Neil 'Razor' Ruddock Opens Up on '96 FA Cup Heartbreak, Drinking Spiral and the TV Moment That Saved His Life on The Jeff Stelling Show

"It broke my heart" — the 1996 FA Cup final snub

Ruddock has spoken before about being left out of Liverpool's infamous 'Spice Boys' FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United, but rarely with this much candour. Having played the quarter-final, the semi-final and the last six games of the season, he assumed his place was safe until manager Roy Evans pulled him aside on the Friday.

"I was in tears," he tells Jeff. The hardest part wasn't the dressing room. It was the phone call home: "Ringing your dad to say you're not playing in the FA Cup final… Playing in an FA Cup final at the old Wembley in front of your dad was the greatest thing you could do. It broke my heart."

Full Transcript

Welcome

Jeff Stelling: Hello, and welcome to the Jeff Stelling Show with OLBG. My guest today played at the very highest level of the game, with the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and West Ham. 

He played for his country. He was thought of as a hard man, a tough guy, in his playing days - and he's needed that resilience at times in his life after the game as well. Welcome to Neil "Razor" Ruddock.

Neil Ruddock: Thanks, Jeff. Lovely to see you, mate.

Jeff Stelling: You too. Where did "Razor" come from?

Where 'Razor' came from

Neil Ruddock: It came from the late 80s. Frank Bruno fought Joe Bugner at White Hart Lane, and I was a young lad at Spurs. We all went to the fight, and in the programme there was a picture of Razor Ruddock, the big Canadian boxer. Everyone started calling me Razor - I don't suppose they were calling him Neil over in Canada, do you know what I mean?

Close mates from growing up call me Jacko, but everyone else calls me Razor. My wife still calls me Razor. It started around '87, '88.

"I'd rather be the best player than the hardest"

Jeff Stelling: When you look back at your career, do you think people forget what a good player you were? You could tackle, you could pass, you could strike a ball.

Neil Ruddock: Yeah, I think so. I was voted something like the 17th hardest footballer - but I'd rather have been the 17th best footballer. 

You don't play for Tottenham, Southampton, West Ham and Liverpool, and captain all of them, without being able to play. 

I captained the England Under-21s and played for the full side. But I got myself in trouble protecting a young lad called Alan Shearer, got sent off looking after him, and ever since then the hard-man image took over. 

It's got me where I am today, though - it's got me on TV, on the after-dinner circuit, on your podcast. It doesn't really bother me, but I was a better player than a hard man, for sure.

Jeff Stelling: Was that the Shearer game against Notts County? You ran about 50 yards?

Neil Ruddock: Yeah I put one on Craig Short, and then knocked the referee over on your way back.

Jeff Stelling: Could Craig not stick up for himself?

Neil Ruddock: He was only 17 or 18, and I'd promised his dad I'd look after him.

One England cap - and number 507 in the post

Jeff Stelling: You've got a picture of yourself in an England shirt here.

Neil Ruddock: That's England B, at Anfield.

Jeff Stelling: But only one full England cap. Was that down to your reputation for getting into trouble?

Neil Ruddock: Probably the drinking. But look at who was around - Tony Adams, Des Walker, Gary Pallister - better players than me. Still, I played at Wembley for my country, and I played at every level from youth all the way through.

Jeff Stelling: Have you still got your cap?

Neil Ruddock: I don't know where it is. My dad had it, and we lost my dad 12 years ago, so it's gone somewhere. But I've heard that every player who's played for England now gets a number and a new cap. I think I'm 507, so I'm expecting one to come through the door.

The most expensive defender in Britain - for a couple of days

Jeff Stelling: For a short while - about a week - you were the world's most expensive defender.

Neil Ruddock: A couple of days. I signed for Liverpool for £2.5m to be the dearest defender in the country, and then Des Walker went to Sheffield Wednesday for £3.8m. 

Des is a good friend of mine and he always reminds me of it. But to be fair, Des Walker was only £1.3m better than me - not a lot of people can say that.

Winding up Cantona (and leaving Duncan Ferguson alone)

Jeff Stelling: You came up against some great players. I was reading about your clashes with Eric Cantona. You enjoyed playing against him.

Neil Ruddock: I did all right against him. The rivalry was alive - Liverpool against Manchester United, 30 miles apart, a massive game. 

I just thought, I can wind him up. He wears his collars up, so I kept turning them down. He wanted to fight me in the tunnel. 

