When you think about your first moments with the Rapids, what kind of memories and emotions does that evoke for you?
I'd never been to the States before, I began my career in England. I’d just come over, I’d never seen the mountains. My first game was against Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Obviously, it's just a different experience [from England]. But in terms of [coming to the Rapids] it was nice being part of something like it, because the league was still quite new. I think actually came during the 10th anniversary season. We’d heard about it in England—as such, there was a lot going on England with the football landscape, and I thought [MLS] would be a new adventure, new scenery, and obviously I’m standing here now—been in Colorado for 20 years.
When did it become clear to you that Colorado was a place to put roots down?
I assumed I'll come over here for a few years and move back to England. Obviously, I left the Rapids in 2009, went back overseas, went to Australia and back to East Europe to play, but still had a house here. I came back, retired, and just got sucked into youth soccer. It's actually something I was doing when I was at the Rapids still, I got involved with a club in Golden. I had no idea I'd go full time into youth soccer [after being] retired. It's kept me here and I’ve got a full-time job coaching kids, which I really enjoy. I've gone full circle.
This season is the 30th anniversary of the league. Being so involved in youth soccer yourself, what do you see for the next 30 years of the sport here?
It’s going to be exciting. Going back to my career in the MLS here, you slowly see it's starting to change—just the mindset and process behind it all, it’s becoming more serious, there's more money being pumped in, clubs giving teams purpose-built stadiums. That was a must for the game to survive and keep progressing and moving forward. [I’ve] kind of already seen it from the start, but you can see how it transitioned and where the game’s going to be taken.
You played in the first game at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park, contributing two assists in a victory. What was that like to be part of such a pivotal moment of club history?
I was always known as the assist man, so it would have been nice to have scored. I scored a few goals but not as many as I’d have liked, but I was the assist man so to get two assists in the opening game at DICK’S was great, as well.
Knowing that you've made such a mark on the club's history—including ranking third all-time in assists—what does that mean to you after retiring from your professional career and moving into guiding the younger generation?
I’ve never seen myself as that kind of player. When you put it like that, it seems quite cool. I'm just humble and wasn’t up for the limelight, like some of my old teammates in the past back over in Manchester, growing up in England. Being kind of under the radar, and just gone about doing the job, people reward me for that and think I’ve done a good job. I'm happy with it, happy do my job.
What was your first impression of the Original Green kit?
I'm not BSing, actually one of the nicest kits I wore was the green one. I think I still have it, I have all my old kids at home. I wasn’t one of the type of players who liked to swap jerseys, I liked to keep my own. One of my favorites is the green, between that and the black and blue with the stripes, I absolutely loved that kit because [it was] like Inter Milan. I have a little bit of a weird history with the burgundy kits because I'm from Birmingham—I'm not an Aston Villa supporter and they wear burgundy. As a young kid from Birmingham we always wore blue.
This kit is steeped in the history of the club—what's important for the fans, the players on this team to understand what that means to the club?
When you go and join a club, players should get accustomed to clubs’ histories and knowing the players that have gone before, how the club got established and such. I'm from England so that's very deeply rooted in the sport in England's history, and knowing the history and what it takes to wear the jersey of the club. But I think they take more pride walking out there and understanding they’re a part of something. Future players have to understand that responsibility of taking the club forward, even when they retire, because the legacy and name does carry on.