Carl Asaba chats to The Star about his iconic goal against Wednesday in the 100th Steel City derby, and his love for Sheffield United
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00:00Have the nerves started to kick in yet?
00:15I hadn't been up in Sheffield that long, so I was still living in the hotel.
00:20As I've said many times, I wasn't aware just how huge a match it was.
00:26Walking around the streets, you used to be able to go to the high street and shop back then.
00:33People would be stopping you, saying you can't lose this match, you've got to do it.
00:39Then the nerves started building.
00:42Is that something that almost helped you a little bit?
00:46I was talking to Anel Ahmed Hodgic this week and he talked about players not thinking too much about the occasion.
00:52Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
00:54It is, at the end of the day, a game of football, isn't it?
00:56When you start to think about everything else that surrounds it, perhaps that takes your focus away a little bit.
01:01Did it help you that you weren't fully immersed in what this game perhaps meant?
01:05There was a bit of, and I mean this in the right way, a bit of naivety there from your perspective.
01:10You were new to it.
01:11Yeah, I think that probably helped me because, as you say, you can get really wrapped up in it.
01:18In lots of derbies you see crazy tackles going in where people, the emotion and the occasion gets the better of them.
01:26They act in a way that they wouldn't normally do.
01:29People talk about this to us who have never played football at the level that you have, obviously.
01:35People talk about play the game, not the occasion.
01:38But when you walk out, as you did, when there's nearly 40,000 there and there's all the balloons and the songs
01:43and the pure passion and hatred which is there between the two sets of fans and two clubs,
01:50how difficult is that to put that to one side and just focus on your job?
01:55Well, honestly, going into that match, I played in front of 80,000 at Wembley against Man City.
02:02I played at Wembley a number of times.
02:04I played in big matches.
02:06The atmosphere going out at Hillsborough, even in the dressing room at Hillsborough,
02:11you're looking at one because it was bouncing.
02:13I wasn't prepared for what it was going to be like.
02:17We left Bramall Lane in the coach.
02:20The drive from Bramall Lane to Hillsborough in itself, there were people everywhere.
02:26The colours, it was a Sunday.
02:28It was April Fool's Day.
02:29I was definitely going to score because it was my day.
02:33But, no, it's a massive occasion and you've really got to focus on the game in hand and not get carried away.
02:43Yeah.
02:44I mean, am I right in thinking that you'd scored at Hillsborough quite recently
02:48before your goal against Wensley for United?
02:50Am I right in thinking that?
02:51Yeah, I didn't enjoy, you know, when we went there with Gillingham,
02:56the way the people, the actual people who worked at the club spoke to us
03:00and acted towards us when we went in the ground.
03:03They popped my back up, so I was delighted to have scored there.
03:07And, you know, I was going back to that ground thinking,
03:11remembering what the occasion was like as Gillingham.
03:14And, to be fair, the fans, they weren't bothered about Gillingham.
03:19There was no added spice.
03:21So, I went with the expectation it was going to be similar, maybe a little more intense.
03:28Nowhere near the scenes I saw, you know, we went out, there's balloons everywhere,
03:33the stands were full and the noise, it was just crazy.
03:37So, yeah, it's a big old game.
03:41It's interesting you mention that.
03:43Was that a little, did you get a sense of, oh, it's little old Gillingham?
03:46You know, was it that sort of sense that you got when you were there?
03:50Yeah, I won't go into too much.
03:53But, yeah, they did offend a lot of us, to be fair, the way they spoke.
03:56And you've heard that over the years.
03:59You know, Sheffield Wednesday, for me, when we beat them there,
04:04I think, you know, they'd come out of the premiership,
04:07they had still massive stars there.
04:09But I think it was a bit of, that's where the changing of the guard really happened,
04:15where Blades went on to become the stronger team in the city.
04:20Up until that point, just before it, the Owls were the bigger team.
04:26So it was quite a big match.
04:31And they did have a sense, you felt there was an entitlement,
04:38because they were the bigger team.
04:40So are you saying all these years on that you were the catalyst?
04:44Is that what you're saying?
04:45No, no, no.
04:48Many years, whenever I seem to leave clubs, they do far better, you know,
04:52with Sheffield United, with Stoke.
04:54I was the anchor, if anything, holding them all back.
04:57No, I've never been a catalyst.
04:59No, you're being far too modest there, maybe.
05:01I'll take you back to that, as you say, April Fool's Day 2001, I think it was.
05:05You know, 70th minute, it's 1-0.
05:07Lauren Judafo scored the opener.
05:09Dev crosses in from that right wing in front of the Blades fans.
05:13And you're seeing the ball come in and thinking, I assume,
05:16you know, I fancy this.
05:17Just talk us through what you can remember.
05:19Fancy, do you not remember me as a striker?
05:22Fancy, the ball was in the air.
05:23You're thinking, don't come to me.
05:25I'm thinking, gee, if you get your head on this, Carl, you've done well.
05:29No, it was just one of those, the ball was going away from goal.
05:34You know, if anything, I was a little bit more advanced of the ball.
05:38And I just knew I had to try and shape it onto the target.
05:44It wasn't the greatest header as far as power and everything.
05:49But I'd never, you know, there's quite a few of my goals that I look back on.
05:54And I couldn't do it again.
05:56You know, it was just the perfect header for me to do that one time.
06:00You know, the amount of managers who would have screamed at me over the years,
06:03how can't he hit it on target?
06:05You know, in training.
06:07But in this match, you know, it all came good.
