, probably going down the park
at Central Avenue. My granda taking me down there, just kicking the ball as far
as he could in the air, and me trying to control it, and telling him to keep doing it
and doing it until he got tired! Mum taking me to training,
my dad taking my football team - that's, like, the first proper memories. At school you'd get like
the 'all about me' sheets, and it's like, "What's your favorite colour?
What's your hobbies? "What do you want to
be when you're older?" And he put, "I want to be a footballer." And I was like that,
"You need to choose something else, "because not everybody
makes it as a footballer." "No, I will."
That's just what I wanted to do. I've never, ever thought about what
I would be if I never played football. What special day is it today, Billy? - My birthday.
- Right. These are from Harvey. ADULTS: Aww. Wow! A golden ball. What about the glory days
with Tass [Thistle]? Yeah, Tass was good days. My boys clubs gro
wing up, playing all
my friends from back home at school. So it was like...play at the weekend,
training after school and stuff. And the next day at school, you'll talk
about how good this is, the training. And my dad was the coach, so if the
training was crap, I'd be telling my da'! My dad knows how to get the best out me,
since very, very young. I'd be playing fine and he would be saying
stuff like, "He's doing better than you." And I'd be like, "No, he's no',
no, he's no'!" And he's like, "He
is." And then I'd get, like,
pure raging, pure annoyed. And then that's when he's like,
"When you're annoyed, you play the best." He says, "When you're aggressive
and you've got your teeth gritted, "that's when you're at
your best playing football." And that's how my dad triggered me
to kind of play like that all the time. Hi, Dad. This is a kick-up ball. You get to the numbers and you kick up...
See like that? See how, remember you showed me,
like you do? - Keepy-ups?
- Aye. So I could dae tha
t, Dad. And, wow, look at that big water gun. Try it out here. Ready? I cannae dae this. Practice. Going back to 2009,
Saturday morning... I'd set out my programme where I was
going to go, watch Billy play with Tass, my programme was
to continue on to Ardrossan. I couldn't help but watch Billy's game
through the game that I was watching. And you're just hoping that nobody
else from another team turns up. From the first time I watched him, I could just see he had something different
in him to wha
t the normal players have. Probably the best that I've ever
watched in a young boy at that age. I phoned Jim McNee,
who was in charge of that age group, where we were taking players in, I just said, "Jim, I've got somebody
here we need to bring in." "How quickly?" I said, "He'll need to come in right away." I went up to Murray Park, trained, and then he would come
to all the boys club games. And every time I seen him,
I thought he was my mate. I'd just run over and...
"What's happening, Scott?"
High-five. People were like, "Who's that?" "That's the Rangers scout." And I was like, "Alright."
I just treated him like a mate. I would still play my boys clubs game
in the mornings. So, early morning kickoff,
and then maybe get took off in the second game at half-time
to run up to Rangers. So, it was me and another boy,
Aidan Gibb, we were in the same boys club team
and we played for Rangers. So, we would get subbed off
in the second game at half-time, my mum would drive us up
to Murray Park.
It was hectic. Chaos. I would finish at half four,
come home and pick up the boys, or whoever it is that was going,
take Billy up to Rangers or to St Mirren. And my mum would make me
like a wee pack lunch, and that was my dinner to eat
once I took Billy to his training. I'd sit in the car and eat while
Billy was doing his training, and then I would go out
and watch the last hour or so. My mum and dad,
I always had great backing. My mum, dad, my granda,
my aunty and uncle and all that. They woul
d always support me. My granda would take me one night;
if he couldn't, Mum; if she couldn't, Dad - whatever. And they were always just
letting me do whatever I had to do. If they had to drive two hours
to get me to training, they would. There's 1,000 stories of people
that were good when they were young and it doesn't work out. So, naebody was getting ahead of
theirselves at all and... "Enjoy football." I enjoy football, brilliant,
but you don't look too much into it. Tass. Patto. Guy just foll
ows me everywhere, doesn't he?
Jesus. See with this photo as well... So, Nathan never played
for my boys club, right? We had a little tournament. Scotland Boys Club
and a couple big boys clubs. And we got the invite,
so we took Nathan. So we had me and Nathan in the team. It wasnae cheating,
he was just young. New high score. A joke! Aw, naw, I've done it! Aw, naw, look! Food, the wee stalls are amazing. You walk across it on a nice day or even
like days like this when it's come to winter, it's
still busy and people just go down there
and get their seafood. For me: crab, mussels, prawns. Very basic.
Very, very basic. Maybe try the other stuff,
but it's very basic. I know what I like and I don't want
to change up in case it spoils my dish. I still love going home as well, though. I'll go home and I'll have time for anyone,
speak to everyone. I'll go home, go round to the baker's and... Do you know what I miss
from home the most? A roll and slice and tattie scone
from a baker's. Literall
y, like, that's the first thing I always do,
see when I do go back home to Scotland... go to the baker's the next morning. Or a fry up, like a Scottish fry up, though. In all academies, when you hear
an exciting kid is coming through, it starts to become the talk of the coaches' room. And then what happened was, more and more the word spread
about this young kid coming through. And, to be fair,
he was in a very good group. And the group were
getting quite exciting as well. So, what you found was
the B team coach,
the U18s coach, everybody was coming along
for a midweek game to watch U11s and U12s,
and watch Billy and his talent playing. I remember the first time I went,
I didn't want to go in. I was nervous, I was crying. My granda, massive Rangers fan,
took me up, my mum and all that and were there,
and I didn't want to go in. I remember I was nervous, I was a bit scared. And then after the first day, I loved it. But I was never like,
"Oh, I'm training with Rangers." I just thought it
was another football session. That's the way I would have treated it.
