sport news DANNY MURPHY talks to Adam Forshaw: The secrets of Leeds' AMERICAN REVOLUTION ... trends now
Some moments make you feel old. Sitting down with Leeds midfielder Adam Forshaw, he revealed that, as a lifelong Liverpool fan, he used to go to Anfield as a kid and see me play.
'I was also at the team hotel before the 2001 FA Cup final against Arsenal,' he says. 'You were standing at your balcony and I shouted up 'Murphy!'. My dad gave me a look and said 'His name is Danny.' I was nine and obsessed with that team, Michael Owen, Sami Hyypia, you, Stevie [Gerrard] and Jamie Carragher.'
He laughed when I provided some extra information to bring the story full circle. When I was on that balcony, my room-mate was Steven Gerrard, the opposition manager Sunday when Aston Villa visit Elland Road.
Like me, Forshaw gained experience in the lower leagues before establishing himself in the top flight. He started at Everton close to home but left to play first-team football and build a reputation at Brentford, Wigan and Middlesbrough, where he first played in the Premier League.
Former Liverpool player Danny Murphy met Leeds midfielder and Reds fan Adam Forshaw
Forshaw worked his way through the leagues before finding top-flight success with Leeds
At the start of 2018, he moved to Leeds. It was not an auspicious start — their manager Thomas Christiansen was sacked two matches after he arrived — but the club have since been revolutionised, first by Marcelo Bielsa and then Jesse Marsch.
In the final weeks of last season's great escape from relegation, Forshaw played a key part with his leadership and tenacity in the middle of the park, though an ankle injury rules him out on Sunday.
'I was going stale at Middlesbrough. Neil Warnock wanted me at Cardiff but once Leeds came in, I looked at the potential and had to do it even though they were in the Championship,' he says.
'Bielsa was the first big change. There was nothing softly softly about him. Straight away, the rules, standards and environment became elite. We had the respect to run for him. A one-kilometre track was installed around the pitches. The culture changed from 'go to the gym if you like' to two or three sessions a day. It was a shock but I loved it. We needed it to become a Premier League team.'
Jesse Marsch has introduced an American revolution to Leeds instigated by Marcelo Bielsa
Bielsa is still revered by Leeds fans for winning promotion but, on a practical level, the club needed a reboot in the middle of last season to stop leaking goals and survive.
Marsch arrived with an ethos established by managing Red Bull clubs in New York, Salzburg and Leipzig. Even so, there were sceptics who doubted an American could adapt to English football.
Having stayed up on the final day, Leeds have sold Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips and brought in young signings including US internationals Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams and Colombian Luis Sinisterra.
'It was hard for Jesse to transition us in the middle of a dogfight. Six weeks of pre-season was the biggest period to get us restructured but we still run a lot, that is in the lads' DNA,' says Forshaw.
Forshaw hailed the 'personable' nature of Marsch, but knew the manager could be tough too
'As a character, he is very personable. You walk past his office, the door is literally open. There are bits of different terminology, full-backs are outside-backs and you hear him mention red zones [between the
