With a professional football career spanning more than two decades, winning the Premier League, F.A Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup, Nigel Winterburn has seen it all, and for once that's not an exaggeration.

Now a pundit for BT Sport, Winterburn spent nearly five years at the original Wimbledon, before moving to Arsenal under George Graham, and finishing his career with West Ham United. 

In that time, Winterburn experienced the highs of England caps, the madness of the Crazy Gang at Wimbledon, and the lows of a missed penalty in a League Cup final defeat to Luton.

Unsurprisingly, Winterburn has enough stories to fill a library: shoes being nailed to the floor, beds chucked out of hotels into swimming pools, being sent home from a trip to Singapore, and run-ins with Paulo Di Canio, Brian McClair and Denis Irwin – to name just a few. But now Winterburn lives a rather more serene life.

In an exclusive interview for VAVEL, the former England international discusses his playing career, a brief spell in coaching, and time at Wimbledon.

I wouldn't change a thing

Winterburn's honours list is long, lifting his final trophy in 1999, but winning so much so soon to the turn of the century begs the question, does Winterburn feel he missed out on the riches of modern day football and coverage?

How do you look back on your playing career and is there anything that you would have changed?

"I wouldn't change a single thing about my career.

"Listen I got involved in two or three incidents that I wish I never got involved in, but if I was asked to be playing now and hand my medals back, there's no chance I would do that.

"I wouldn't change anything, and I've always said to anyone who has asked me the question that I felt very lucky, honoured and privileged to have played professional football.

"Getting paid to play professional football is ridiculous and I wouldn't change anything because you've got to grasp the moment."

The secret to longevity

Winterburn made almost 700 professional appearances in a long and successful career, with no injuries of note. Whilst his career would be the envy of most aspiring footballers, it had its fair share of ups and downs and started with a similar sense of rejection. 

What motivated you to keep playing for so long?

"I had a good start to my career at Birmingham, I was in the team at 18 then all of a sudden with a change of manager I wasn't good enough.

"I always held that close to me, when anything was ever difficult, I just thought back to that moment and when I was told that, it became my driving force.

"It pushed myself forward again and again and I took it to both Wimbledon, Arsenal and right through to the end at West Ham.

"That was all the motivation I needed, and I wouldn't swap anything.

"I'd have loved to have been playing now and see how I did because the game has changed dramatically.

"But I'm not swapping my medals for anything."

Coaching 'career'

In July 2008, Winterburn joined Paul Ince's backroom staff at Blackburn Rovers as a coach. However, fewer than six months later, Winterburn was fired. 

Following the dismissal of Ince in December 2008, New Rovers manager, Sam Allardyce said, "I spoke to Nigel Winterburn today to say that, from my point of view, in terms of specialist defensive coaching, I think I can look after that area myself now." And that was that. In the blink of an eye, Winterburn's coaching career was over.

You had a brief spell in coaching, what happened and do you wish it had panned out differently?

"One it was a disaster because I wasn't qualified enough and it was a bit of an eye opener.

"The way I look at it, I just didn't think it would work the way I wanted it to work.

"I didn't want to see anyone getting sacked with Paul Ince when I was there with him at Blackburn, [but with] Sam Allardyce coming in, he does everything himself, so I knew then that wasn't going to continue.

"If I'm being honest, I wouldn't go back and do it again because I didn't enjoy it and I had visions of the way I thought it should work.

"You need a lot of time and education to do that, but to sum it up I wasn't good enough."

History was wiped out with MK Dons

Before becoming Premier League champions with Arsenal, Winterburn had achieved great success with Wimbledon, winning Player of the Season four years in a row.

Joining at 19, Winterburn played alongside Dennis Wise, Wally Downes, Dave Beasant, Vinne Jones and John Fashanu. Many, not least Beasant, thought Winterburn would be eaten alive. He thrived.

After Wimbledon had achieved promotion to what was then called, the First Division in 1986, Winterburn achieved a top six finish with the perennial underdogs and got to the quarter finals of the FA Cup. Every season Wimbledon were relegation favourites, every season they defied the odds, creating what Winterburn and others thought would be a legacy.

You experienced the highs of Wimbledon and have since seen the club move to Milton Keynes and AFC Wimbledon borne in their stead, as a former player how has it felt watching this unfold from the sidelines?

"It was horrible and I hated it.

"It felt as if the club I had played for was wiped away and it only had history to that day when the club moved to Milton Keynes.

"It felt like an American franchise, and I absolutely hated it.

"For a long time, there was a bitterness to the situation."

Winterburn pointed to the "underdog spirit" of Wimbledon as a source of its success in the 1980s and 90s, and that same spirit has brought AFC Wimbledon back to where they belong.

Do you still retain a connection to AFC Wimbledon?

"I don't blame AFC Wimbledon one bit for resetting back up, if you ask me what teams I look for the results for, other than Arsenal obviously, then it's AFC Wimbledon.

"It's definitely not MK Dons because my team was almost disbanded and it was quite upsetting with what they had achieved before me, with me and after I left the club.

"It was horrible, but if I was to be asked, I would say I'm a AFC Wimbledon fan and not the other side."

Winterburn departed Wimbledon in 1987 for a hefty £350,000 and went on to make 440 appearances for Arsenal, winning 11 honours in the process but evidently Wimbledon still remains very close to his heart.

With AFC Wimbledon currently languishing in League Two and 17th after one win in four, that heart will undoubtedly be hoping to see the Dons turn recent fortunes around and that starts against Harrogate Town at home tomorrow.

Winterburn will be keeping an eye on the score and hoping the underdog spirit in south London remains alive and strong.

This interview is courtesy of FreeSuperTips. 

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