I know I would have. I enjoyed it and I loved the coaches. All the training drills we did
were little tricks and flicks and shooting practices
and little games. So, it was all enjoyable. It was never, like, demand this, demand that. People talk now about Billy having
an ability to take the ball in tight spaces, a good awareness,
the way he moves the ball and his energy and all those things. And all of that is true, of course
it is, but the bit that he's got that was
different from everybody else - and it was really apparent at that young age -
was a love of the game. When I was young, my dad would
always bring me into the changing rooms. So, like, Junior changing rooms,
where his manager, Derek Frye, who... Great guy, he was like, to my dad,
he's going to go off on one. And my dad's like, "It's fine, you can sit." So I'd sit in there and the manager
Derek Frye's going crazy at the players, and I'm a young kid, but I
loved it. Just watched my dad, and I think with
his aggression when I watched him play, he's like, "Never pull out a tackle,
always give 100%, "if you don't go in 100%
you're going to hurt yourself." So, little things like that stuck with me
and I use them to this day. So I played with the navy team, and then I did nine or ten years
at Winton Rovers. I used to come off,
don't know how much I get paid, £40 or £60 a week, used to come
off and they'd say to me, "You're docked another tenner this w
eek." I'm like that, "What for?" "The boys were drinking juice
and eating everything!" They'd just come doon and say,
"Aye, take that aff my dad's wages, "take that aff my dad's wages this week." I think Billy Sr would probably
still tell you to this day that he's the best player in that house - and believe it,
I'm absolutely sure he'd believe it. So, I think what you had on one hand
was Billy Sr really challenging Billy Jr to say, "Right, come on,
you need to win, you need to be who you are." T
he first tournament that Rangers took him
to was the Mundialito tournament, and you'd honestly think it was
a mini World Cup for U11s. It was brilliant. And we're playing against teams
like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and a lot of Dutch teams,
a lot of German teams. And before it, they walked around
the stadium - Rangers, Scotland, and I think they must have
played Simply the Best, or Flower of Scotland, or one of them,
and all the fans are going mental. But every team did it, honestly,
like a mini
World Cup, the opening night kind of thing,
it was amazing. At that point, you felt like
a young professional football player. That was a class tournament. We got to the semi-final
and we got beat off Sevilla. And then we went to Holland. The Holland tournament
was probably a personal highlight. We won that and I got
player of the tournament. No, he wasn't holding his own -
he was standing out. Probably made him realise that,
"You know what? I can be top here." But never, ever with an ego. He al
ways was so humble,
that he would keep working at it to make sure he gave himself
the best possible chance. I remember the first time I got told
I was going to train with them. Dad phones me and he says,
"Where are you?" And I says, "Literally just pulling up to the
Grange, the gates at the front of the school." He's like, "You're no' going to school today." And I was like, "Alright." And he's like, "You're going up
to train with the first team." I was, like, "Aw, buzzing, class." He says, "Don'
t tell your mum." End up going up, training.
and then the pictures ended up coming out, of me reading...I think it was a bit of paper
Mark Warburton was telling me [about], and Mum's like, "Oh, when was this?" And me and my dad just kind
of look each other like...! It was a great experience and I loved it. I think my first memories are
Billy coming training with us when I was coaching at Rangers, coming around and training
with the first team. He was only very young at the time,
very small, but
obviously very talented. So, just coming around to get
a taste of being around the first team. He's easy to like and his personality
is just conducive to coming into any environment
and settling in, and that was the case. And obviously his football
speaks for itself as well, which always helps, if you can... It's alright being a nice person, but also when you can actually
impress people on the pitch, then you get a lot of buy-in from that
- which he obviously did very quickly. Billy was unbeliev
ably close
to featuring for the first team. I think that the club was
in a bit of transition at the time, because he'd obviously worked
with Mark Warburton and David Weir, and then Mark left,
as did David. And Graeme Murty came in at that point, and he was training
with the first team regularly. He was about the squads and I think
there was a moment particularly... The rules didn't allow him
to play in the league, but there was a possibility he could
have played in the Scottish Cup. I was in one
of the squads
for a cup game at home, and Graeme Murty basically
pulls me before the game and says, "Look, you're not on the bench,
in the squad." And I felt like I was going to be on
the bench and maybe come on, that game. It works in weird ways, so it does, football. Of course, I would have loved to have
played for Rangers, but ended up moving on, and maybe it's a wee part of my journey
that made the decision a bit easier. It was one of those things, when you
are a manager, assistant manager,
you want to keep your best players around. And Billy wasn't ready for
the first team at that time, but we also were realistic in terms of... Billy would have had a lot of different choices,
a lot of different options. The world would have been his oyster. So, you also have got
to go and state your case and try and persuade Billy
and the family that his future could
have been with Rangers. And as it happened, as it turned out,
it wasn't, and I think everybody
completely understood that, but I th
ink it was our duty to try
and persuade him that it was. See with this, that top... Jimmy Bell was the kitman, and when
I was leaving to go to Chelsea, I tried to take my top after the game,
but Jimmy took it off me straightaway. He says, "You're no' getting it,
you've no' played a game for Rangers." I was like, "Alright."
Youngster, didn't want to say anything. And when I was leaving,
he came in the indoor hall and he was like, "Where is he?" He's like, "Going to Chelsea?" And I was like..."Aye
." And he's like, "Alright, got a present for you." I was like, "Right..." Threw me the top,
and I've went like that, "Aw, cheers." He says, "Right, **** off." I love Jimmy Bell.
He was good to me, really good. Rangers knew that Billy's desire
was to go and play in the Premier League. So people... You get a lot of stories out
there that are just not true. People say it's for money -
it was never about money for Billy, it was to go and play in the Premier League.
That was his dream, we knew that.
It was strange, where... I'm going to school
and I've got my mates telling me, "This team wants you
and that team wants you." And I'm like, "Aye, aye..." My teachers, PE teachers are like,
"This team wants you." And all the PE teachers love football,
so we'd have a good chat about it. Walk around to the shops,
people are asking you the same question: "Are you leaving?
Why you leaving Rangers?" Thinking, "Jesus... "You've known me since growing up and now
you're speaking to me, asking about this
." I don't read newspapers, of course, but my papa, my granda would send it
into our group, our WhatsApp group chat. "He's on the front page today.
