Dean Saunders Exclusive in Interview with OLBG

Dean Saunders, the former Premier League and Wales striker, shares his views on the upcoming 2025/26 season. From Wrexham’s ambitious rise under Hollywood ownership to thoughts on key players, managers, and controversial topics, Saunders brings his trademark honesty and humour in this exclusive chat with OLBG.

Q: Who stands out in the Championship promotion race?

The teams that come down have got a massive budget and without taking the romance out of football, basically it's about how much money you've got.

Wrexham have proved that you can sign the best players in that division if you've got enough money to pay the wages. So the teams coming down from the Premier League, they've still got budgets of £50-60 million, where you've got like Millwall and teams like that who are probably working with £12million.

So their squad's a lot thinner. So when it goes Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, I've managed in that league, you need players who can get themselves up on a Tuesday night at Millwall in the rain. When Millwall realise if it's a football match, they get beat.

Not a rainy Tuesday night at the Den on The Isle of Dogs

So they turn it into a scrap. So there's teams with smaller budgets that can turn you over just because you think you're going to go out and play football and they stop you.

They end up scrapping on set plays, they scrap and win the game two corners and you walk away thinking, have we lost that? So you need players who can roll their sleeves up and turn up twice a week, three times a week, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday.

Sometimes Premier League players can't cope. I've seen Premier League players, we're playing again. Well, we've got another game. Well, we've got another game.

They're not used to it. So the teams who come down and then you obviously you've got Birmingham, who've got a big budget and you want to be on that train if you can.

Q: Are Wrexham right to be splashing the cash in the Championship?

You want to be on the Wrexham train. Sadly, I missed the train when I was manager. So, you know, they're offering players reportedly 20 grand a week, my highest paid player when I was there was 1,200, 1,300. Andy Mangan the centre forward.

We'd done all right, we'd done well, but obviously that was in the National League, not the Championship. So the two owners who've come in, I thought it was a joke when they first told me.

Wrexham celebrate yet again

Not only have they helped the club and stuck with the club and said what they were going to do, all the community around Wrexham have benefited.

They've put loads in that we don't know about, but I've been told they have.

So all in all, Wrexham's in a good place and I always thought I could get Wrexham into the Championship. And if we got there, we'd get 25,000.

Q: Will Wrexham soon eclipse Cardiff and Swansea as the biggest club in Wales?

Obviously they're trying to make the stadium bigger because from Wrexham to Cardiff, which is South Wales, that's three and a half hours and there's no team in between, just Welsh league teams.

So you've got a catchment area between Cardiff and Wrexham, massive for recruiting players and fans. Wrexham have the north and Cardiff have the south.

Swansea are still hanging in there, Newport are hanging in there so, I never thought Wrexham would be where they were but fair play to the two lads. How they can squeeze Wrexham in amongst the making films, I don't know.

Q: What are your memories of Joey Jones?

I'm just pleased because the great Joey Jones, the Wrexham legend who I played with for Wales and he was youth team coach, he was Mr Wrexham.

He passed away recently but he was able to see Wrexham get back in the Championship. He passed away too young at 70, but at least he's seen Wrexham get back in the Championships.

I'm pleased about that because he was a great man, an old school coach and he would love it. He watched them all the way through.

People ask me about Joey, like what do you remember about him? And I've never laughed so much. One day I looked out the canteen window and he's got Danny Ward, the goalkeeper, who was the youth team goalie at Wrexham at the time.

He's got him in the goal and he's got two young lads crossing balls from the left and the right. And he stood on the penalty spot with the net that you put all the balls in, with 10 balls in it. And as Danny Ward was catching the crosses, Joey was hitting him in his ribs with the bag of balls, smashing him with the balls. And he was going, come on, better contact.

So I was thinking, like, Joey, you're going to break his ribs. He was hitting him that hard with the balls, but it was trying to get Danny Ward used to contact when he was catching crosses and it's old school coaching, but he loved it.

Q: Is Tom Brady a good influence behind the scenes at Birmingham?

