English FA Cup / Wolverhampton v Manchester United: Stuart James talks to Mark Kennedy whose career has taken a turn for the better under Glenn Hoddle
It is easy to be wary of a player who lavishes praise on his manager when there is a new contract still to be discussed, though Mark Kennedy's account of his own failings deserve more than a suspicious mind.
Almost 11 years have passed since the Wolves midfielder became British football's most expensive teenager, long enough to change not only his status in the game but also his approach to life. Indeed Kennedy's metamorphosis is such that it is difficult to reconcile the young Irish tearaway who threatened to self-destruct with the mature 29-year-old who last weekend felt compelled to tell a callow Millwall opponent not to let his ability go to waste.
Kennedy recalls how Arsenal's Ian Wright offered similar advice in 1995 after he had illuminated an FA Cup tie during his time at Millwall and it is the same competition that affords the former Liverpool winger an opportunity to show his talent tomorrow when Manchester United visit Molineux.
Promotion remains the priority for Wolves, though taking on Alex Ferguson's side hardly qualifies as a distraction. "We want to give the fans a decent occasion," says Kennedy. "But it's certainly not a day out and a jolly-up for us. We want to win the game."
Wolves managed to do that two years ago when Kenny Miller scored the only goal in a great Premiership victory over United. There is a feeling the same outcome tomorrow could be the catalyst for promotion, as it was when Newcastle were defeated in the third round of the FA Cup in 2003.
"We have got to get our act together," says Kennedy. "We've really got to pick up points now and, if this FA Cup run can help us out, so be it. We went on a hell of a run after that Newcastle result."
It is something that Wolves, eighth in the Championship, have failed to do this season. Kennedy puts the inconsistency down to profligacy in front of goal and an inability to grind out results.
"We beat Luton 2-1 a couple of weeks ago," he says. "The manager commented on how pleased he was because it was quite an ugly performance. If we are guilty of anything, we don't win enough of those games."
Winning ugly is hardly a Glenn Hoddle trait. Then again, neither is man management if you believe several of his former players. But Kennedy paints a different picture. "When he's pulling people out of the team you don't just come out and realise you've got a bib and you're not playing. He'll call you in and have a chat with you. And I don't think he bullshits you and tells you you're not in the team because he wants to try another formation. He'll give you the answer straight."
An altercation last season illustrates the point. "I had a big argument with the manager in training," says Kennedy. "I came in the following day, had a chat, shook hands and he's been absolutely fantastic with me ever since. At the time I was out of the team because of injury but I was back in as captain on the Saturday. He could have easily turned his nose up and said 'that's the end of him', but he was very dignified over quite a heated row."
Under Hoddle preparation for matches is meticulous. Players are called in on days off to pore over videos. Double sessions, starting at 3pm, have also been introduced. "I have to give the manager a lot of credit for the attitude I have at the moment," says Kennedy. "I've never been more serious about my football."
A change of position has aided Kennedy. At previous clubs - Millwall, Liverpool, Wimbledon and Manchester City - he was seen predominantly as a left-winger. But much of his time at Molineux has been in central midfield. "It's a funny one, because I'm on a free at the end of the season and I quite worry everyone thinks I'm a tricky winger," he says. Not that he is concerned about Wolves' failure to begin talks. "I'm excited by the thought of not knowing what's ahead of me."
His £1.5 million move to Liverpool in 1995 brought similar excitement, though after three years Kennedy left Anfield having started only five Premiership matches. "I wish that back then I had the head I've got on my shoulders now," he admits. "When I was young I didn't care what anyone thought. I didn't care about going to my local and having a drink when you shouldn't really because it's full of Liverpool fans and that's not what they want to see. I just looked at myself as being a normal boy, 18 from Dublin, who wasn't a big-time Charlie but an everyday bloke."
That attitude changed irrevocably when the former Republic of Ireland international was charged with a second drink-driving offence shortly after joining Wolves in 2001.
"When I came home from the police station it was the worst day of my life and I felt like jacking everything in," he says. "Drink-driving is a horrible, nasty thing to happen to anybody and I've only got myself to blame for that. It is something that I'm quite ashamed of but the reason I say I don't regret it is because I believe it's changed me as a person and made me a half-decent fellow today."
Hoddle, who made Kennedy captain during Paul Ince's long injury absence, evidently agrees. It is a responsibility he has embraced. "I was talking recently to one of our young lads," says Kennedy. "He's got all the ability in the world. I said: 'You have to ask yourself, why are you not in the team?' I don't have the answer but you need to find it. That's certainly something I've done in the last few years about myself. That's why I'm doing okay now."
Sunday, 4.0 (Sky Sports 1)
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