Look, there's Billy, there's Billy." And it got a bit surreal. Like, "Ooft, this is pretty serious now." When Billy was 15,
there was a big decision to make. Had went and visited a few teams,
with permission from Rangers to do so... And we sat down, we did
a pros and cons, didn't we? And then we wrote down pros for this team,
cons for that team, and
then put in order
what you thought of the four teams. And all the pros that we put down
were very similar. With Rangers, it was the exact same. "You're at home, still playing with a massive
club, you're round about the first team, "we can see you more often." 15, 16 years old trying to make the biggest
decision - where do I want to play football? We read them all out and eventually
we all had the same answer. BILLY SR: What's that? Chelsea strip. Wow. My first memory of Billy
looking back was a
meeting that we had at Cobham,
at Chelsea's training ground. I was in the process of doing
my coaching badges at the time and got asked by, I think it was Neil Bath,
the academy director, who said, "We've got this young kid
coming in from Scotland, from Rangers, "with his mum and dad." "Soon as you're here,
can you come and tell them a bit "about Chelsea and your
experience as an ex-player?" That was a great day as well. We all went down as a family,
all four of us, and we're signing for Chelsea
and
Jody Morris is going through my clips. And the next minute
we get a knock at the door. And I was just like,
"Oh, my God, that's Frank Lampard." And he's like that, "Oh, do you mind if I come
in and just have a wee blether with you?" And he's like, "Aye, that's fine." And I always remember
Billy's agent saying, "So, have you got any other questions?
What about you, Mum, any questions?" And I was just like,
"Frank, can I get a picture?" Billy was like, "Mum!" And I was like, "Sorry!" But I th
ought,
"Well, I might no' see him again!" Best timing ever, Mum, brilliant... End up getting a picture,
and then that was it. I'm just sitting there like...
"It's Frank Lampard, Da!" He ended up being my U18s coach
towards the end with Jody Morris. He was coming in and taking some
sessions. So, it was a nice moment. There was something about him
in terms of his personality and his family's way, his mum and dad, that it really struck home to me.
Very normal family. Not to pre-judge them, but it f
elt
like a sort of working-class, really wanted to support their boy
and their boy to do well. Got a really good vibe from Billy. I always then had Billy in my head from afar, because at that point I was on
my little journey of becoming a coach. Hi, Dad, thank you for this b'day thing. And I've got the Chelsea strip noo. For me, when I moved down, I was young,
so I was only thinking of the football. I was never thinking, "What am I going to do
after football training, at night-time?" I was just
thinking, "I'm moving down
to London to play football", in the same sense of,
"I'm moving to Brighton to play football." So...you don't really think of that, and then when you're there,
sometimes going into London, Selfridges, when we got paid at the end of the month,
go and buy something. That was, like, what we looked forward to. We did that mostly as the team,
as a team. This season...Ansu [Fati] has came. He stays here himself with his brother, so the odd time he'll text me
or I'll text him
if we want to go for a meal, or we'll go into London or something. I think it's just football and that's it. I mean, he doesn't understand Scottish! Well, I don't understand Spanish,
but it's like... We played against each other
when we were younger. On away days, we sit next to
each other on the plane or on the bus. We'll play Parcheesi. So it's like Ludo, basically,
and me and him will play this for hours. It gets very competitive. So some days you'll be like,
"Ansu, that's enough", or he'll b
e like, "Bill, that's it done." Welcome to the Brighton training ground. Hello. I'll grab that.
I'm good, thanks, you? Don't worry about the camera, Charlie. Buzzman! Ho, you've got the two best guys at the club.
Three, four! You missed out, he's just... This is Cal. Buzzman. Oh, my God, you got no Os! Admin. Yes. Dunky... You just missed what he was wearing. That's amazing. I'm just printing it up now, number one fan. So Buzz has got his own quiz. You want to speak to them, Buzz, about
your qui
z that we do at the training ground? It's just a quiz that we made up,
and it's gone well, innit? - Flying.
- You're on it soon. I'm on it soon. Massive numbers on YouTube. Going into the shirt room? Gonna show them the shirt. So, this is all Buzz's kitroom. All the players, ex-players. So, this is all the players' international kits. There's mine there. Some collection. But he's got a fellow Scottish mate... Super John McGinn. I think this part's pretty good, though.
I enjoy this part. This is
the youth team gym. They see us, like, we walk past and stuff, so... They need a little bit of inspiration! What do I do in the the gym? Ehh, walking around...to be honest! To be fair, I do my stuff,
I do my prep work and that. But I'm always, like, wanting to stay outside
and just kick a ball about. That's the best way. Got absolutely everything in here.
Everything you need. TV is usually on,
and then Teqball table up there. A couple of the boys
are always messing about. To be fair, some of the
South American boys
are unbelievable at it! I never get involved in it. Sometimes I have,
but just for fun. In the mornings, I just like doing my own stuff,
kind of just getting ready for training. But, nah, and then you get the view of the
pitches and a little bit of sunrise the now. It's lovely. Some gym, innit? D'you know, I've got one pet hate, right? See, when we're in here,
obviously it's South Americans and all that, they all play, like, Spanish music.
Don't understand any of it. Fancy a
race? Aye, right! I mean, after training,
we always get a bit of shooting practice, or we play foot golf,
closest to the line, play a couple games. So, there's always someone wanting to
stay out and do a bit extra as well. And I think as a team,
I think we're all quite like that. So, it's always good, you get good numbers
for shooting competitions and stuff. He would always be one of the last
to leave and one of the first to come. And I know people say that,
but that was genuinely the case. I k
now it's a cliché being first
on the training pitch and last off, but he was literally that -
he'd always wanted to be, as soon as we're down at training, his boots
were on and he was out on the pitch. Listen, he's one that... He'll be
on the training ground last every day. I did hear about Billy while he was at Rangers. I talked to all the right people
and they'd all said exactly the same things: "No, no, this is either a one or THE one." You talk about the quality of player
that we've got comi
ng through. LAMPARD: There's always
a question with a young player, especially a player that might
have a slightly slight build. Physicality - the game's
so physical these days. But you can't hide a quality on the ball
and an understanding of the game. And in those early days, when I was
coaching at a very young level for me, he stood out as a top young player already. The wonderful thing about Frank Lampard
when he was in charge - he did not care about names. He did not care about reputations.
