Former Blackpool captain Tom Aldred made the move to the Indian Super League last year, and his been rewarded for his decision, winning the double in his first season with Mohun Bagan Super Giant.
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00:00The last time we spoke was around 12 months ago.
00:03You decided that you was leaving Australia and that you were waiting for a new challenge.
00:07So, yeah, and you ended up going to India.
00:08So, talk us through the thought process and why you ended up where you did.
00:14Yeah, so, obviously, like, when I spoke to you last, I was kind of, I'd done five years at Brisbane Raw.
00:19I played five years as the captain of the club and I'd hit that 100-game mark in the league.
00:25So, I felt like it was the right time. I was at the age where I was 33, so it was kind of like I was at that age where if I was going to try something, it had to be then.
00:37I felt that the club I was at, Brisbane, it was more like the model of the A-League had changed from when I first went there.
00:44Whereas when I went there, it was always about signing experienced players, trying to finish as high as you can in the table and try and obviously win trophies.
00:53And ultimately, that's what you want to do as a footballer.
00:56I felt the model of the club I was at and the league itself had kind of come away from that in that, yes, there was clubs that wanted to win,
01:05but there was also a lot of trying to develop young players and sell them and obviously make financial gains for the football clubs,
01:11which is always the case for every club.
01:14You go out worldwide, everyone wants to sell young players or sell players.
01:17But for me, it was just a case of I just didn't want to be a part of something that was just,
01:21I was just kind of going through the later part of my career and just being there, I wanted to achieve things.
01:29So, yeah, look, obviously I made the right decision and I just wanted to try something new.
01:36You know, obviously, as I said to you last time, I played in England, I played in Scotland and now I've done Australia.
01:41And fortunately, I was provided an opportunity where I could try a different country.
01:45And yeah, like I'm grateful for my time in Brisbane, but it was the right time for me to leave and try something new.
01:53And obviously the opportunity come up to play for more and began.
01:57So it was an incredible, incredible year.
02:01But yeah, I'm very grateful for that opportunity.
02:03Yeah, so do you feel that the A-League has taken maybe a step back from when you first went over to it
02:08and obviously now you've got the Indian Super League, which caught your attention.
02:11That's sort of making it up, right?
02:13Yeah, for me, when I first went to the A-League, there were signing names for every team,
02:19majority of teams anyway, would sign a marquee player of the likes of when I first went there.
02:25There was obviously throughout my time, there was Nanny, there was Ola Taivonen, Adam LaFondra.
02:33I'm just trying to think of names off the top of my head here.
02:35But obviously we signed Charlie Austin.
02:39I know one Matt has gone there now.
02:41So Kazuki Honda, like there's a lot of names I'm just trying to think off the top of my head
02:45where teams would sign a marquee player and obviously fill their other foreign spots.
02:51There was five foreign spots with experienced players to go and win and achieve things
02:56and ultimately entertain fans and win football matches.
03:00Whereas I felt it came away from that model and they were trying to just go for younger players
03:05and try and sell them.
03:07But as I know with football, if young players are going to be sold and be successful,
03:12they need to be part of dressing rooms where you've got experienced footballers in there
03:15and who can nurture them and help them.
03:17And that's always been the case throughout my career.
03:19I've seen young players go.
03:20They've always had a good dressing room, good quality pros who can help them do that.
03:25You know what I mean?
03:26So I just didn't want to be part of something anymore where it was almost like a lot of young players
03:33and it wasn't necessarily that pressure to win games.
03:37Football's about winning football matches and I wasn't going to be part of something
03:43where I'm just trying to help someone develop to be sold.
03:46You know what I mean?
03:46Was you quite open-minded when looking for your next destination?
03:51Or did India come along early on and catch your eye?
03:54As I said to you last time, throughout my time at Brisbane,
03:56obviously opening that door to that Asian market
04:00and put myself in a different window to the Football League and to the SPL,
04:04I'd always had kind of different interests from different countries.
04:08I'd had interests from Thailand in my time, Indonesia in my time and India.
04:12But the one thing with India is there's always that one club
04:19and it's hard to kind of put it into words how big that club is.
04:24It's massive, it's huge, the fans are incredible.
04:29And when that opportunity came throughout the time, it was probably...
04:34I knew it was obviously the right time to go and the right club to go to,
04:37but when they came knocking, I couldn't turn that down
04:40because the fan base, the club, the size of the club,
04:46and you go into a club where there's pressure on to win football matches every week
04:51and it couldn't have been any more different from the club I left,
04:54to be honest with you.
04:55And that was what I was ready for, that was what I wanted.
04:57And fortunately, football put me in a place where I was able to do that
05:00and achieve that.
05:01So, yeah, there was different interests from different clubs,
05:05but when they came knocking, it was a no-brainer to obviously choose that club.
