Official Arsenal Magazine - 2004

Brief Encounter: Dermot O’Leary

As host of Channel 4's Big Brother, Dermot O'Leary is the kind of guy that girls want, and boys want to be. And not only that, whenever he is off screen Essex's most famous Irishman likes nothing more than a trip to the Clock End to the watch the boys in red and white. He told Jem Maidment how he lives for the day an Arsenal old-boy will return home.

JM: BB winner Kate Lawler is a huge Arsenal fan isn't she? Have you and Kate visited Highbury together?

DO: No, it's funny realty but you don't get to see the contestants after the series ends much. Kate really loves her Arsenal, and especially Dennis Bergkamp.
She loves the bloke. You may remember her wearing a Bergkamp tee-shirt a lot of the time she was in the house. That must have got her a few votes from Gooners.

JM: So why Arsenal for you?

DO: Ipswich Town and Ireland. I'm from near Colchester and it was the ‘78 Cup Final. Ipswich are well supported in my town so I decided as a naive little boy to support the underdogs, who I thought were Arsenal. On top of that they had lots of class Irish players then and being the only Irish Catholic family in our village I had an affinity with them. So it was Arsenal from then on for me.

JM: Can you remember your first game?

DO: Well, you see when I was a kid my dad was well into Gaelic games so every weekend we'd be going to Gaelic sports matches, which I loved. So I never had the chance to go to Highbury.
It's bizarre really because I was well into my Arsenal throughout the 80’s when, and let's be honest, there wasn't a great deal to shout about. We seemed to finish seventh every year! I didn't go 'til the '90s but now I'm there whenever I can get tickets.

JM: Surely that's not a problem for a big star like yourself?

DO: Yeah, right (laughs). Actually, 02 sponsor BB and I did quite a bit of work for them and they kindly said if I ever needed Arsenal tickets they would try to help. I abused it a bit but I didn't want to take the mickey.
Still, it was very handy although I think 02 have now ended their sponsorship of BB so I'Il be stuck again! Having said that, the people who do have season tickets have been going for years and years and I don't begrudge them at all, most since they were kids. I just wish I had one!

JM: Where do you tend to sit at Highbury?

DO: Well, all over really. I sit where I can and tend to be able to use mates' season tickets when they aren't going. I reckon I must have sat in half the seats in the ground. I go in the West Upper a bit and also the Clock End, which is the best place to sit in the whole stadium. It's brilliant in there, it's a bit more raucous. This season I’ve managed to get to six or seven games so far.

JM: Any players who have stood out as personal favourites over the years?

DO: Unsurprisingly there is an Irish slant. Liam Brady is a total hero, he is THE man. He'd be in the current team without a shadow of a doubt. Some people say he wouldn't as the game was slower then but you have to put it all in context. With the current training methods and diet he'd have been a star today. Another top Gooner was David O'Leary, who I still love despite everything that has happened since he left in '93. He was a class defender who could have moved on to bigger and better things but didn't. He was loyal to us. He has been made a scapegoat for the troubles at Leeds but he did a brilliant job there. Now he is at Villa, a massive club underachieving, and he is doing a great job again.
If Wenger ever left, I'd want O'Learv back - and not Just because of his surname!

JM: I was watching Sky's coverage of the SuperBowl and saw a bloke in a suit who looked just like you analysing the game.

DO: Yes, it was me. I love American Football too. Back in the '80s when English football clubs were banned from Europe there seemed to be a lot of exposure to the NFL. I played for Colchester and Ipswich for a while and loved it. A mate at Sky got me on the analysis team and there I was sitting with a guy who has won SuperBowts. And then there's me; an ex-Colchester player! They realty knew their stuff but so do I although I admit they asked me some tough questions about the game and I was thinking to myself 'what can I say? I'm out of my depth here' Still, I got through it.

JM. Have you been to an NFL game?

DO: No, not a live one. I went to an NBA match though and sport over there is a real event. The main difference between football here and US Sports is that people follow players rather than teams. When a player moves on they switch club allegiances! Bizarre! Not much sentiment there. In England we support teams for a reason, like locality or the support has been passed down through the generations, from father to son. Still, we could certainly take a leaf out of their book on some things. They've got a much fairer system of spreading good players around all the clubs so they all have a chance to win things. The least successful sides get the first pick on the next season's roster. Also, there is a wage cap, something I think would work well over here. There's no monopoly there. I love Arsenal but the Man U-Arsenal monopoly isn't always a good thing. It'd be nice to see other clubs challenging us.

JM: Speaking of Sky, watching AM the other day I was thinking you'd be a good replacement for Tim Lovejoy, if he left.

DO: I think he'd have something to say about that (laughs). I love Soccer AM and Tim is very talented, it’s very much his baby that show. Yeah, I would love to do something like that, I'm a genuine fan who loves football and Arsenal and I hope that would come across, as it does Tim. But I'd want to do it on my own terms, a similar show like that.

JM: Big Brother is back in May looking forward to it? And any gossip for us?

DO. Can't wait for it, but as far as gossip goes, I haven't got a clue mate, They keep me in the dark so I don't blab any secrets (laughs) . I do think it will be spiced up though because it needs it, something the producers are aware of. At times last series it laboured a bit but was still great telly. But as to new changes you’ll know the same time I know!

Article taken from The Official Arsenal magazine, volume 2, issue 7