I think the only person that's agreed with me on this that I know of is Jürgen Klopp. I would not like the cameras being in the dressing room. For the simple reason is that you're trying to motivate players and sometimes you don't always tell them the truth.

For example, you get beat 5-0 on Saturday, you've got another game Tuesday. The players' chins are on the floor and I go in and say, hey, that wasn't that bad, when I know full well it was, but I'm trying to lift them.

So you're telling lies. Basically you're telling lies. I've got a camera on me and I've just said it wasn't that bad when it could have been 10-0. But I've got to lift them off the floor for Tuesday night.

You've got individuals in the room, some need a pat on the back, some never give them a pat on the back because they get carried away. It's the same in any job.

So I'd go around the room and somebody who scored two, who's a bit chirpy, who gets carried away, I would have a go at him on purpose, just to keep his feet on the floor. Well, the cameras don't know that.

So when millions of people are watching it on Netflix, they think, what an idiot he is, because they watch the game as well and I'm saying something completely different, but I'm doing it for a reason. You have a sports psychologist, but the manager's supposed to know how to handle players.

Q: What did you think of Tom Brady’s comments about Wayne Rooney?

They can't stop talking about Wayne Rooney

What I will say is, talking about Wayne Rooney's work ethic, I bet he's sorry he said that. It's the worst thing anybody could say to you I think in any walk of life to question your work ethic.

But I like Wayne Rooney, he's a winner and he's a normal lad. He has his way of doing things and I'm not going to question him but I would be reluctant to go on a documentary and criticise any manager if I owned another club. So he probably shouldn't have done it.

Q: Who would be your dream signing at Wrexham?

Jamie Vardy, he's 38, but he's still quick. You never lose your eye for a goal, ever. Even now I can't play, but my football brain's still there, I just can't run anymore. Well Vardy can still run and his football brain is still the same.

Jamie Vardy, Managers Dream

To score as many goals as he scored, you've got to anticipate before everybody else where the ball's going to go. And he does. So I'd like to see Wrexham sign Jamie Vardy if they could.

Obviously I think his last wages was probably 150 grand a week, so they're about 130 short. But you never know at his age, you might just want to be part of it for two years, to get him to 39.

I still think he's a good player. I still think he'd do a job in the Championship.

Q: What do you make of Ian Holloway at Swindon Town?

Well he is a character, isn't he? And he wears his heart on his sleeve and I would imagine he says the same to the press as he says in the dressing room and that's the secret.

If you go in the dressing room and you start passively saying, you done alright, you done alright and then you go out in front of the TV cameras on Match of the Day and start calling the players everything...

The players look at you and go, you never said that in the dressing room. That's the difference between being a player and a manager.

I'd be really, really annoyed as a player. But as a manager, boiling. It's your fault. It's all down to you.

If you say it in the dressing room and you say it on TV, the players will go, he's still raging. That's why he said it. If you call the players out on TV.

We've seen Russell Martin do it at Rangers. It might be a little bit strategic because he's not having it from today.

We've seen the Spurs manager do it, with Yves Bissouma being late for training, putting his mark down, saying that it’s unacceptable.

Russell Martin has gone, that's unacceptable, not sprinting back, being late. You have to be like that as a manager because the players will walk all over you.

Ian Holloway I think is like that, he wears his heart on his sleeve, he's a football man and his enthusiasm is infectious.

I was taught this, there's only one thing that's more infectious than enthusiasm. It's a lack of enthusiasm. That spreads quicker. And he won't let that happen.

So the Swindon players will follow him. And it's a big club, Swindon. I remember playing at Swindon. There's 21,000 there. I remember playing in Swindon in the Premier League when Glenn Hoddle was the manager. So they've got a good history.

Q: Is this season going to be more difficult for Frank Lampard at Coventry City?

This season is going to be more difficult for him because he got the train going didn't he, he got it going at the end but when you think of Coventry's recent history you know they ended up playing at Northampton and Birmingham, it hasn’t been easy.

Mark Robins took over then nearly got them into the Premier League. He did an unbelievable job. He's loved at Coventry and for some reason they sacked him.