05:10I know when you first arrived, there was videos of you at the airport,
05:14fans coming and getting your autograph.
05:15I thought, I know someone famous here.
05:17You'd be mobbed.
05:18So, yeah, how was that?
05:19Did you know exactly what you'd signed up for when that happened?
05:23Yeah, no, like I'd seen it in the previous years
05:26because the year before they signed, Jason Cummins,
05:30who people in the UK obviously would know from his time in Scotland
05:33and some of the football league clubs he'd played for.
05:36And I played against him in Australia.
05:38So, I'd kind of seen the welcoming he had.
05:43And to be fair, the club tees lets you know when you arrive that could happen.
05:49So, no, it was an amazing experience, obviously, to be welcomed like that.
05:53Like, it's incredible.
05:54You wouldn't sign anywhere in the football league
05:56and get that when you get to the train station or the airport or whatever.
06:03So, no, it was pretty special, to be fair.
06:06And, no, it was an incredible experience.
06:09So, what's the coverage and the fan base like?
06:11Because probably, you know, from England you think of India
06:14and you think IPL, you know, the cricket.
06:17But, you know, look at some of the videos of yourself.
06:19You get a very big crowd every week.
06:22Yeah, so, no, the IPL is obviously huge.
06:24Everyone knows the IPL.
06:26We actually went to watch a game when we were over there.
06:27It was pretty special, to be fair, the show that was at the team in Calcutta.
06:32But, no, so the ISL, obviously, some teams like any league
06:38are more well-supported than others.
06:40But, yeah, the club we was at was the average attendance,
06:43I think, was like 42,000.
06:45And in the final there, we had like up to 70,000 fans.
06:48So, we had our group of foreigners.
06:54Even after the games, we were like, you know,
06:55there's not many places in world football you would go to
06:58and have this type of atmosphere to play in front of every week.
07:01And the type of passion that they have for the football club
07:04is pretty mental, to be fair.
07:06So, like, it's obviously there's a pressure that comes with that,
07:08which is winning games, which we was able to do.
07:11But, yeah, no, it's pretty special.
07:12So, the other teams, there's other clubs that obviously have big fan bases
07:17over the different places.
07:19And, no, it's a good league.
07:21And you've got the interest levels very high, in fact.
07:26And every game is televised.
07:29And, yeah, there's some brilliant away days, to be fair.
07:34And, to be fair, wherever we go, we travel well.
07:37When you land at the airport, you're getting welcomed.
07:39And we take a bigger way following.
07:42So, it's pretty special.
07:44And, honestly, we always say as foreign lads,
07:46because we've got a good UK base of foreign lads there,
07:48it's hard to put into words, like, how big the actual club is, you know?
07:55Yeah, is it a bit of a sleeping giant, where, you know,
07:58if you're on the outside, you don't really know, you know,
08:00what it's all about and how big it actually is?
08:03Yeah, I always felt like, like, wherever I've gone,
08:07like, when I moved to Scotland from England, like,
08:10you always feel like in football, like, wherever you are,
08:12it's kind of the be-all and end-all.
08:13But when I moved to Scotland, like, you don't really realise
08:15the size of Scottish football until you get up there, you know?
08:18Obviously, everyone knows Rangers and Celtic,
08:19but, like, if you were to go to, like, a Motherwell-Hamilton game,
08:23like, it's mental.
08:24And, like, people don't necessarily always know
08:27the size of the leagues or the size of the clubs
08:29until you actually get there.
08:30And, like, obviously, this is a kind of whole different landscape.
08:35We're talking about, like, India, it's hard because, obviously,
08:40televised-wise, I don't know how accessible it is for English people.
08:44And, obviously, they're probably watching their local team here.
08:47But, yeah, it's pretty big.
08:49It really is.
08:50And, yeah, there's some really good footballers out there,
08:54like, really good, especially, like, obviously,
08:58we've got very good foreigners that come to play in the league
09:00and the Indian players are good as well.
09:03Yeah, obviously, you've, you know, sampled a number of leagues.
09:06So, is the standard, you know, is the standard quite high?
09:09Everyone used to ask me when I went to Australia, like,
09:12what was the standard like in Australia compared to Scotland?
09:16Or what was it like compared to England?
09:18And it's kind of, it's very, it's hard because, obviously,
09:21you factor in the heat, you factor in the, there's a lot of variables
09:25in comparison.
09:27In my opinion, it was a very good standard.
09:29You were allowed four out of, you would sign six foreign players out of that.
09:33There was four allowed on the pitch.
09:37And, obviously, and you've got the Indian players as well.
09:39It's quite, it's a very, it's a physical league in terms of,
09:44obviously, demanding with the heat.
09:46And, yeah, it's a good standard.
09:48But, in terms of comparison, it's really, really hard.
09:51As I said, when it was comparing Australia to Scotland and all this,
09:54they're all different in their own ways.