Robbie Fowler scored twice, they got one back and then in Fergie time (half an hour of Fergie time) Cantona scored a penalty - the only kick he had all game. So I'd done very well, just by putting him off his game. It's in one of Ferguson's books that I was the one who used to wind Cantona up more than anyone. 

But you know, you can play against the likes of Paolo Di Canio, all you’re trying to do is get in his head and wind him up. Don’t let him play football. With Duncan Ferguson,  you don't say a word! 

You pick your fights, your enemies and your wars on a football pitch. 

Jeff Stelling: I can just imagine you against Duncan Ferguson…

First game, I kicked him - worst thing I ever did. A few bumps and bruises along the way, but off the pitch we got on great. We lived in the same village, in Formby.

The 1996 FA Cup final that broke my heart

Jeff Stelling: The 1996 FA Cup final against Manchester United - you didn't play, and you reckon you'd have won it.

Neil Ruddock: I'm sure of it, because I used to do well against Cantona, and he scored the last-minute winner. I wasn't dropped, I was rested… there was a big season coming up. 

The manager said he'd name the team, but he kept putting it off. I'd played the quarter-final, the semi-final and the last six games of the season, so everyone assumed it'd be the same side. Then on the Friday he just said, "I don't know how to say this," and walked away. I was in tears.

The worst part was ringing my dad. He had all his mates, all the tickets, he was so excited. Having to tell him I wasn't playing was the toughest thing I've ever had to do. 

People can shout at me, 100,000 people can have a go, but ringing your dad to say you're not playing in the FA Cup final... We grew up the same age, Jeff - the final was the one game that was live on telly, BBC and ITV, you'd watch the build-up from nine o'clock. 

Playing in an FA Cup final at the old Wembley in front of your dad was the greatest thing you could do. Especially in front of your dad. It broke my heart.

Jeff Stelling: How long did it take you to get over it?

Neil Ruddock: That's when I went straight into the dressing room, and there was a big fridge of beer, and I just started drinking. I'd done nothing wrong. 

Looking back, that was the fuse - that's when the drinking really started, and the injuries came. I'd trained well, my weight was spot on, I'd played the quarter-final, the semi-final, the last six games, and I couldn't understand why I was dropped for the biggest game of my life.

Signing for Liverpool and the Spice Boys

Jeff Stelling: What was life like at Liverpool?

Neil Ruddock: Oh, tremendous. 

Jeff Stelling: It was those Spice Boys days, wasn’t it?

Neil Ruddock: I'd fallen out with Venables. I was at Tottenham. Terry Venables had signed me from Southampton on a three-year deal, and the agreement was that if I improved my discipline they'd double my wages.

Southampton had put me on the transfer list for fighting. But Sir Alan sacked Terry and wouldn't honour the gentleman's agreement, so I argued with him and he put me on the transfer list. 

Then I had Brian Clough at Forest, Keegan at Newcastle, Hoddle at Chelsea, Walter Smith at Rangers, Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn and Graeme Souness at Liverpool all interested. I promised I'd speak to everybody. I met Kenny on the Monday at the Royal Lancaster Hotel.

Then I went to Anfield, and Graeme Souness met me at reception and walked me into the middle of the pitch. He went could you imagine playing here? 

I used to hate playing at Anfield for the other team - you'd run around like a headless chicken. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and if Liverpool came in for you, you signed. To stand in front of the old standing Kop, for them to sing your name and sing You'll Never Walk Alone - it was amazing. It still gives me goosebumps now.

Everywhere Liverpool goes it’s an FA Cup final for the other team. It’s how I knew I’d made it.

When I could afford to take my family to Disney World in Orlando. We walked round the first outlet centre I'd ever been to, turned a corner, and there was an Adidas shop with a picture of me in the Liverpool kit, about 50 yards wide. I thought, that's it, that's when I made it. That’s the power of Liverpool. 

Jeff Stelling: And you won a trophy there.

Neil Ruddock: We did. There was no Champions League back then, but we won the UEFA Cup. We won the League Cup, we should have won the league one year - we lost a silly game near the end - we should have won the FA Cup, and we got to a European semi-final. But football was tougher then. Better players, no VAR.

"Better players back then" - and a war on VAR

Jeff Stelling: Do you really believe there were better players back then?

Neil Ruddock: I think there were tougher players. The pitches were worse, so you had to have a good touch. 