Frank Lampard at Coventry

They got Frank Lampard, who to be fair to him, he doesn't need a job. I think he's financially OK. But he wants to do it. He took over Derby first, then Chelsea. And he's done a great job at Coventry.

I'd like to see Frank get Coventry in the Premier League because how many British managers are managing in the Premier League? Off the top of my head, we've got David Moyes. I'm trying to think.

Sean Dyche, who's ginger and has a rough voice, is not sexy enough to be thought of as a tactician.

Everybody thinks Sean Dyche gets it long and gets stuck in, but he doesn’t. I've done my coaching badges with him. If you give Sean Dyche the Man City job, he'd have them playing out from the back. He knows how to do it.

Where he's really clever is he doesn't ask players to do things they can't do. So he gets a group of tools and he tries to get the best out of them.

So if that means getting it long because you can't play at the back, but you've got really good defenders who can't play, you'll get it away from them and then just defend your goal.

But if you start asking players at the back who can't play, that's why they don't play in midfield, because they play at the back because they haven't got enough skill to play in midfield.

If you're asking them to play with the goalkeeper, don't be surprised when they make mistakes. It's your fault as the manager.

I'd like to see Frank do well. I think Frank has got a mix of both. He'll play, get it long, hit the front, go and support the front men, get it wide, cross it. I think that's how he plays.

Q: Could this be a tricky season for Derby County in the Championship?

Image: Michael715/Shutterstock

Derby's a big club, obviously when I played for them, I think we qualified for the Champions League, but we were banned. All British teams were banned from playing, Arthur Cox was the manager.

Every week I watch their results. They still get 25, 30,000 if the team's winning, every week. It's a football town, big club.

John Eustace has gone in there and they looked like they were going to get relegated. One good move he made, he took Steve Round in there with him.

They've got enough results to keep them up. And Derby just needs someone to come in and give them some money. If you give Derby some money from somewhere, some businessman comes in, they'll have a great chance of going up as well.

Once you get there, it's £165 million just for staying up. You're in a different world then.

Q: Are Hull right to put a huge price tag on Charlie Hughes?

What Hull have done with Charlie Hughes is like Alexander Isak at Newcastle. They've got a project, they've got the richest owners in the world.

So they've decided to do it gradually. Now the best player, you don't sell your best player. If you sell your best players, you're in trouble at any level.

When Sadio Mane left Liverpool, I thought, that's 10 points, that's cost you. There's no one you can play there better than him. If you sell Mohamed Salah, 10 points. Virgil van Dijk was injured, 10 points. Alisson, the goalie, 10 points.

Charlie Hughes, if you put a £20 million price tag on him, he's going to knock your door and say, £20 million, is that how you value me? Well, you're gonna have to pay me a £20 million player's wages then.

Charlie Hughes is compared to Alexander Isak

If that's how you value me, if you're stopping me going to the Premier League, you're going have to pay me. Well, if the owner says, right, how much do you want? Then you're still building.

You're collecting players to play with Charlie Hughes. But if you start selling your best players, you're dismantling.

This is no disrespect to clubs like Northampton or Exeter, but the minute players start doing well for them, the vultures come and steal your best because you haven't got the money to hold on to them.

Number one, they want to play higher up and then they want to earn more money. If you can't say to them, there's some money, stay, because you haven't got the money then you stay in, so someone nicks your best players and you become Northampton again.

So Hull, Charlie's agent will be knocking on the door saying if you're going to value him at that you're going to have to pay me and if you can't pay me he's not happy. He wants to go and it's the food chain. So the Premier League clubs will be watching him and then the agents start making calls.

Q: Are agents having a bigger influence on football?

Agents are running football. In my opinion. The agents are in charge of what goes on. There's no way Alexander Isak is telling Eddie Howe I'm not playing for Newcastle again.

It's his agent. He thinks, how can I get him out of there? Who's going to give me the most commission? How can I get some commission from somewhere?

He doesn't care about Isak. He doesn't care about Newcastle. He's thinking, how can I get £15 million commission? Something silly like that. So they've got too much power and something's got to be done about it.

