Joleon Lescott: I contemplated retirement after facing Louis Saha!

Former Premier League defender Joleon Lescott has told William Hill’s Stripped Podcast that Louis Saha was the best player he played against in his career and after a torrid match against the ex-Fulham and Manchester United forward he even considered retirement.

Speaking to William Hill’s Stripped Podcast, a new series in which ex-footballers are invited to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting their favourite shirts, Lescott said: “The best player I played against was Louis Saha at Fulham when I was at Wolves. He made me know what I needed to do more as a professional and a footballer.

“I played against him a few weeks before and did alright, but fast forward a few weeks and we’re playing them in the cup. I’m assuming it would be the same, but it wasn’t. He gave me a real taste of my own medicine. We lost 3-0 and he scored a penalty with his right foot and a free-kick with his left foot. He did some stuff to me that had never happened to me since I was a kid playing with adults!

“I’d never played against someone who was better than me in all the elements at one time. Someone might have been faster or stronger than me, but I’d outdo them in other ways. After that game I remember going back into the dressing room and thinking, ‘I might have to retire’. It was a good thing though, because I realised there was another level I needed to get to. It made me know you can be humbled real quick and I had to improve.”

Lescott enjoyed an impressive career in the English top-flight playing for the likes of Wolves, Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City, all of whom are involved in huge inner-city derbies, and while he enjoyed playing in all of them, one in particular stood out.

“I played in some great derbies,” he said. “The Manchester, Merseyside and Second City derbies were all fantastic and very special to be a part of, but I’d say my favourite one was the first one I played in – Wolves versus West Brom. I think we won 3-1 at Molineux and it was the first time I played when I couldn’t hear. The noise was just constant, and it was a game that really stuck with me. You couldn’t hear ‘man on’ or anything like that, it was mad.

“It was funny because it was back in the days where you could get away with fighting. There were no videos so no retrospective action would be taken and I remember giving Darren Moore a headlock. He’s turned around to strangle me and I instantly apologised and in the paper there is this great photo of me with Darren in a headlock. It was a bit different back then!”

As well as discussing some of his more memorable club experiences, Lescott was also quick to mention that his time in an England shirt was right up there among his achievements.

Having selected the England shirt from the 1998 World Cup campaign, he went onto discuss his international debut in 2007 and the influence a certain Rio Ferdinand had on it.

“My debut was against Estonia and we were 3-0 up at half-time,” Lescott said. “I was obviously a bit nervous and I came on for Rio [Ferdinand]. I remember he said to me ‘enjoy’ and it really stuck with me.

“I only asked him during the summer if he’d done it on purpose and he told me he had. The reason he did was that during France ’98 he never got a minute during the tournament and it has always stuck with him, so if he was able to ever give someone the opportunity to play he would.”

The 40-year-old scored his one and only goal for his country during Euro 2012 – a tournament in which England lost out on penalties to Italy in the quarter-finals. The former centre-back recapped on how he would have been the last man to take a penalty in the shootout, even behind goalkeeper Joe Hart.

He said: “I wasn’t going to take one. Literally, I said to the boys ‘I’ll go after Joe Hart’. The way we saw it was that I was going to go last because that wasn’t my role in the team. My role was to get us to the penalty shootout after 120 minutes and then let someone else be the hero.”

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