We were as fit as we could be, but we didn't have the dietitians and the fitness coaches. It was crazy - if I was a pound overweight they'd make me train in a bin bag and get weighed afterwards. The science wasn't there, so they're a lot fitter now because of the technology.

Jeff Stelling: How long would you have lasted in the game today?

Neil Ruddock: I'd have been all right - I only kicked people who wanted to be kicked! 

You don't run around much now, do you? Everyone sits back. I could play in goal for Man City, that's for sure - and I'm good with my feet. 

Could George Best play in my day? It's all the arguments. The players today couldn't have played in my day, that's for sure.

People who support Chelsea used to tell me that because of Diego Costa I couldn't play in today's game. I'd have read him, wound him up and kicked him. Back then you could kick someone and the referee would say, "that's your first one, next time you're in the book." That was football. Now they're getting sent off.

Jeff Stelling: Do you think football's lost something?

Neil Ruddock: I can't watch it. I can't remember the last time I watched 90 minutes - I go and watch Millwall, my local team. 

It just winds me up: stop-start, stop-start, slow, VAR. Referees won't make decisions, because they know that if they get it wrong they'll get pulled up. It's ruining games. 

We always moaned at the referees and linesmen, but that was part of football - it was a talking point in the pub afterwards.

Jeff Stelling: Do you think we'll ever see it come full circle and get rid of VAR?

Neil Ruddock: I hope so. Kids of 12, 13, 14 can't remember life before VAR. It was a better spectacle, better for the fans. 

I know some people like it because they get decisions “spot on”. But I think it’s still opinions. Goal line technology? Sure. Offsides are still an opinion, not a fact - they don't really know the exact moment the ball is struck, and a tenth of a second changes whether you're on or offside. 

And penalties - "there was contact." Well, I'm a bad defender if I haven't got contact with my striker in the box, I’m a bad defender. They slow it down, but they should show the angle and the speed the referee actually saw it at - the referee's-eye view, at the pace of the game - and then yes or no. 

You can't slow it down. 

Jeff Stelling: Yes, we see stills. The stills show you completely different things. 

Neil Ruddock: You know what winds me up? You can still pull shirts and rugby-tackle people at corners. They still let that go. Crazy.

Jeff Stelling: What do you make of players at corners not even looking at the ball now?

Neil Ruddock: That's not coaching - that's lazy, sloppy cheating, not wanting to get hurt defending. I just can't watch it any more.

Why I never went into management

Jeff Stelling: I get the impression you're happy you didn't go into coaching or management.

Neil Ruddock: Would you trust me with your football club? I did a year at Swindon with Roy Evans. 

I thought I'd miss the game, but you've probably heard this from every ex-pro you've interviewed - you don't miss the game, you miss the dressing room. You miss the banter, the lads, going training and having a laugh. You don’t miss the game so much. 

People see the lifestyle and the money and think, how can you not miss it? But mentally and physically it's tough. It’s draining. It's one of the greatest jobs, but you reach that mid-phase where you're tired, everything hurts, and you just need to rest your body.

The drink, retirement and time on my hands

Jeff Stelling: A lot of ex-players miss the camaraderie rather than the game itself. Merse is a classic example. He used to say on Soccer Saturday the reason it helped him is because it was the nearest thing to being back in the dressing room because he had a team around him.

We all know about things that happened after you played. There was a real drinking culture at Liverpool, wasn't there?

Neil Ruddock: A massive one. Back in the 70s and 80s, if you didn't drink you'd never have played for Liverpool. But never two days before a game - no one could ever say that about me. 

At Liverpool you weren't even allowed out on a Thursday or Friday, you couldn't even pick the kids up, or it was a big fine. We were very disciplined that way - they wanted us to rest our legs - and when they let us out, we enjoyed ourselves. 

Every team had one. The big Arsenal team had their Tuesday Club - Tony Adams, Merson, that back four. 

Jeff Stelling: Do you think players were pressured into being part of it?

Neil Ruddock: I mean, even if you didn't drink, you had to show your face, have a shandy or a Diet Coke, get on with the banter. Then you got away with it.

Jeff Stelling: Did you find it got worse once you'd finished playing?

Neil Ruddock: That's when the drinking really snowballed. I couldn't wait to retire, but then there's only so much golf you can play, and when the weather changed you couldn't play at all. Golf is a great place to meet people at the clubs, but then I found pubs.

My wife at the time had horses, so she was out at the stables all day, every day, and I had loads of time on my hands. 