He only cared about: "Are you good enough
this week to get a game for our team? "Good, you're playing." When I returned to Chelsea to manage, I think my staff was full
of ex-academy coaches, people like Jody Morris,
Joe Edwards, Chris Jones. So, there was always a lot of feedback
about many players in the academy. Our biggest question was, who's ready? Always, Billy was at the top
of the list of the talk. Think Billy said he was going to be
in the squad, didn't he? V Sheffield United. There was
a good chance he was going
to feature if things were going OK. I think they were up 1-0,
seen him warming up, but we'd seen him warming up
a few times at other games, and we're thinking, "He's no' getting on.
He's just in the squad." And I was going on,
and my mum and dad are in the stands, and I remember being nervous,
thinking, "Oh, God." I just remember him warming up. So my mum and dad were with us as well, and we were all like, "Oh, there he's there,
he's coming on, he's coming on." And the
n he takes off his bib
and he's standing on the sideline with Frank. And I remember I gave Harvey my phone,
and I'm like, "Harvey, go, go!" He's like, "Whit?" I'm like, "Take a photo, take a photo!
Quick, take a photo!" And he's like, "Aye, alright, Mum, calm down." And then when he gets subbed on
and the ball's coming towards him, I'm like, "Oh, no, run away from it,
don't touch it, don't touch it!" I remember I took a touch past a player, and see when I've lost it,
my legs have went all jelly.
And I think I was only on the pitch
for five minutes. But see after the game,
it felt like a 90-minute game. All the effort and time that you put into
your son hoping to achieve his dream. And then when you see him
running on that pitch, you just think as a parent...
that's all you want for your children. It was a dream come true. Playing in the Premier League,
especially for Chelsea, and ticked off one of my dreams
when I was a young kid. Of course I was disappointed with the score. The score
was 2-2, and I think
I came on at 2-1 and they scored. So straightaway I'm thinking, "That's me." You blame yourself, don't you? So, it was just one of those things. But I remember him texting me
saying they were proud of me, I deserve it, keep going,
stick with it and stuff. So...for someone like
Frank Lampard to go out his way to text me, that was a surreal moment. Well, we got to the point
towards the end of the season, getting into the crunch part
of the season, we were playing Liverpool in
the FA Cup,
Everton in the league a few days afterwards. I think we got a heads up the night before
to say, "I'm starting in the cup v Liverpool." And I'm going, "Wow." Then I phoned
Carrie's mum and dad to say, "Listen I've booked two rooms
in the hotel, come doon." I wasn't surprised when Billy played
against Liverpool and controlled it, purely because I knew that he had it in him. And I'd been telling people, Chelsea fans who hadn't seen him:
"You're going to love this kid." It's weird becaus
e even though he'd played
the exact same way at U18s and U21s, you always think, "You cannae keep
doing that at Premier League level." And then he went on
and he just played his own game. I'm going, "Well, that's just the way he plays.
That's him." I think it was Roy Keane that
announced he got man of match and it was just like,
"Wow, that's my big brother." And I think we probably
all know what happened. Anyone who knows Billy's story knows that that game against Liverpool we played,
he was man
of the match. Played with an incredible level
of quality and personality. A big week for Billy. I threw him in there a little bit
and he absolutely stood up and delivered. I settled into the game really quickly
and it was like, nice touches of balls, couple of nice dribbles. And then of course after the game,
my dad pulled me and said, "You need to do it again,
you can't just live off that." So we had Everton and I was
more nervous for the Everton game, because I think that was playing on my mi
nd. Like the full week; well, the four days
preparing for the game, it was like 'Billy Gilmour, Billy Gilmour...' It was everywhere. Find out I'm starting,
and I remember the first thing I did was got on the half-turn
and played the ball forward, and straightaway my nerves
just calmed down. I was like, "Right, I belong here.
I can control..." I'm running and defending,
but it was more on the ball stuff, which I knew I was comfortable with. Is anyone in the spa? Yes, there is? JP? Is it just him,
himself? Right, OK. JP won't mind. It's unbelievable, innit? Come in here, get your towels,
housecoats and all that. What'd you call it -
a housecoat or a dressing gown? Ah, never been! Unreal, innit? Mostly after...most days of training,
I'll come in here. After gym and lunch,
and just chill out. Sometimes I'll maybe just go home,
but...always good. If you've got stuff like this, it makes
you want to stay longer, doesn't it? It is class. So, this is like a meeting room.
We'll come in here ever
y morning. I always sit here, on the left. This is my seat in the meetings. Watch clips in here,
so we do. Crofty [first-team coach Andrew Crofts], he will
say, like, "Let's have a one-on-one meeting." And we usually do that after games. So, he will show you clips from the game, what you could have done better,
what was good. I know, as in pass completion, I always
like to look at that pass percentage, because I don't like giving the ball away. It's the same as any player, but you always want,
a
s a midfielder, to be above 80, 85, making sure that you're not giving
the ball away much. D'you know what I mean? So, I think that's the most
I'll probably look at, the biggest stat. All the youngsters, doing The Griddy! More fun, probably. At Chelsea I did jobs, so, at U18s,
we had a week planner. So, you'd be like, pump up the balls, make sure that all the bibs are there, cones, take out the equipment,
water bottles filled up. So we did that at U18s,
then at U23s it was nothing. Kind of got t
reated more like a pro. But of course, you still had to clean
your boots, making sure... just little stuff. My own. I never ended up cleaning
any first-team players' boots. Never. The only time at Rangers was
when I was round about the first team, where Jimmy Bell would take me, tell me to pick up all the dirty kit
and all the boots, and I loved it. No, definitely.
I love football, and I was fascinated to be seeing
the first-team players in the changing room. So, I'd go and pick a strip up and l
ook at
the back and be like, "Oh, that's class." You feel the real ones. Obviously,
when I was young, you had the... Not fake ones, but it
wasn't like the proper match kit ones. So when you pick that up, like,
"That's proper." So, just little things like that
make you enjoy it more, and then when you're the first-team player and you see the youngsters come over, you wonder if they
do think the same, like - "Oh, I'm training with the first team,
doing all the kit and stuff." So, it is a good thin
g. And I think that they probably
don't do it as much now, do they? I think Billy was definitely excited about it. Crazy, you forget... Like I said to Billy, "There's no'
many Scottish players win it. "And to be in that position to win it, "it's probably the biggest trophy
you can win." Champions League. There's one photo on that. Another good one. Mum's obviously saved it fae Snapchat! There it's there.