06:10And the commentator at the time said, oh, it wasn't a great header
06:13from Asaba, let's be fair.
06:15It couldn't have been any better.
06:16You know, it was just in the corner.
06:18We had Pressman scurrying across the line and couldn't get there.
06:23So, no, it was just incredible.
06:26And then the scenes in the stands, you know, it was bouncing.
06:31It was an incredible occasion.
06:33But the Blades fans, the joy that it brought, and you could see it
06:37and we were with them.
06:39You know, I get goosebumps now because, you know, 26 years on now,
06:45it's still so vivid in my mind.
06:47And I get stopped, you know, all the time, really,
06:51of people who remember it and it meant so much to them.
06:54So, I'm massively proud that I was involved in that.
06:58Yeah, quite rightly.
06:59Going back to that time as well, I was watching as a fan then.
07:02I remember Kevin Pressman used to, how he never played more for England
07:06on his form against United because he always tended to be
07:09like a brick wall in derby games.
07:11It always seemed to be, you know, him versus United, almost,
07:14in occasions.
07:15But, you know, sort of perfectly placed header to beat him.
07:18I mean, sometimes now, you know, when you're getting off to sleep
07:21at night or whatever, that image must run through your head
07:24because I can't imagine what that feeling is like, you know,
07:27in front of the Blades fans, you know, in a game like that.
07:30The 100th derby, I think it was, or it was a milestone derby, wasn't it?
07:34It was a milestone.
07:36You know, even that, when I'm out, like I was picking up my youngest son
07:41the other day from school and I'm stood there, head down, you know,
07:45waiting for him to come out and I heard two of the parents chatting
07:49to one another about, have you got tickets, have you?
07:52And I'm there thinking, you know, they're talking about this massive game
07:56in the city but yet I scored the winner in one.
07:58It's quite surreal, you know, to think in the 100th derby, as you say,
08:03Sheffield Wednesday were the dominant team in the city at that time
08:07and to score a winner in this derby match away at Hillsborough,
08:12you know, it makes me so proud and, you know, I just love it
08:17and it never gets old watching it.
08:19I'm just so proud of being involved and what it meant to so many people.
08:24Yes, have you got the YouTube video on repeat there of that goal?
08:28I won't blame you if you did, by the way.
08:30It's in my kid's room, they're not allowed to go to sleep
08:33until they watch it 50 times.
08:36No, I've watched it non-stop.
08:38I was more proud of setting up the first because, again, you know,
08:42you're hearing my name with Dez Walker, you know, the legend that is Dez Walker
08:48and, you know, that's it.
08:50I was proud because we were a hodgepodge team.
08:53We were ragtag, weren't we really?
08:56You've got Carlton Palmer, my next-door neighbour,
08:59Tron Solvelt was the captain.
09:01You had Gilles the builder, you had Saban.
09:04It was a really, really top team and we went there and we gave everything.
09:09Every player, Darren Bullock, he came in on loan
09:12and you've got Carlton Palmer having a go at him, but he didn't care.
09:16He just got on with it.
09:18It was a perfect, gritty performance from us all.
09:22Yes, and I guess you did this, obviously.
09:25You made yourself a household.
09:26As you say, you're still getting stopped 20, 25 years on,
09:30people talking about it.
09:31I guess for the class of 24, 25, there's a chance there to make yourself
09:35that hero, to write yourself in this club's folklore, isn't there?
09:38If you can perform in this game, no matter what happens in your career
09:42after that, you'll always be remembered in this city, won't you?
09:45I imagine that's quite a powerful thing for a footballer.
09:49Yes, but we were lucky enough in the first match this season,
09:55you've got Campbell writing his name and he's banging form at the moment.
10:01He did well.
10:02The boys really performed well that night and he scored a great goal.
10:07He knows what that's brought to him already.
10:11It's just a very tricky time to go there because, unfortunately,
10:18Sheffield Wednesday have got an incredible manager
10:21and an incredible management team and their team are really performing.
10:26It's going to be a tough game.
10:28To come back from 2-0 down at Norwich the other night,
10:31it shows they've got character, they've got belief
10:34and they don't let setbacks knock them.
10:37So it's a really tough match, but you know what?
10:40We've got an incredible team, we've got an incredible manager
10:44and just hope if our team can match the Sheffield Wednesday team
10:49with energy and desire, which I'm pretty sure they will
10:53because Chris Wilder accepts nothing less,
10:56I'm hoping we're going to get a result that we deserve.
11:00Yes, obviously you've stayed up this way, haven't you?
11:03The accent shows that you're not from Sheffield,
11:05but you've sort of become a Sheffielder, haven't you?
11:08You've adopted Sheffield in many ways.
11:10I know this club means a lot to you, doesn't it?
11:13It means everything.
11:15I've had three children born up here who have said many times
11:18I don't understand half the stuff they say
11:20because they've got the full Sheffield accent.
11:23But I love living up here.
11:25The Sheffield people have been wonderful to me and the club.
11:30The club means everything.
11:32The club's a massive part of my life.
11:35I'm missing doing the co-commentary.
11:37I'm not sure too many of the fans are missing me doing it,
11:40but I love doing it and being part of everything.
11:44I'm getting to watch the team.
11:46The club means a lot to me and so does Sheffield.
11:50Hopefully the red half will get the result we want,
11:54but I am happy that the blue team are coming back
11:58because there's so many fans.
11:59They deserve stuff to cheer.
12:01They've had such slows over the last couple of years.
12:03It's good. Just hope we nick them.