I knew exactly which pub would be busy on a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday. I had a few bob, and people loved me being around because I'd buy the drinks all day.

I'd grown up around south London in an all boys school. Always had lads around me. From seven or eight years old right through to 35 - always the banter, the laughs - and when it stopped, I had to get it back. I found it in pubs.

Harry's Heroes, Paul Merson and the show that saved my life

Jeff Stelling: We all remember that scene in Harry's Heroes with Paul Merson - your best mate - where you threatened to throw him through a door.

Neil Ruddock: There are only three people who call me Neil - my mum, judges, and Merse - and he does it to wind me up, but I love him for it. 

He told me the truth. I was killing myself and I didn't want to hear it from him, so I reacted. I watch it back now and I'm really embarrassed. 

We're working together tomorrow, actually. I'm grateful, because that show saved my life. The message was: between 45 and 50, go and get yourself checked out - it costs nothing. 

If your car makes a noise, you take it to the mechanic and pay to get it fixed. But if we feel dizzy or out of breath, we won't go to the doctor, in case it's bad news. That was me.

Stopping my heart - and the German surgeon

Neil Ruddock: I started feeling dizzy and faint, and I couldn't walk. It came on in a week - one day I couldn't walk 100 yards, then 50 yards, then I couldn't get up five steps without feeling like I was going to fall over. 

They rushed me to hospital and my heart was between 140 and 150 beats per minute at rest - that's marathon pace. 

Over about six months I had all the tests, and then they stopped my heart and restarted it, which they do every day. 

I had a German surgeon with a good sense of humour. He said, "Razor, we're going to stop your heart and restart it. If it doesn't restart after seven times, you're a goner - and it's the first time I've done it. You’ll be okay, I've Googled it”. Third time it was.

David Ginola actually, when he collapsed on the pitch - he basically died on the pitch. When he did, they tried to restart his heart, and his restarted on the ninth time!

Thankfully it restarted. Then I needed a pacemaker, because my heart was stopping during the night - it keeps the heartbeat regular. After that I had a gastric sleeve to lose a load of weight and take the pressure off my heart. All of that came from the TV show and Paul Merson having a go at me.

Jeff Stelling: It's easy to feel indestructible, especially as a sportsman.

Neil Ruddock: I'm always the loudest one in the room, the character, the funniest. The name Razor makes you think you're indestructible, above everything. But it happened to me. 

I'm not here to preach, Jeff - go and enjoy yourself, just don't take it too far, and don't die. Simple solution. 

Jeff Stelling: "Don't die" is a pretty good recommendation.

Neil Ruddock: Stick with that one.

Life now: 58, lighter, and the school run

Jeff Stelling: How's life changed since then?

Neil Ruddock: It's great. My wife, Leah, was the one who made me go to the doctors, the experts, and the hospital, and got everything done. Without her I definitely wouldn't be here - she took it over the line. 

The best thing about my life right now is that I've only got two more weeks of school runs. My youngest is 15, and three miles takes me an hour - it's a nightmare. 

She was thinking about sixth form and I said, "No, no, go to college!" 

Everything's good - the kids are getting older, we've got the dogs, and there's the golf club round the corner, Kingswood, where a mate of mine owns it. Just been to Turkey with the lads golfing.

I can have a drink now, and stop when I've had enough. Instead of going out every day, I go out once a week and enjoy myself. That's enough for me. I'm 58 now and I feel really good.

Jeff Stelling: You look a lot younger, too. Next time you're stuck in that traffic on the school run, you should be grateful you’re doing it.

Neil Ruddock: Or wishing I was in the pub!

Jeff Stelling: I’ve got a shot of you here.

Neil Ruddock: Oh yeah? When I was ten stone heavier. I lost a load of weight - I'm half the man I was. When you're that overweight, you don't want to walk anywhere - I used to dread walking through Gatwick. Life's changed for the better, that's for sure.

Jeff Stelling: It's interesting - in the game now, drinking isn't an issue at all, is it?

Neil Ruddock: It's filtered out. The older players used to be the influence - "we're going out for a drink, you're coming." Now nobody drinks. You see them in restaurants with bottles of water, even at cup finals. Good luck to them.

Hard men: Jimmy Case, the assassin

Jeff Stelling: We've touched on a couple of hard men. People might be surprised to see Jimmy Case on your list.

Neil Ruddock: Jimmy Case, the assassin. A Liverpool legend, and my captain at Southampton. 