09:57What has it been like culturally?
09:58Have you sort of experienced a new side of life?
10:00Have you sort of stepped into, you know, the Indian culture
10:03and seen new things?
10:05Oh, 100%.
10:06Like, you just, the things you see are clear.
10:08I said to the lads, like, because, like I say, we had a good UK base of foreigners.
10:14We, like, Greg Stewart, myself, Jace Cummins, a couple of Aussie lads.
10:18And I always said to the lads, like, if someone put a YouTube channel of us
10:24and our experience over there, like, it would be, the subscribers would be through the roof
10:28because it's just, like, obviously incredible experiences.
10:32And you're going through it with us as, like, our mates.
10:36You know what I mean?
10:37It was like, some of the things you saw were just incredible.
10:40And all different aspects of life.
10:42And that's where I've been very fortunate in the career that I've had to be able to
10:45have these experiences and go through these different cultures.
10:50Yeah, obviously you're going to enjoy life off the pitch.
10:53But on the pitch is, as a football player, the most important thing.
10:56And, you know, the football must be so pleasing, your first season.
10:59And, like, look, it couldn't have gone much better on the pitch, if I'm honest.
11:04You know, when you go to any new club, you want to kind of set your marker
11:09and show what you are as a player and a person.
11:13And hopefully your character can come out.
11:15And, yeah, look, it was just an incredible year.
11:18Like, probably the best year in my career.
11:21We were up there with one of them because we kept a lot of clean sheets.
11:26We won both trophies.
11:28We were in the league and I always felt, especially towards the back end,
11:31we were going to win the league.
11:32We were comfortably, in my opinion, the best team.
11:35And we showed that over the course.
11:37But then we went into, like, the final series where you never know.
11:39It's like the playoffs in England.
11:40You never know anything can happen, you know.
11:43So to win that one as well was pretty special as well.
11:45So, obviously, the final was in front of our home fans.
11:48So, no, it was amazing.
11:51So, yeah, throughout all the experiences and the things we're talking about,
11:54it's great.
11:54But ultimately, it comes down to football and being the best player you can be
11:58and winning matches.
12:00And, as I said, that was my reason for going to India and to that club
12:04is because I wanted that pressure to win football matches.
12:06And at that club, you're going to get it.
12:09And, yeah, look, we did it.
12:12With a lot of fans comes a lot of pressure.
12:14And, yeah, to win that double was very good.
12:18And just finally, last year, you said you've got plenty more to give.
12:23Obviously, you want to do longer in India.
12:24But even beyond that, will you be looking at more places to sort of explore,
12:28more leagues to try out?
12:31Yeah, I mean, like I said, I'm 34 now.
12:35But, like, I watched a 37-year-old score in the Champions League
12:39semi-final the other night.
12:41So, you see players now with the longevity.
12:44And if you can look after yourself and eat and do all the right bits
12:47and pieces that obviously go with recovery, you can play a long time.
12:52And, obviously, me going to Australia at 28 years of age,
12:54I always feel that that's helped prolong my career.
12:57You know, I got out of them 55 games a year.
12:59I remember when we got promoted with Blackpool,
13:01I played 55, 56 games that year.
13:04And you're almost limping on the beach at the end of the season.
13:07Like, you know, if you're just knackered.
13:08So, I'm very lucky that I've been able to kind of still play around
13:13the average of 30 games a year for the last five, six, seven years,
13:17which hopefully gives me more grounds to go.
13:20But, no, physically, I feel great.
13:23And, yeah, look, like, I would like to –
13:27you never know where the future holds.
13:29But, for me, I'm just focused on the next year
13:31and just continue to keep playing.
13:32But, yeah, I've got no aims to finish playing football
13:38in the next three to five years, in my opinion.
13:42I can keep going.
13:43I played every minute that I was required for this year
13:48over than one suspension of a game.
13:50I trained every session.
13:53Over than when I got ill once, I had a bit of dodgy –
13:56somewhat dodgy.
13:57But, no, physically, I feel good.
13:59So, I pride myself on being fit.
14:02And I always – I've done it in my career so I don't see a reason
14:05why I can go for many more years to come.
14:06And I was – I've rid that, yeah, whoa!
14:07So, I do not remember!
14:08So, I'm going to take that.
14:09I mean, I always try to film myself up here.
14:11And I always belum against me.
14:12But look…
14:12You're there!
14:13And I've done that.
14:14So, the blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue,
14:16which have all that look, which has…
14:17And I don't know what I see when I'm doing,
14:18so that you can bans of the blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue,
14:19that base in a really dots there as much sequ还有,
14:22that the blue blue blue blue blue yellow blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue.
14:25So, I get itdel 지ゴ of blue blue blue blue the blue blue blue compass,
14:27so that I don't see.
14:27It's your IT born again, okay.