That's the favourite picture. My favourite picture of all time. Me and my wee bro. Very clos
e. We've got that...
it's a love/hate relationship. So it is, we always argue. But we get along really well
and talk about football, golf... He loves golf, and he is better
than me at golf, he always beats me. Harvey. Ooft! But you know what? See when he
came down, he would cook my dinner, and he'd make dinner and I would come into
the kitchen to kid on I was trying to help, and he just told me,
"Bill, away and sit down." Honestly, his food's amazing. I've got pictures of it as well.
The scran,
great. So, the Champions League final
was Chelsea v Man City in Porto. It was like Seville. Obviously, we're all into football, so the Champions League final
is like the top game in club football. It's one of the biggest games. And for your son to be there,
you're just thinking, "Wow, this is amazing." This is things that we watch on telly,
and now we are actually at it. No, it was a great night. I was on the bench, so I was really happy. I knew I wasn't going to play, of course, but to just be
around it
and experience the build-up to it, you watch that stuff on tv, and of course, I've seen Andy Robertson do it,
seen his medal. I'm thinking, "That's amazing." And when we went to the Champions
League final, the build-up was great. It just didn't feel real.
It never. And after it, when we won...it was class, get a medal and a picture with
the Champions League trophy, family's on the pitch, getting pictures,
thinking, "This is amazing." You definitely get a kick to think,
"That's just a w
ee boy that I watched "at eight years old,
and look at where he is playing now." He's obviously been a name that everybody's
spoken about, even down the road. I think his name was going about
when he was 16 years old, and he was getting spoken about from huge
personalities and huge names in the game. And the first time I actually met him
would have been at the Euros when obviously he made the squad. I think obviously with the COVID situation,
there was an enlarged squad, so it was a chance for m
e
to bring three extra players in. I looked at what was around, what I could do. Looking at the younger ones in the squad, at that time it was David Turnbull,
Nathan Patterson and Billy, who obviously I'd heard a lot about
through my contacts at Chelsea at the time. I knew he was good,
I'd seen him play a couple of times. And you're looking for someone who can
maybe be the future of Scottish football, and certainly at that stage of his career,
Billy was one that we earmarked that could be part o
f the squad
moving forward. When you get called up for your country,
there's no better feeling. Since U15s, U16s, put the shirt on,
represent my country. Scottish FA JD Performance Schools
were formed in 2012. And the idea was to create an environment
where our best young potential had an opportunity to train every single day. So, we looked at the country in general and
we tried to look at the most populated areas, just historical areas of where football players
have come out of, and we created
seven schools. When I heard that, I was like,
"Yeah, that's where I want to go. "Don't need to do much school,
just play football." But I thought I was going to a football school;
there was no school, so I was like, "It's even better." I went to the Grange [Grange Academy]
in Kilmarnock, an amazing school. I loved it. It was brilliant. We always did,
every single day at school, go and do our classwork - English, maths,
science and PE - and then you did football. Didn't need to go and do geograph
y
or history and stuff. So, if you're telling someone,
"You're going to school, "but you're going to go
and play football for two periods." "Yep, I'll take it!" And the idea behind it really is
to create a different type of environment, an environment where
you can genuinely be really patient, as we try and create a national identity
of a football player, one that we hope can form
the basis and the foundations, so they can go and have
a career in the game. The amount of people that have came out
the performance school. For instance, myself, you've got
Nathan Patterson, Chrissy Hamilton. There's loads of boys out there,
even younger ones now, who are coming through,
who have made the step where they've went from performance school
and left to go down south, or they've went performance school
and now they're in the first team. Right, go again. Congratulations to the Scottish FA
Performance School...JD graduates! Congrat... Mate, I'm so nervous! Congratulations... Congratulations to the
S
cottish FA JD graduates. - I've got it.
- Ah hink, anyway. Performance School... Just say, "Well done to aw the wee guys
going to school to play fitba!" Right, nah. It's fine, we've got it. Three, two, one - action. Congratulations to the Scottish... Ohh!
I've got it, ready? Congratulations to all the Scottish FA...
Performance JD graduates. No! What did I say the first time?! Congratulations to all the Scottish FA
JD Performance School graduates. The hard work starts now, good luck. Good luck.
Get it ! People like Billy bought into the idea
of not just wanting to play for Scotland, but proud to play for Scotland. This pride of watching
our national team playing, and we thought that was coming back. And then once you started seeing
them playing in the youth squads, we knew we'd achieved that first goal. That's the ceremony
for the performance school. That's all my mates at the school. Jay Henderson, he plays [for Ross County]. Patto. There's a top picture.
Look at the barnet though! Je
sus... Me and Patto, Victory Shield. Well, I remember coming here
to watch the Scotland U16s, and hearing about one or two
of the names in advance. Some of the guys that maybe had a bit
of a reputation, guys to look out for. And as much as it was
a name that I had heard, it wasn't really one that I was
set on looking out for - which was probably
the best thing about it. But then as soon as the game starts,
your eyes were drawn to him. GORDON COMMENTATES:
Nice play from Scotland. Trying to set th
e tone early on,
into the dangerman Billy Gilmour. Skipping through, and into Semple early on. Clatters heavily into the goalkeeper. And then once your eyes were there, you found that you couldn't look
away for the rest of the game. And you found yourself
almost...player cam type thing, just watching the way he moved. - Into Gilmour, turns back.