Ask Alan Brazil, ask anyone from that era - no one messed with Jimmy. Magnificent footballer. Two European Cups, league titles. 

We had a young Southampton team - me, Matt Le Tissier, Alan Shearer, Jason Dodd - and back then the old pros taught the youngsters a lesson, they'd make sure they kicked the kids on the other team. If any of us got kicked, Jimmy would sort them out. 

Jeff Stelling: Le Tissier tells a story about his early days - he came up against Stuart Pearce, who'd kicked him a couple of times, so he said something to Jimmy Case. Jimmy just looked at Pearce and said, "Not today, Tiss. Not today." The game had so many characters in those days, it was absolutely fantastic.

Neil Ruddock: It was a great mixture back then.

When England's teenagers were first-team regulars

Neil Ruddock: Look at the England under-18s and 19s in the 80s and 90s - every single one played for their first team. 

Pressman in goal at Sheffield Wednesday. Leftback was Hinchcliffe. Steve Redmond at Man City, Martin Thomas played for Arsenal, Le Tissier, David White at Man City, David Batty, Paul Ince. Up front we had Atkinson and Hurst.

At 18, 19, every one of them was a first-team player. Look at the England team now for the under-21s, and you'd be lucky to name a handful. Back then, if you played for the Under-21s you were a seasoned pro with 50 top-flight games behind you. 

Jeff Stelling: Now they put 17-year-olds in - the young boy at Liverpool, Rio Ngumoha. Everyone amazed. But it was common practice back then, wasn’t it? 

Neil Ruddock: Shearer scored a hat-trick on his debut for Southampton, and Robbie Fowler at 18, scored five at Anfield when we beat Fulham.

The best strikers: Shearer and Fowler

Jeff Stelling: Who was the best striker you played with or against? Tell us about Shearer first. A lot of people now only remember him as a pundit.

Neil Ruddock: He scored a lot of goals at Southampton. He was a tough, hardworking young lad. He was strong minded. You could hear that Geordie voice shouting at you from 100 yards away, and even at that age you knew he was going to be a proper footballer.

Jeff Stelling: And Robbie Fowler? One of my favourite players.

Neil Ruddock: At Liverpool - the first club I'd been to that did this - Robbie was training with the first team at 15 or 16. 

They'd give him a little dig to toughen him up. By the time he was 17 or 18 he wasn't shy at all. Great thing to do if you think about it.

Liverpool had been doing it for years - Ian Rush played in the reserves for two years but trained with the first team. Then it was Robbie, then Michael Owen at 15, then Carragher and then Steven Gerrard. Two years training with the first team, and they were ready. A simple idea, but so effective. 

Jeff Stelling: None of them did too badly.

Jeff Stelling: No. I mean there must have been a couple that didn’t make it. But they were the main ones.

Robbie was a mouthy little lad from Toxteth - what a footballer, brave, two-footed. There's that Sir Alex Ferguson line: "He wasn't getting in my team, but I wouldn't want him in the team I was playing against." That was Robbie Fowler. 

He was just unlucky with England - he did his ankle, his knee and his hip, missed two or three pre-seasons, and as a striker you can't miss a pre-season. You need that extra yard, for elite fitness. 

A defender or a midfielder can catch up, but a striker who misses two or three pre-seasons is always playing catch-up. That was his downfall. He should have played more for England.

Harry Kane and the Millwall connection

Jeff Stelling: What's your view on the man who always seems to carry England's hopes, Harry Kane?

Neil Ruddock: I love him - he even played for us, on loan at Millwall.

He's just got to keep fit. Last time he had a bad back. I hope he's okay - there's a lot of training, a lot of heat out there, and you can pull up even in training. 

He's different class, 60 old goals at Bayern Munich. He's had loads of games in Europe now, which is tough - PSG, what was it, 5-4 the other day. Playing against top defenders. 

People say it's only Bayern Munich, only the Bundesliga, but there are some good teams, and he looks big, tough and strong over there. That's a great thing for us going into a World Cup.

Jeff Stelling: A kid who went on loan to Millwall and went on to achieve so much.

Neil Ruddock: Teddy Sheringham was the same - when I was at Millwall, George Graham didn't fancy him and sent him out to all these little teams. Sometimes that loan is the kick up the backside they need, and they both went on to be tremendous players. It doesn't surprise me.

