Football Daily - James Maddison - The Football Interview

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

In the first episode of The Football Interview for the 2026/27 Premier League season, Kelly Somers speaks to Tottenham midfielder James Maddison. They discuss how he's dealt with being on the sidelines for the last 12 months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, the impact it's had and how he expects Spurs to push on this season under Roberto De Zerbi. TIMECODES: 0’25 – Reflecting on the last 12 months & how his kids have given him a sense of purpose. 3’30 – The toughest moment of last 12 months. 5’20 – His YouTube channel & documenting his rebab. 7’30 – How he felt missing out when Spurs weren’t playing well. 9’25 – What has changed with De Zerbi? 10’28 – Why will this season be different? 11’50 – What do people get wrong about him?

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And each week again this season I'll be sitting down with some of the biggest names in the game to talk about their life on and off the pitch. And first up this week, I've come down to the Spurs training ground to speak to James Madison who's had quite the 12 months. Well, James often when I say to players,

what a year. But for you in particular, it's been a real year, hasn't it? It's been a tricky 12 months. Probably the toughest year I've had in my career in terms of obviously the injury and then just the position we found ourselves in last season. So a year I'll definitely not forget,

but one that I wanted to forget quite quickly in a way. But listen, you have ups and downs in your career. That's just natural. That was just one of the down years for me in terms of personally and the team was obviously nowhere near good enough. So the flip side of that is it can only really go up from last season and there's excitement in the building with the new manager and new players and stuff and even feel it amongst the supporters.

So hoping for a better 12 months than the previous, yeah. When I was coming here, I was thinking, What can I talk to him about? Shall I talk to him about the tricky times at Spurs? Shall I talk to him about the dark times with the injury? But also during that 12 months, you had your second set of twins. It's been a ventful, I think it's safe to say. And there has been that positive, I imagine, to get you through it.

Yeah, I needed that almost positive distraction of my partner being pregnant and almost happened to be there for her and forget about myself, even though I was going through a traumatic experience through my knee, which probably distracted me in a good way. Were you able to be a bit more present for them as well? Oh definitely, yeah. Every weekend at home, you know. It was too present if you like.

I mean, they're driving me up the wall. Don't let your girlfriend hit you so. No, no, well, no, no, it obviously I love my children more than anything in the world. And having Frankie and Jensen my second set of twins, of course it created absolute manic at home. So second set of twins? Yeah, I don't know. You can Google the odds that, I don't know. But it's one in twenty-one.

Some would say lucky, unlucky, who knows. we're very blessed because they're all healthy, they're all amazing. They're going to have such a good bond grown up, but I think it's fair to say me and my partner are in the trenches at the minute, yeah, in terms of life at home. Just to clarify, people that I know, you've got five kids under the age of... We had five kids under four, yeah. Well, four was the oldest, yeah.

So a lot of nappies flying about, a lot of accidents at home, but it'll all be worth it. We still love it. I wouldn't change it for the world, so... And I imagine it has given you a real sense of purpose. I also heard you say what your son said to you at one point when you were injured last year about the fact that you used to play for spurs. And kids sometimes tell you things, don't they?

Yeah. Bring you back around to kind of reality and stuff. They're brutally honest. And they don't have a clue what's going on outside of just the joy of life, you know? The politics that come with life as an adult. And obviously, a year, so I missed a year of football. And a year in a children's life, from like three and a half to four and a half.

It's obviously massive. He couldn't even remember over a year ago when he was at all the games, you know? And obviously he's getting to that age, my eldest, where he's starting to figure stuff out and he's like clever now, he's just turned five actually the other day. So yeah, it'll be nice for him to come to the games again

and actually remember dad playing instead of just dad's at home watching with a machine on his knee. Well, I'm glad I got you smiling. That's why I started talking about the kids, because you did mention that it's probably been the toughest 12 months. of your life? Yeah, death, though.

Yeah, easily. What was the toughest moment? It was just the reality of realising what had happened. Obviously, I knew I had a big injury. It stems back to the... We played Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-final. I made a running behind and the keeper absolutely clattered me in the face, so I almost had like a little bit of concussion almost.

But you also went into my hip and my knee almost got stuck underneath me. So I had pain like everywhere almost, right? I mean, knee was the one that long term. That was where I had a problem with my knee. Is that where it started before? That's where I had a problem with the ACL. But obviously, it wasn't a full rupture, basically. I did that in Korea and the preseason.