Q: Has Chuba Akpom made the right call in joining Ipswich over Birmingham?

That's a tough decision as well. Ipswich or Birmingham. They’ve got Kieran McKenna, who's been riddled with success until last season. Obviously, he's stepped up into the best league in the world.

So he'd bring him on and he has brought players on, Kieran, and he will tell him, I'll make you a Premier League player if you come to play for me.

Birmingham. I mean, I've been there when you have to decide, do we add a bit of quality to this group? Do we add some Premier League players to this group? Or do we dilute the team spirit by doing it?

If you think back, Fulham signed 16 players. All of a sudden you've got 16 players sat in the dressing room. If you don't win the first game, you've got 12 players knocking on the door.

Why am I not playing? If you don't win the second game, you've got 15 players knocking on your door. And then what do you do, change the whole back four and put a new one in because they're there and you end up struggling.

You can't find your best team. So it's a dilemma. Do you keep going with what you got or do you add a bit to it? You add a bit of quality but it dilutes the togetherness. So we'll find out one way, we'll see.

Q: Do Middlesbrough have an outside chance of promotion this season?

Rob Edwards Middlesbrough Manager 

As Alex Ferguson said, sign for the chairman, not the club. I coached eight teams and it’s true. Because he's the man that sacks you, he's the man that gives you money. He's got his own opinion.

Normally they're fans. The owner's a fan. They see through the rubbish and they back you.

Rob Edwards the manager now, I know Rob, lovely bloke, he did a great job at Luton. I cannot believe Luton got relegated again, because I thought they had a bit of a mix of football, big lads up front, get it up to them, set plays.

But Steve Gibson's given him a chance and I think he'll do well, Rob. Good manager.

Q: How could Liam Manning do with Norwich City this season?

Obviously the teams coming down are spending more than Norwich now and the parachute money's gone. So they're going to find it harder.

Liam Manning, 

As soon as you come down you've got a great chance of getting back up and then you've got the likes of Birmingham and Wrexham coming up from League One who've got more money than Norwich. They have. Those two teams have got more money than Norwich.

So they're going to find it difficult but I can't look any further away from the three teams who've come down and Birmingham and Wrexham. Millwall keep overachieving every year. It could be tough for Norwich.

Q: Would it be great to see Portsmouth back in the Premier League?

Portsmouth have great fans and it’s a great place to play. A tough place to go is Fratton Park, they have hostile fans.

I remember going there with Swansea when I was 18, the last game of the season. Swansea, Portsmouth at Fratton Park, 6-0 we got beat.

I think Alan Biley scored a hat-trick and Neil Webb. I think Mark Hateley played and they were doing well in the league, they battered us.

John Mousinho Portsmouth manager 

There was nothing on the game but they battered us. That was my introduction to Fratton Park and then over the years I played there all my career.

Fans bouncing like an extra player and I know Portsmouth fans and they think they're going to do well this year but the Championship is so difficult.

You can lose three games in a week and you can win three in a week. Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, nine points. Your league position goes from fifth from bottom to fifth from top in a week.

It comes down to the last eight games, normally someone runs away with it and then the rest are competing, there's probably ten teams in it until the last four or five games to get in the playoffs. It's a great league.

Q: What are your thoughts on the situation at Sheffield Wednesday?

I obviously played for Sheffield United, but I understand how Sheffield Wednesday is a massive club. Massive support.

They've had like 20 years of turmoil, I think. I think they've nearly gone bust three or four times. What do you do when the owner, let’s say he has all the best intentions, and then all of a sudden he loses a load of money on the stock market and he says, right, this is my hobby, I can't put any more money in.

Image: Kivo at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It looks like that's what's happened. Josh Windass has gone to Wrexham, they've lost some of their best players now, players might be refusing to play.

You can understand the players because you could break your leg in a game and you're not getting paid. They can only not pay you for so long and then you're a free transfer, so you can go play for someone else.

You only play until you're 35 normally, you break your leg, you can't play again. So why should I go into tackles when I'm not getting paid? So you can understand it, but it's a difficult position for the players to be in because they don't want to let fans down.