Tottenham's decline and the West Ham years

Jeff Stelling: Do you still care for Tottenham?

Neil Ruddock: Oh I’ve got a tattoo of all my former clubs. Millwall first. Maybe not West Ham… I'm on the Stratford line, so I can get there. 

All my old teams had a bad season. Southampton had a bad end to the season and missed the playoffs, and with Tottenham and West Ham in a relegation battle, gutted for West Ham.

But Tottenham - the way that's gone since they got the new stadium, you think they should be doing what Arsenal are doing now. Is it bad management? Bad recruitment? Once Harry Kane went... They started well, then dropped off. 

The players look a bit weak-minded to me. They're all good players, and everyone's a good player in the Premier League when it's going well, but they look weak.

Jeff Stelling: When you went to West Ham, that was a proper success - you finished fifth twice.

Neil Ruddock: The team we had! Julian Dicks, Stuart Pearce, me, Rio Ferdinand, Steve Lomas, Shaka Hislop, Trevor Sinclair, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Eyal Berkovic, Marc-Vivien Foe - God bless him - Paolo Di Canio, Jermain Defoe, Ian Wright, John Hartson, Paul Kitson, Paolo Wanchope, Freddie Kanoute, John Moncur, among others. What a squad. Fifth twice, with Harry Redknapp in charge. Amazing.

Paolo Di Canio: a glimpse of the future

Jeff Stelling: What was Paolo Di Canio like?

Neil Ruddock: Crazy. Crazier than cheese.

But he was the first proper professional I'd ever seen stay behind. When we'd all go to the pub, the bookies, the dogs or the golf on a day off, he'd be the only one staying behind - walking out with a bag of balls to take free kicks, putting his spikes on and running round the track. 

We called him an idiot, but he wasn't, was he? He was doing the right thing. His fitness, eating the right stuff, not drinking - we took him out once and got him on the Guinness, and he was sick for four days. This was 1998, not that long ago really, and it was the first time I saw the future of the professional footballer.

The modern players I like

Jeff Stelling: Are there any players in the modern game you really like?

Neil Ruddock: I like Cole Palmer, though he's lost a bit of form. Foden, too. Even though I’m a defender, I like flair players and goal scorers.

I love all the Man City players, and I love Salah. Gutted he’s going. I'm a big Van Dijk fan, even though he's dipped a bit. And I loved Luis Diaz at Liverpool - I was devastated when he left. 

But my heart's not really in it now.

Grassroots football and Ashford's nuts and bolts

Jeff Stelling: You've stayed involved at non-league level.

Neil Ruddock: A mate of mine owns Enfield, but I live in Kent, so I'm an ambassador at Ashford United - "the nuts and bolts," they're called. 

I got my own parking space, not that you need one there, you can park anywhere, it never gets that busy. The only time I went and someone had parked in my space - with all that space! But I love grassroots football. 

The referees let it go, you get proper tackles, a proper game. I much prefer it.

From the jungle to Big Brother

Jeff Stelling: You've been busy ever since - the after-dinner stuff, loads of TV, I'm a Celebrity. The year Kerry Katona won, you were the bookies' favourite, up against Johnny Lydon from the Sex Pistols, Katie Price, Alex Best, Lord Brocket. How did you not win?

Neil Ruddock: Kerry was easy to get on with, but everyone else was in some relationship or some argument - Jordan and Peter, Lord Brocket arguing with Jennie Bond - and I was just the nice guy, which isn't good TV, so they showed me sleeping all the time. 

That's my excuse, anyway. You know how telly works. Very good editing! But I was happy Kerry won - she was going through a bad time and it relaunched her career, and mine was going alright anyway. 

Big Brother was good too - Rylan won the year I did it. But the jungle, there's no cheating, Jeff. You don't get food, the cameras go off, you get a bit of pizza - it's tough. And the noises you hear in there. Wow.

No regrets

Jeff Stelling: You've had some life, mate. Any regrets?

Neil Ruddock: Someone once told me: regret all the good things you've done in your life, and regret that you should have done them more. Don't regret anything - regret the good things you've done, and do them more. Just don't drink too much.

Jeff Stelling: Brilliant. 

Neil Ruddock: Yeah!

Jeff Stelling: I've loved the company, Razor - or should I say Neil?

Neil Ruddock: You can. You'll be the fourth person allowed to.

Jeff Stelling: And that's it from this episode of the Jeff Stelling Show. Join us again next time you possibly can.