And it was just the reality of that. Just coming to terms with the fact that I'd missed the whole season. Off the back of winning in Europa League, we had a Champions League season to look forward to. We had a new manager. It was a World Cup year for England. There was so much to be happy and motivated about. And as soon as you know, you've got that injury

and you're out for the season. and you know that's all kind of taken away from you. So just coming to terms with that. How did you come to terms of it? I don't think I did, really. I mean, you just have to grit your teeth and get through it. Footballers always say that, but how do you? Because you must have lent on someone.

There must have been something. Yeah, my partner, my parents, my children. You're just not just in football with injuries, just with any person, any setback in life. How do you get through it? Sometimes you don't have the answer to towel? You know what I mean? You just do.

You just like, you get by, didn't you? You know what I mean? It's like, for anyone. listen who's not even anything to do with sport or football. In the toughest times in your own personal life, how'd you get through it? You just do, don't you? Your family get you through it. You have to grit your teeth and get back to the good times.

And sometimes they don't feel like they're so close, you know. But you always manage to get there if you've got the will and the determination, which is something I've never lacked. I also liked the YouTube videos that you did. What did that do for you? And why did you choose to document it in that way? No, well, no one had really done it. I just wanted to almost show the Tottenham fans what pre-season tour was like initially.

Pre-season is a good time to do it because we're preparing for the season. It's not like the nitty-gritty. So I took the little camera out. Me, Brennan Johnson, Archie Gray, was so close that we were just messing around with it, really. Archie's so young, he keeps me young. He's in touch with all the YouTube stuff. I'm actually, even though I've got my channel, I'm quite out of touch with that these days. I'm one of the old, one of the old garden chamber.

You're only 29, aren't you? Yeah, but in Archangeringroom, you look around. I'm glad Robbo's next to me now because he's... Got a few years on it. But obviously, I didn't know how the tour was going to finish with a big injury. And then it kind of just led me down that path. And I thought, someone at my agency said, why don't you document the rehab and show people what it's actually like?

And I just thought that would be a good idea. We got great feedback, so I just rolled over it. It looked like it gave you a bit of focus. We also saw you looking quite emotional at times. It was very real. Yeah, well, if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it properly. There was nothing fabricated in that at all. And you get told you're going to have a year out of football with,

especially at the age of like 28, earn on 29, you're coming into your peak, you know. To miss 12 months is hard to take, so I was emotional, and I didn't think there was anything wrong with showing that, you know. Can I also ask you about in the change room immediately after you did the injury, I imagine you knew the severity of it because of the pain and everything at the time, but a couple of your teammates were particularly there for you? Yeah, it's all a bit blurry, but... Is it? I was very emotional. I knew what had happened, because I knew from the Frankfurt and the Bodo games, that I had a problem with the ACL.

Did you know that going into pre-season? Did you kind of have that in the back of your mind that maybe it wasn't okay? Well, we did a lot of rehab over the off-season to, and we were recommended by the specialist that it would be okay, really. When you have a partial tear of your ACL, it's like it can be okay,

or sometimes it's not quite strong enough and you end up needing the surgery. And I was just one of the unlucky ones. So missing a season is always tough, but is it easier to miss a season when your team are struggling, like Spurs were last year, or would it have been, harder if you're missing out on good times.

Both are pretty heart-breaking, you know? Because when you're doing wow, you want to be a part of it, but that's probably better because you still see your friends being happy and the team being together. And that's easier to take, I think, than when the team's struggling because you just desperately want to help, you know. Especially, like, last season we struggled for goals. We've probably struggled a little bit for creativity and stuff.

And I'm watching the games thinking, like, what would I be doing there? I'd be doing that, I'd be doing that. So it's tough because the team's struggling, the morale's down. You were still around the place, won't you though? Because it seemed like the manager and people wanted to keep you involved and particularly we saw at the end of the season

under Roberto. Yeah, when Roberto came in, one of the first things he said to me was, I'm going to put you on the bench at the weekend and I was almost like, I'm not ready to play yet, but I'm not even close really. I need a good, another month really

till I'm, and even that was put, I was pushing every day to try and help the team because we were in such a delicate situation. But he said, no, no, he said, I can come on the bench in my slippers if I want. He just wanted me around the group and he thought that would benefit the group and yeah, I took that as a massive

compliment and just acted as if I was part of the bench, part of the team. I'm not saying that's the reason why, but we managed to steer clear the danger, which was a good feeling now. You were quite strong in your comments towards the end of the season about how Spurs' campaign had gone and how it was unacceptable for a club of Spurs' stature. As someone that was kind of a little bit more on the outside than usual last year, why do you think it did pan out the way it did? We just weren't good enough on the pitch, you know, because we haven't picked up enough

points. It's pretty simple, isn't it? When you're in a relegation battle, it's because you haven't picked up enough points. And why is that? we just didn't perform well enough, you know. That's why it was tough to watch on the outside because you want to be, you want to help, you want to help the team, you want to help the club,

you want to help the fans, you want to, you want to take some responsibility, but obviously I couldn't at that point. So yeah, just a bit, a bit of that, not quite good enough and I think it's good that the gaffer come in and everyone's kind of took a bit of responsibility and it feels like there was accountability being taken for what wasn't good enough

and making sure that doesn't happen again. What did the manager change or what has, has he changed? Because it looked like he had a pretty instant impact. He's just a really passionate guy, you know. He's very clever. He's very tactical. He obviously loves, he's obsessed with football. You can see that. But to be honest, when he first come in, in comparison to preseason what we're training now, he didn't want to make it too complicated, you know. He just wanted us to get the love back for playing football and feeling football and being together. I know a lot of managers tried, but we went straight for a team meal. The minute he come in,

he said, right, everyone, we're all going to be drinking alcohol. We're all going to be having a good night. he says because I need you to not getting out of hand and stupid but he wanted us to have a night where we all just relax and he's not bothered if we have a few beers and stuff and we all sat in Mayfair somewhere literally just come in and he was going around he was chatting to everyone and you know it's like when you've had a couple of drinks as well

everyone's a bit more loose and everyone's getting to know but genuinely that feeling that we got made everyone feel more knitted together straight away as soon as he come in and then obviously he's a very good manager he's very tactical so the little tweaks that we did the win at Villa, the win on the last day of the season. We owe the Gaffer a lot, yeah. Why will this season be different? You mentioned before it feels different, everything around the club.

I think we just have to buy into the manager, you know. I get the feeling he's a manager who can take us from mediocre to very good. What is very good? Well, let's see. Let's see where we get to, but we need to improve on last season, obviously. That goes without saying. We've had some brilliant new signings in the door. Players who just have quality, you know, you can see it in training straight away. Hopefully all them things come together with the way.

the manager wants to play, we all buy into it. We pick up more wins than previous years, yeah. I know the manager's been very careful with you during this preseason, but what version of James Madison is coming back? Hopefully a fully fit firing one. When you have such a big injury, like if you take Rodry, for example, who was the best player of the World Cup,

when he did his ACL and when he come back, he was picking up a lot of small knocks and niggles. And I'm kind of hoping to manage myself through that, because when you have such a big injury and you miss so much football, your body can take a bit of time to readapt, but I'm working so hard to try and be fully fit and available for the majority of the season. That's all I want. I want just a fully fit, healthy healthy season where I can just enjoy football, you know, because if I'm fully fit and I'm

healthy, then I know what I'm capable of and I know I can affect games more than a lot of players in this league. So let's just hope for that, yeah. And finally, tell me something about yourself, James. Something that people get wrong about you the most. That is a good question. Yeah, but it's what I think people get wrong, isn't it? What do I think people get wrong about me? I heard you say something earlier this year. You said about doing the YouTube stuff and the fun stuff because you like to have a lot of fun

that sometimes people think that means you aren't as serious about football. A few people have said about like, you know, like the trolls on the old socials. They'll say he can't even focus on football because he did a YouTuber's rehab, you know? It's like anyone who knows me, who knows me properly,

knows that I absolutely in love with football and that's all I care about in my life. You ask any of my family and friends, football is my number one and it always will be. I love the game, I love learning, I love improving. Even now, I'm so hungry for this season. Nothing else could ever overtake my love for football. Maybe that.

Good luck this season, and I hope your little boy enjoys watching Daddy again. Thank you. This goes beyond what the KGB did back in the days. Conspiracy theories in the Football World Cup is there ever one without the other? Well, I've been digging into one of the very best back in 1994. Guy from Iraq gets a red card for a, you know, a dubious tackle. I'm James Montague and from BBC 5 Live, this is Sports Strangers Crimes Presents,

shadows on the pitch. Listen on BBC Sounds. Get more with BBC podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows like evil genius, good, bad billionaire, and you're dead to me. with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon music subscription.