They lost to Leicester in the first game. But what do you expect? Your professionalism takes over. It's a 50-50 tackle. As a professional, you're better off going in for it than half going in for it. But they've all got mortgages and a rented car.

I know people think they earn millions, they don't in the Championship. They've got bills to pay and they're not getting paid, they've got children, school fees and all sorts of things.

I know they're in a privileged position compared to the man in the street but still, they can only earn money until they're 35 and then you're finished.

Unless you go into coaching or punditry where you can still earn a living, most of the players are 35, they're scratching around looking for a job.

Q: Are Huddersfield rightly the big favourites in League One?

Like Huddersfield, Sunderland did this, the ship just sank. I was the manager of Wolves and I tried to stop the sinking ship.

I was the fourth manager in 12 months and it's really difficult because you've got three or four groups of players signed by different managers in a short period of time and none of them want to be there.

It's everybody else's fault as far as they're concerned and you've got high expectations from the fans and a draw is not a good result. So I just feel Huddersfield are in that situation after they come down from the Premier League.

They seem to have hit the bottom and they're gradually pulling themselves back up. Sunderland are back in the Premier League, they were in League One not long ago and couldn't win a game at one point.

They had the Jack Rodwell situation and that can happen, I'm glad Sunderland are back up there again.

I was coach at Newcastle and we were in the Premier League and people used to say that they don't care what happens, just that we can't lose to them. That's all they care about.

Q: Can Bradford City dream of back-to-back promotions?

Graeme Alexander

Bradford City get almost 20,000 every week, Graham Alexander's done a great job there. I mean, they do reduce the ticket prices. Kids are a fiver sometimes, tenner to get in, but they get big crowds.

I heard his interview the other day that apparently some of the players find it difficult playing in front of 20,000, all expecting them to win. But he's got them going.

So again it's that, can you afford to pay the best striker? Like Wrexham, when they were in the National League, they signed Paul Mullin. He was the top scorer in the league above.

So they were able to pay him more than the other teams could pay him. So you get the best centre forward there. And I've always found the more money you've got, the more strikers you can sign because you get injuries.

So you're never going into Tuesday night, going to Millwall away with two 18-year-olds playing up front for you, saying fingers crossed. They're good young players, but you need to have four strikers who can score at that level if you want to do well.

Q: Are Cardiff in a great position to get out of League One?

If I had enough money, I'd buy Cardiff. Definitely. You see clubs like that and think I could buy them and turn them into something. Cardiff's one of them.

I'm a Swansea fan. And it hurts me to say it, but Cardiff's a bigger club than Swansea. Bigger fan base. Both are good clubs, but Cardiff is the capital of Wales and they can command the best players.

However, now things go wrong up in the boardroom and it filters down onto the pitch and before you know it there's an excuse for everyone and they've ended up in League One which is tragic for Welsh football.

I support all the teams, the only one I haven't been involved in is Newport. I even took a team to Merthyr Tydfil one night from Wrexham because they couldn't put the floodlights on.

They needed £700 to put the floodlights on. So I took a team down there and they beat us 2-0. I was raging. I came into the dressing room after the game, in which the goalkeeper ran into the centre-half without speaking. They both hit each other and the centre-forward's run through, tapped it in, embarrassing. Five minutes later it happened again.

I've spent all week telling them to talk, pass information on. Come on lads, that's the biggest weapon you've got in your mouth. Two nil. Both goals from non-communication.

One of my harshest things I've ever done, I said to the players who don't speak, you're gonna have to get your boots and leave. I've had enough.

Before I get sacked, I've told you once, I've told you twice, I've told you three times, you're still not doing it. So I went, you, you, you, you, and you, really sorry, but you're gonna have to leave. And I got rid of them.

That's what management does to you. That's not my personality. But you realize when you're the manager, it's you or them. If they're not getting results for you, it's you who's gonna get sacked, not them.

So you've got to change them before you get changed. And that was at Merthyr Tydfil. I went down there doing them a favour. I ended up getting rid of five players. And then the chairman said to me, we haven't got any money to replace them. Well, who cares? I wouldn't even know they're there anyway. They don't speak.

