Patrick Vieira told a 16-year-old David Bentley to get out of his seat. Bentley said no - and Vieira went and sat somewhere else. That's one story from David Bentley's episode on Marc White Fixes Football. Wormley Youth, Hertfordshire. Family from Rochdale, a dad who'd played a bit and who refused to let him join a club early - "you ain't going to a club, they're ruining you." Then a Saturday game at twelve where he whipped his shirt off and threw it at his own manager in front of scouts from Tottenham and West Ham, and his dad decided it was time. Arsenal from thirteen. Scholarship at fifteen, a one-year YT and a three-year pro deal, and a changing room with Tony Adams, Ray Parlour, Jens Lehmann, Pirès and Bergkamp in it. England at every level - under-15s, under-16s, captain of the under-18s, under-21s and the full squad. The first Englishman to score at the new Wembley. Arsenal, Norwich, Blackburn, Tottenham, West Ham and the Russian Premier League. Then he stopped at twenty-nine, announced it live on Sky News, and went to Marbella. In a full hour, Marc and David get into:PATRICK VIEIRA - first day of pre-season in Austria, sixteen years old, sat at the French table with Wiltord and Pirès. Vieira taps him on the shoulder and says move. What happened next cost him six months of nights out and a beating in training every day. MIKEL ARTETA'S FRIDGE - a charity game at Arsenal's training ground, a Tottenham shirt with CHAMPIONS on the back, and the beers he took out of the manager's office. Arsenal asked him to delete it. "They're so boring, aren't they?" ARSENAL FANS - why he thinks they need to be more likeable and a bit more fun, from someone who came through their academy and calls himself an Invincible. Marc isn't sure he qualifies. HARRY REDKNAPP - the bucket on his head the night Spurs qualified for the Champions League, the Christmas party the club had two days before Harry told the press there wasn't one, and the £16,000 night out nobody paid him back for. THE ENGLAND CONTRABAND - McDonald's through the flip-out windows at the Grove under Capello, and the £40 he charged internationals for a tenner's worth of burgers with cheese and chips. BOOED ON HIS OWN DEBUT - pulling out of the under-21s after a sixty-game season, Stuart Pearce saying he'd let his country down, and what happened when he finally walked out at Wembley against Israel. Plus why he doesn't blame today's players for doing the same thing. RUSSIA - Rostov-on-Don, getting paid in cash, needing a plane to bring it home. THE SNIDES - his word for what's wrong with football. The people making money off the narrative, the players who go to the manager behind a teammate's back, and why he'd rather never play again than be one of them. MAN CITY - what he'd do about it, why the Premier League has damaged its own product, and the number that stopped Marc in his tracks: 66% of clubs couldn't last thirty days without the owner putting money in. WHY HE STOPPED AT 29 - the knee, the twins arriving the week his Tottenham contract ended, and announcing his retirement live on Sky News with a quote that followed him around ever since. QUICKFIRE - best player he played with, best he played against, the manager who couldn't do his jacket up, the best player everyone's forgotten, and the biggest ego he ever shared a dressing room with. ⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 - David Bentley: Welcome to Marc White Fixes Football04:41 - Arsenal, Tottenham, and the Invincible question06:55 - Carrick, United and foreign managers09:05 - Nicking Mikel Arteta's beers11:26 - Man City and what the Premier League has done15:54 - Wormley, the shirt, and the day his dad changed his mind18:17 - Inside the Arsenal academy20:34 - Telling Patrick Vieira 'NO'25:09 - Spurs, the bucket, and the £16,000 night out27:26 - Blackburn: the best football of his life29:26 - Running contraband into the England camp33:57 - The mavericks: Cherki, Palmer and Kinkladze36:17 - Stuart Pearce, the under-21s and getting booed at Wembley38:35 - The Russian Premier League45:20 - The managers who couldn't handle him47:45 - Bellingham, and being proved wrong52:34 - Ashley Cole, Kolarov and the best game he ever played54:55 - Why he stopped at 2957:48 - Quickfire Questions1:02:30 - Falling out of love with the game 🚨WIN money-can't-buy sporting experiences at OLBG Prizes18+ | UK Entrants Only | T&Cs apply | Free Entry Route AvailableEnter at 👉 https://www.olbgprizes.com 🎙️ABOUT THE SHOWMarc White Fixes Football is hosted by Marc White, owner and manager of Dorking Wanderers FC. Marc is in the game every day - he owns a club, he manages a club, and he's not guessing. Every week he brings in someone who knows the game and they take on what's gone wrong with it: refereeing, VAR, ownership, ticket prices, academies, fan culture. 📲 FOLLOW THE SHOWInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mwfixesfootballTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marcwhitefixesfootballFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560737653806X: https://x.com/MWFixesFootball Thanks to our partners at Canon, Sennheiser and Pro Light Direct for the kit behind this show. And a special thank you to Iconic Studios, who built the Marc White Fixes Football set from scratch. If you want to see what they could create for you, visit https://www.iconicdisplay.co.uk/ Ad | Brought to you by OLBG Prizes #Football #TomCairney #Fulham #PremierLeague #FootballPodcast #MarcWhiteFixesFootball