- Wonderful balance. So I got called up to the U21s. Scot Gemmill was the manager,
and I was excited, of course, I love going away with Scotland teams,
get to see all the boys again. Of course, I've never been with this age
group, but I was going with another boy, Chrissy Hamilton, who I've grew up with,
so I was gonna be comfortable with him. So, the Toulon Tournament,
it's an U20s tournament, one of the biggest youth tournaments
in football. The likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, players like that have played in it,
so a lot of big names. So, we shared a room
and we're going to training, we're talking about the standard, the level, and both of us end
up playing
against France for our first game, and I think we won the game, actually, 1-0. After that we were buzzing - two youngsters, we were playing with our age
group then we got called up to the U21s and the full summer, it was amazing. When I listened to Billy
on the phone to his dad, he'd be frustrated because he didn't start
the first game and he didn't come on. And I went out there with the expectation
just to sort of go out and enjoy it and enjoy the experience. Whereas for him, it was
about getting
on the pitch, impressing people and making a name for himself,
which...in the end he done that. The end up of that,
played the majority of the games. And at the end of it we were getting awards
and I got Revelation of the Tournament, which was a proud moment, 16 years old... It was class. It opened me up to men's football. If anyone asks me who's the best player
you played with or played against, I always say Billy Gilmour. Because his standards of himself,
wanting to go to the U20
s at 16 years old, and expecting himself to start the first game
and to be the best player in training every day, and the standards expected off
everyone else were so high. And I think that's why
he's probably just continued to make the next step in his career, because he's always pushing himself
to be the best he can be. There it's there. My braces!
Revelation of the Tournament in France. That's class. Watching not only the willingness
to take the ball in those tight areas, but almost like he p
referred it that way. Like, preferred it if he was surrounded by
people and really seemed to thrive on it. And straightaway you're sitting up thinking,
"Who is that? Who is this kid?" Because maybe off the back of a generation
of accusations, maybe unfairly, that it was the big, powerful players that kept
getting picked ahead of everyone else, yet there was this guy
who was handling the ball like a 25-year-old Spanish midfielder
or something like that. The Euros coming about,
Billy was maybe on
the fringes and people were speaking about him
maybe getting called up. I got a text in the morning. "Congratulations, you've been
called up to the squad." Literally.
That's how vague it was, right? So, straightaway I phoned my agent.
"Is this true?" He's like, "Who is it?"
So, I sent him the number. He's like, "Yeah, that's Frank [Reilly], "he's part of the Scotland [set-up],
he puts out the squads." And I said, "Right, cool."
So, that's when I believed it. I've went through all the age groups
and now
I've just been called up to the A squad to go and represent my country at the Euros. And I was like, "What a feeling that is.
It's a dream come true." The biggest buzz I got was
a text from Andy Robertson. "Hi, wee man, Robbo here.
Huge congratulations on getting called up. "Really deserved,
all your hard work paying off in the end. "Amazing season you've had, on a high. "Make sure confidence is exactly
what you do at Chelsea. "That's why you're in the squad. "Me and the rest of the lads
will
help you and the new boys settle in. "I'm sure you'll love
the experience in the camp. "Good luck in the final,
and I'll see you next week. Skip." No number saved. I was like, "Skip,
it's Robbo. That's a nice touch." Told my mum and dad, everyone,
and...it sticks with me, actually. ...can play the left side of the defence. Liam Palmer and Andrew Considine
have dropped out from the last squad, by the way,
they are not... Billy Gilmour! So, I remember we travelled
down for the England game.
I said, "Should we get something to eat?" And then I think maybe
about half 11/12, Billy phoned us. I didn't think I was going to play, at all.
Thought it was experience. Then when I found out I was starting
v England, I told my dad straightaway. I was like, "I'm starting." We're all going, "No way!" Obviously your family's there, big game,
Scotland v England at Wembley, everybody's buzzing: "Aw, we're going,
we'll see you there! "Amazing. Work hard, enjoy it." All the Scotland fans singing, of
course we'd seen
all the videos the night before of them taking over London,
which was amazing. And I was like, "This is surreal,
that this is happening." Going out, and of course playing against
players that I've already played against. So, I was comfortable in that sense, where I knew I was up
against Mason [Mount], who I've trained with every single day. I know what he's going to do,
he'll know what I do, I can work hard
and it'll be a good competition. It was pretty good!
It was outstanding,
because he gets thrown
into a game of that magnitude, to go out there and handle it
the way he did, to be part of a really good team performance,
I think was good for Billy. My mind went back to the games
against Liverpool and Everton for Chelsea, where I'd thrown him in potentially
at the deep end, and he dealt with it. Good players do that. The game will stick with me forever. Loved it. Still remember Sods [Stephen O'Donnell].
His shot, I thought it was in! We had a good opportunity,
we start
ed well. It was a great night for Scotland
as a whole and us as a team. It's still surreal. This is just Billy playing for Scotland and you're thinking, "Wow,"
d'you know what I mean? He's just Billy fae Ardrossan, and he's down
at Wembley playing against England and you're thinking, it's crazy. The confidence and the slight arrogance
that he showed that day was incredible to watch,
and everybody had spoken about him, but that was when the Scotland
fans really went, "This is our future." And I t
hink going forward,
it will continue to be that. There was a lot of nice things
written and said about you after that performance at Wembley. Andy Murray sticks out, he tweeted that night:
"Billy Gilmour is my idol." What did that mean from someone...
I mean, a legendary Scottish sporting figure. When I seen it I was like, "It's Andy Murray." Like, one of the biggest in Scotland ever. Watch him all the time in the summer,
at Wimbledon. Dad shouting at the TV,
I'm shouting at the TV! So, it was c
lass to see that. Like...Scotland coming together. Look, Scotia! Actually, Dunky [Lewis Dunk]
binned one earlier. Look...I knew he did. I don't know who would play me
in a movie. Gonna say somebody like Leo DiCaprio,
aren't I, try and boost myself up. That ain't gonna happen. Nah, no chance! - Who was that?
- DiCaprio. Bad shout. So, yeah, locker room, sit next to Tariq. My mate. When I came in there was a couple of spare
seats, first day, and I sat up here next to Tariq. Joao [Pedro] always pla
ys
Brazilian and Spanish music. To be fair, it is quite good,
because it's got a nice beat. He doesn't want to listen
to Gerry Cinnamon probably! There was a lot of interest in him, and when
he was away with Scotland at the time, I can always remember Stuart Webber,
sporting director at Norwich, gave Granty [Grant Hanley] the task
of obviously getting him to us, and I don't know what Granty did,
but he managed to get it. I think he had him locked in a room for
a couple of days! But it was a good
move. It looked a really good move on paper for him. My agent got a couple of calls saying
teams were interested to take me on loan, so I go to Norwich, and I know... Norwich in the Championship...
top team and they always played nice football. So, that was my visual,
and maybe that was a naive thing for me, thinking that we were going
to do that in the Premier League, where I know it's a totally different league. When I look back now,
I've learned so much more. So, for instance, when at Norwic
h, my first season at Brighton I wasn't playing,
but I knew I could handle it. I handled it really well, because at Norwich,
I had done it there for a little part. He was there as the pin-up boy, if you like. The big signing from Chelsea that was going
to help Norwich stay in the division. I was like his dad at times, looking after him, and I was probably harder on him
than anybody else in the squad, because I knew what he was capable of. Everybody struggled a bit
and Billy couldn't find that fo
rm that everybody wanted him to find. But I think that's maybe where
he now can look at it and say, "Well, when the chips are down,
I know that I can still fight on "and I can still go and try
and do as much as I can." Mostly, see if we've been beat
and I've not played well - even if I have played well, but been beat - it'll play on my mind, like,
"How have we not won this game?" Or, "Why have I done this in the game?" And I don't think I'll ever switch off from it. I love coming home
and thinki
ng about the game, and maybe sometimes shove
on Match of the Day and be like, "Right, let's see what I've done." Tell us about how you de-stress
around the house. See when my dog's here,
chill with my dog. Go a walk with my dog,
sit on the sofa with him. He wants to play, tickle, fight - everything. So, that's probably what I do after games,
and it's amazing. After one Scotland camp,
I was like, Mum and Dad were on holiday,
and I've just went to the house, went into the house, took the dog,
took
all his stuff that he needs and got a taxi straight from Glasgow
to Norwich, through the night, with the dog. Just because I was like,
"I'm no' going hame myself, I cannae." When you had your dog, I'd just go a walk
in the forest and...it was class. Obviously came back fae Norwich. We were on holiday and he phoned me
and says, "I've been sent with the U21s." "What'd you mean? You're in America." And he's going, "I know, [Thomas] Tuchel
says there'll be no game time here for us." It was a tough
one, because of course
I never wanted to leave. I felt like I could play for Chelsea,
and that's my home. I grew up there mostly,
basically [from] 15 years old... I love everyone there - the staff, friends... I knew the place really well. At the time, I want to play football, I don't want to sit on a bench
and I don't want to be out squads. I need to play football.
I represent my country now and I want to be in as many squads and play
as many games as possible for Scotland. So, I think if I was
to have stayed at Chelsea,
it would have probably set me back a little bit. And after, obviously a failed loan... ..he wasnae enamoured
with going on another loan. He's gone, "No, I don't want
to be a loan player, "I just want a team that's my team
and I play first-team football." Straightaway I knew that my time was up. The manager never wanted me,
so it was like, had conversations with him and he's like, "Maybe it's best that you do leave
and maybe find a new route." And I was like, "Yep." So.
..made the decision to leave, and Brighton came forward, and when they first called, I was unsure,
so I phoned David Weir. We just said, "Look, Billy, "young players get opportunities here. "This is the way we'll play,
we think it will suit you. "Ultimately, it will be how you train, "how you do when you get your opportunity
will dictate how much you play, "and that's down to you, "but we can assure you
there is a pathway here. "There is an opportunity
for young players to come in "and play regu
larly,
and play in the Premier League, "and hopefully compete
at the top end of the Premier League." You can move to Brighton, for instance,
who are now obviously a fantastic club, and move on, and move on again, and there are many journeys and paths to
have, and they're all part of the experience. It's easy when you're an old man like me
to be able to say that! When you're in the moment, Billy's probably
like, "I want to play for Chelsea forever." Now Billy's gone his own way,
he'll be stronger
and better for it, he'll work with other coaches,
he'll work in a different environment, see another dressing room. All those things
are only going to be a plus for him in the end. It sounded brilliant. So I've came down, signed the contract
and seen the place, and the place was nothing like I expected.
It was unbelievable. Two days later, the manager goes to Chelsea! You're going, "Aw, no, here we go again!" Aye, it was a strange moment. I've signed, met Graham Potter,
and literally the week l
ater, he's left. And you know the weird thing about it, we were training at the Amex that day, and before we went out to training, me and Levi Colwill seen the news
that Thomas Tuchel has been sacked. And I was like, "Ooft, that was a quick
turnaround. What's happened there?" Levi's like, "Jesus, I never expected that." And then the next minute after training... ..Graham Potter's away to Chelsea,
he's driving up. And I'm like, "You can't write this." Our manager left really quickly, and Billy, h
aving just come into the
building, obviously nobody envisaged that. And that was something that happened
that we had to react to and adjust to. So, we just tried to continue as normal. And that was it. And that's when [Roberto] De Zerbi came in. His first training session was intense,
and the tactics, and... Know what, the first couple of months,
it was very strange, where... the way he wanted to play was like: waiting
for pressure, passing out of pressure, two-touch, get yourself opened up, pla
ying in certain styles to break out
from defence - and I loved it. But I wasn't playing and I'm trying stuff,
maybe working too hard to try and impress, and that's probably why
I wasn't playing as much. But I had to learn a lot, and I did get my
opportunity towards the end of the season, where I played more games consecutively. Wolves was probably the standout game
under De Zerbi, where it was a bit of a make or break. If I never played well that game, I don't think
I would have been at Brighton
this season. And that was totally how I thought of it. But I had a really good game
and I was buzzing off that of course. I played the rest of the games towards
the end of the season and enjoyed it. When I came back
after the break, I was ready to go. I was like, "Right, this is my season now,
I need to work hard and do everything, "and I know how he wants to play now." I'm not sitting at the side learning -
I've learned it, I've done it for the full season.
I know what he wants. So, coming in,
and I've started
the season off well so far. Gilmour! Gilmour! I think his ability to take
the ball under pressure, his ability, tactically, to understand
what a coach wants, his game intelligence,
his game understanding and his knowledge of football, I think,
is really important, as well as his low ego in terms of... if he's not playing, he's still a good person
around about the building. The basics to enable you to be
a good footballer, Billy does them well. The ability to receive
and underst
and spaces around him. Pressure, when pressure's coming,
when to move the ball quickly. He's got a fantastic range of passing, so as well as playing short he can find
longer passes and change play. Play balls forward, in behind,
penetrative passes rather than just safe, he's got that mixture to his game. He's got a toughness about him
that means he'll put his foot in, and a determination which I think is important
in the position on the pitch he plays in. For me, Billy was always going to be
one
of the big players moving forward. As he's proved.
