Ben Herd / Ben Herd / 19 November 2008 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Shrewsbury's ever-present right-back on a life of excesses lived by Maradona, why he or his partner aren't likely to appear on "I'm a Celebrity" and why Luke Daniels is the new Joe Hart.

This week has seen the owner of the Hand of God, Diego Maradona, arrive in Scotland - a country where he is as much of a national hero as back home. Arguably the best player in the history of the game, he has lived a lifestyle, let's just say, to excesses.

My earliest memories as a kid growing up was World Cup '94 in the US; a tournament put into the shadows by a number of incidents, not least the expulsion of Maradona for drug-taking. It just shows you can take the boy out the slum, but you can't take the slum out of the boy.

This was in days when clubs didn't have player liaison officers, and club officials to whimper to your every need. These days, even at good old Shrewsbury Town you have to be the consummate professional, you cannot get away with things like poor diet and alcohol intake, not to mention drug-taking.

Everything these days is screened by the club i.e. fat tests once a month. Believe me, there aren't many players that could've got away with how Maradona lived his footballing life. Diego was simply blessed with unbelievable talent, which masked his dodgy lifestyle off the pitch. I think culturally, things have changed since Maradona's era. Up and down the leagues, everything is unrecognisable in terms of professionalism and media interest since the days when Maradona strutted around the pitch and made everyone else around him look useless in comparison to his genius.

It must be strange for some of the Argentinean players to have such an idol as their manager. This got me thinking, which current player would I want to be my manager in the future? Someone like a Roy Keane always had the ability to inspire me as a kid playing, and I'm sure he would have the same impact as a manager.

In many ways, but on a slightly lesser scale than Maradona, Nigel Gibbs had the same effect on me. He probably didn't know it but, as a lad growing up, I always looked up to Gibbo, probably because he was from the same town as me, and also a right-back.

So it was quite ironic when he became reserve team manager at Watford after he retired. That's why I believe that when I play, I suppose I have a responsibility to try and inspire kids, just like Gibbo did for me when I was a youngster.

Talking of people that I look up to (or not!), I see 'I'm a Celebrity' is back on the box. It's funny how a bunch of so called "celebrities" sitting in a jungle for a couple of weeks makes compulsive viewing. To be honest, I'm only watching it for Martina and also to see if the couple of WAGs drop their fellas in it! Obviously, it's only been on a few days, but the ginger lad Joe Swash looks like he's got a bit of banter about him, so it might pay to back him to win at [2.9] on Betfair.

Getting back to the WAGs, there's no chance that I would ever let my missus on to a programme like that as she would be an absolute banker to let slip on one of her pet names for me! These girls must be fame-hungry, because they obviously don't need the money. It would probably take all the tea in China to get me on a programme like that or Big Brother. I just think that a) I'm not that interesting and b) there doesn't seem to be much privacy these days.

Talking of people who are literally dropping things in it, that brings me on to Gomes at Tottenham. From a defender talking here and not as a Spurs fan, it must be un-nerving to be playing in front of such a calamitous keeper. The best keeper that played behind me is a local legend, Joe Hart. It wasn't just his shot stopping skills that made him a good keeper to play in front of, it was his presence at coming for crosses and his communicational skills that set him apart - it 's no surprise to me that he's gone on to play for England.

Shrewsbury's no. 1 this season has been Luke Daniels, on loan from West Brom. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of him before he arrived, but he's probably contributed a few points to our tally this season with some sublime saves. In my opinion, he's very close to where Joe was in terms of ability when he was here and could go a very long way in the game.

Just as you need to have confidence in people behind you, as a full-back, you need to have confidence in your winger playing in front of you.

Willy Sagnol and Frank Ribery are one of the most fearsome right-sided combinations in European football at Bayern Munich. Which is good news for former Spurs legend Jurgen Klinsmann who seems to have turned the tide in Bavaria after a very shaky start to the season.

Munich take on Cottbus this weekend in the Bundesliga. There's no real value in the Match Odds for me, so I'm suggesting getting involved with the home side starting at
2.0&-2.5 in the Asian Handicap at odds of something like [2.10].