[lfc-news] This is MY Dream Team - Echo

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Liverpool Echo, 22 Mar 2005
This is MY dream team
Tranmere captain Jason McAteer tells Tony Barrett why he's staging one
of the most important games of his life.

BY HIS own admission, Jason McAteer has a reputation within football for
not being the most intellectual of individuals.

The nickname "Trigger", in honour of the nice but dim Only Fools And
Horses character, has followed him throughout his career that has taken
him from Crosby to Birkenhead via high profile stop offs in Bolton,
Liverpool, Blackburn and Sunderland.

Jason freely admits it is an image he has been happy to cultivate - even
owning up to telling a chef who asked him whether he would like his
pizza cut into four or eight pieces "just cut it into four, I couldn't
possibly eat eight".

But now Jason has turned his image on its head by organising one of the
biggest tsunami benefit events held in this country.

With his mobile phone pinned permanently to his ear, Jason has called in
favour after favour putting together two teams of stars from the worlds
of football and showbiz for a charity match.

"It has been a bit of an eyeopener for me," he admits.. "When you do
something like this you find out you can do things that can even
surprise yourself.

"It has been really enjoyable being involved in the organisation of the
match because it is something that I couldn't have imagined doing before.

"But it has given me food for thought for the future because up until
now pretty much all of my life has revolved around football."

Almost every single day for the last two months Jason has finished
training with Tranmere Rovers and gone home to spend hour upon hour
going through his little black book of contacts.

And when your contacts book includes the likes of Hollywood movie stars
Colin Farrell and Clive Owen, greats from Liverpool FC's glorious past
and even Robbie Williams you have got more chance than most to put
together a decent celebrity team.

But one phone call in particular proved more daunting than most. "I went
to my mates first and Robbie (Fowler), Macca (Steve McManaman) and John
Barnes all agreed to take part straight away.

"Then I decided to give Kenny Dalglish a ring and, to be honest, I was
more nervous than I've ever been in my life.

"I grew up watching Kenny and he was my hero when I was a kid so it was
a big thing for me but he was as good as gold and said it would be a
pleasure to take part.

"But even so whenever he rings me I still see his name flash up on my
phone and I think 'Jesus, it's Kenny Dalglish!'"

But what motivated the highly paid Tran-mere Rovers captain to go all
Bob Geldof by using charity work as a means of exercising his social
conscience?

The simple answer is the feeling of profound helplessness that engulfed
everyone when the tsunami struck on Boxing Day. But instead of making a
donation to a collection, Jason decided to do something on a much
grander scale.

He says: "I was struggling to get to grips with the scale of the
disaster from what I had seen on TV and then I watched a BBC documentary
which showed what had happened and the effects on people.

"The images of the dads who had lost children and the kids wandering
past dead bodies looking for their parents really struck home and upset me.

"I have a little boy, Harry, who is four and I said to my girlfriend,
Lisa, as we were watching, 'If I wasn't contracted to play football, I
would go out there tomorrow'.

"We were talking about how much of a donation we were going to make to
the disaster fund and I thought it was too easy to just put your hand in
your pocket and then forget about it.

"I went to bed thinking about what I could really do to help. I did not
sleep that night. I realised I had to think everything through about the
idea because I could not go to my agent Dave Lockwood, the next morning
to ask for his help on the basis of a whim. And I found every question
that came into my head I had an answer for."

So far, every time Jason has posed himself a question he has come up
with the right answer. He has unquestionably managed to gauge the public
mood, as illustrated by the fact that more than 30,000 tickets have
already been sold for Sunday's benefit game at Anfield.

Celebrities are falling over themselves to get involved and Sky TV have
recognised the enormity of the occasion by deciding to screen the match
live.

The only question remaining is: is Colin Farrell really going to turn up?

"Honest to God, he is pencilled in to play," insists Jason who grew
close to the Hollywood actor while on international duty with the
Republic of Ireland in Farrell's native Dublin.

"He has even put it up on his personal website, that is how committed he
is to coming.

"But, no matter what happens, Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden from
Westlife, Keith Duffy from Boyzone and Coronation Street and Shane
Ritchie and Ralph Little will all be there."

As a boyhood Liverpool fan Jason has allowed himself one showbiz style
indulgence. He will appear on the same pitch as his Dalglish.

He says: "I have told our team manager, Roy Evans, that whatever happens
and no matter what changes he makes during the game he has to let me
play alongside Kenny.

"That will be a dream come true for me and I think he must be excited
about playing in the same team as me because whenever I've spoken to him
during the last few days he's been in the gym!"

* TICKETS for the Tsunami Soccer Aid game are currently on sale - priced
£15 for adults; £10 for over 65s and disabled concessions; £5 for under
16s - at the Liverpool FC ticket office and the Tranmere Rovers shop.

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