It was just to keep him involved. When you've got the qualities that Billy's got,
you know that eventually... that quality is going to rise to the surface and he's going to become part of your regular
picks again. So that's how it worked out. No manager of the ability of Steve, and
experience of Steve, will give out free passes. If Billy's not playing for his team,
he better come and train well and show that he deserves to play
for Scotland, or
he's not going to get in. And I don't think Billy could
be in any better hands as his national manager than with Steve. With me, he's always stuck by me, and I always want to go away with Scotland,
always want to play, but just to be part of it at the time
when I wasn't playing, I was happy, I'm there working hard. But...love the gaffer, the gaffer gives me a lot of trust
when I'm on the pitch. If you're playing for Scotland,
you should always expend absolutely every ounce
of energy you've got.
Please tell me, anyone who's listening - have you ever seen Billy given any less
than that at any time, any training session? No, you haven't! FANS SING FRENCH NATIONAL ANTHEM McLean, now Gilmour... Gilmour's in! Oh, and Gilmour scores
his first ever senior goal! Finally scored my first goal
in professional football. It was weighing heavy on me,
as yous all know. Every game I'd be like, "Had a shot there
and it hit the post, or it's been saved. "How did that no' go in?" I've always said I'd do
this celebration,
that celebration, right? Like, everyone else is running to the
corner flag, or a knee slide or something. I've just scored the goal
and ran straight to Scott McTominay. So, that just shows pure inexperience
of no' scoring goals! Honest answers only:
how many times did you watch it back? Oh, loads! think the full...
I stayed over in France that night and I was getting the Eurotunnel
back the next day. I think the full night,
I've went back to the hotel and just kept replaying it
and replaying it from different angles! I had to,
you have to let me off, lads! I definitely feel he's got talent and ability
to get in the box, because he can finish. There's no reason why
he can't score more goals. So, I think he can add it to his game,
but at the right time, as he gets better and more mature. I think we're really lucky because
he's probably not alone in this, but some of the guys that are flying the
flag for the national team at the moment just seem like really good people a
s well,
which does help, there's no doubt about it. Yes, the priority is what they do on the pitch, but he always just seems
really down to earth, really mature, just genuinely a good person who's probably
never forgotten where he's came from. I think he's the type of guy
that you just want to see do well. Everywhere I go now, I'm seeing Scotland strips with McGinn
or McTominay or Robbo [on the back]. I'm seeing all this now
and I've never really seen that growing up. FANS SING 'SCOTLAND'S ON FI
RE' And now to see that, it's a massive thing now
that we're doing for the country and inspiring these young kids
to come and watch Scotland games. And their best players are Scotland players,
their favourite players. So, it's amazing to see,
and hopefully we can continue that and it can continue through
all the age groups. I would say he's a figure that the young football boys and girls
do look up to, don't they? - Definitely.
- He gives them a kind of inspiration. Like, "Oh, well, Billy's from
Ardrossan." A lot of our friends still coach for Tass and for
Winton Rovers and different things like that. And when we go a night out
with them they say, "Oh, it's great,
having Billy as a kind of example "of what you can achieve if you stick to it." We're quite good at the moment! Not pushing it too far,
but we're quite good at the moment. He's achieved a lot already and he's had
a really good start to his career, but he's still got a long way to go,
and I'm sure Billy would be the first to s
ay he's learning every day,
especially under a manager like this and in the Premier League,
which is an elite level. But we all know Billy is -
and will be going forward - a massively important part of Scotland. As long as Billy is happy
at the end of the day, with what he's done in his career,
where he's been, and probably, hopefully,
won a few things as well... I think as long as he's happy,
that's the main thing. All Billy's achieved in his football, and for everything that he might
still ach
ieve in football, at the end of the day,
he's still just oor wee Billy. I think because he's a small player,
I don't talk about that much, but I think people can kind of go,
"Oh, well done, lad." As if it should be a surprise,
know what I mean? "Scottish Iniesta and he's 5'4." And Billy's raging, mate, he's going,
"I'm at least 5'7" and a half!" If you ask me the best players
I've played against in midfield, amongst others I'd go Xabi and Iniesta. Because they were incredible
football players yo
u couldn't get near who'd always receive the ball and play,
and no-one belittles them. I'm sitting there, so I asked Ken, I said,
"Kenny, can I go and get an ice pole?" So, I got my ice pole
and they shout my name: "Billy Gilmour for Revelation
of the Tournament." I'm walking up and when I'm
getting pictures with the trophy, the ice pole, the blue,
I think it's on my tongue. But I was asking if I had it in my teeth. And on the way home, in the car, we just
kept showing my tongue, it was all blue
! I ended up on Radio Clyde,
GBX with George Bowie, after the Scotland-England game
at Wembley. So, George Bowie said to me, "Oh, you must be buzzing about
the result and how well Billy played." And I remember thinking to myself,
"I cannae use buzzing again." And I'm thinking, "Right, another word
for buzzing, another word..." And then I went, "Oh, I'm mega buzzing!" And I was thinking, "Oh, my God,
cannae believe I just said mega buzzing." But we still get slagged. We noise her about it - "Mega
buzzing!" Chelsea won the Champions League, so I got there,
the first person I walk into is wee Billy. And Billy goes, "Ah, Pat, how ye dain?" And there was this brilliant, brilliant moment where Petr Cech comes walking over
and goes to say hello to me. And Billy goes, "Leave me alone, Petr,
I'm talking to Pat!" And just blanked him! When we do part two of this in 10 years' time,
what do you want to have achieved? What do you want to have done? Grow a proper beard. Nah, grow a proper beard. Erm
... Won a lot of trophies. Yeah, like 10 years' time...
Jesus. This will go quick as well, won't it? Scary to think. 10 years' time, still playing football,
not gonna push for anything, but 10 years' time, still playing football... ..win trophies,
and hopefully still representing my country.
Comments