Q: Quickfire questions

How much would a prime Dean Saunders cost in today’s game?
Easy to judge that because I went for the British record in 1992, which was £2.9 million. Now it's Declan Rice at 105, the British record.
It might go up with Alexander Isak to £140 million. But Declan Rice is the British record, 105 and I was the British record in 92, so £105m.

Most underrated player you played with?
Ray Houghton.

Who in today’s game reminds you of your own playing style?
Jamie Vardy.

One midfielder you wish you'd played with?
Paul Scholes.

Who was the hardest teammate you ever had?
Billy Whitehurst.

Who was the hardest player you played against?
Martin Keown.

Who was the biggest joker in a dressing room you were in?
Andy Townsend.

Who was the most stylish teammate you ever had?
John Fashanu.

Who had the worst fashion sense?
Nigel Callaghan.

Q: Winner Stays On - Greatest central defender you played against?

Alan Hansen. His shirt, his shorts, never dirty, never on the floor. The first two yards are in your head. I used to anticipate a flick on or a cross going to the near post, he was already there.

Whereas some defenders see it late and after lunge, slide tackle and everybody claps, the fans say what a tackle. But Alan Hansen made it look easy, he was already there.

The fans are going, all right, that's just gone straight on his head. No it hasn't. He already got there five minutes before the ball was crossed. He used to get you up the pitch, as well.

When Liverpool cleared the ball up the pitch, he'd get the back four up to the halfway line. And before the ball was hooked back over his head, he'd already be running back towards Bruce Grobbelaar.

I thought I could get there, but he's already there. And if he didn't get there, if he got it wrong, he had Bruce Grobbelaar behind him. And he did play with Mark Lawrenson, who was a massive compliment to him.

He was quicker than him, more aggressive. Mark Lawrenson was a great centre-half, and he was my manager at Oxford, so he's going to watch this. He'd come off with all mud all over him, and Alan Hansen had white kit on, not a spot of mud on it because his brain used to make you look stupid.

Paul McGrath was the same. What a player. I would have struggled if you said Paul McGrath or Alan Hansen. I would have struggled.

Q: Who is the greatest Welsh player of all time?

Gareth Bale. Head and shoulders above everyone. There's only a few players in the world you see walking about and people ask is he lazy? Or does he know something we don't know? Messi's one, Ronaldo's the other one.

The people who are marking him go like, what shall I do? But Gareth Bale used to stand still for ages and then he'd explode.

I described it as like a car park full of Ford Escorts and a Bentley comes in. He looked like a Bentley. And that’s by the way, with Joe Allen, Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy — proper players. He stood out.

Just what an athlete. Skill, grit and he produced when it mattered. They should build a statue of him in Wales because he got us to two Euros and a World Cup on his own.

I'm putting him ahead of Ryan Giggs, the great Ryan Giggs and the great Ian Rush. And he is head and shoulders above them both. And John Charles.

Q: World Class or not?

Alexander Isak: Yes
Viktor Gyökeres: No
Bukayo Saka: Yes
Cole Palmer: Yes
Bruno Fernandes: No
Virgil van Dijk: Yes
Martin Ødegaard: Yes
Phil Foden: Yes
Bryan Mbeumo: No
Matheus Cunha: No
Ollie Watkins: No
William Saliba: Yes
Jarrod Bowen: No
Kai Havertz: No
Noni Madueke: No
Declan Rice: Yes
Enzo Fernández: No
Alexis Mac Allister: Yes
Jack Grealish: Yes

Q: Who is in your all-time Premier League XI?

So my system is 4-2-4 all-out attack. In fact, it's nearly 2-6-2. Because the full backs are pushing on as well.

Goalkeeper: Neville Southall
Right-back: Dennis Irwin
Left-back: Ashley Cole
Centre-backs: Rio Ferdinand and Paul McGrath
Central Midfield: Roy Keane and Paul Scholes
Wingers: Gareth Bale (left), Ryan Giggs (right)
Strikers: Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry
Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson