Tarkowski interview in the Sunday Times

[NZ_Claret]

Pasted below, and here is a pdf - https://docdro.id/aSg55Ae


Mother’s illness puts football in proper perspective for Burnley defender at Anfield today, as Jonathan Northcroft discovers

The Tarkowskis sound a very close family and Wednesday was significant. James invited John and Janice, his parents, over to see his first England cap. It was earned against Italy last March but only arrived from the Football Association recently and he didn’t open the package until Tuesday. “It’s a navy velvet with a silver string, with the match on it and your name attached by a little tag,” he says with pride.

He’ll get it framed to hang up at home. His second cap, due for appearing against Switzerland last September — that one’s going to mum. She “has a little collection of all sorts — photos of when I was a kid playing, old programmes and stuff”, and that trove is particularly precious. Janice suffers from multiple sclerosis and moving back to north Manchester was a big reason James pushed to leave Brentford and sign for Burnley in 2016. “It’s part and parcel of our life now, being around and helping mum out,” he says. “She’s found it easier with me being at home and having that closer relationship where we can see each other a bit more.”

The devotion to her is clear. They’re football daft, the Tarkowskis, and had two Manchester United season tickets when he was younger which were shared around: one week his sister Joanne would go to Old Trafford with dad, the next he would go with mum.

Now his career is central to family life. Burnley are incredible, he says, at ensuring Janice is looked after at Turf Moor. She can walk short distances but uses a wheelchair for the getting about required on matchdays, and other Premier League clubs “have been brilliant, accommodating her in terms of somewhere to sit and getting her parking within a reasonable distance. It’s great knowing my family can come to watch me, knowing how much they love games, home and away. They normally come to a hotel on a Friday to make a weekend of it.”

His mum’s illness — and the way both her and dad cope — help him keep in perspective his own professional pressures. “Football’s my job and while it matters I find it easier these days to separate it from my actual life. Bad day at the office? It is what it is. I’ll think about it, why things didn’t go right and how things could go better, but it won’t ruin the rest of my day or night, because there are more important things.”

Keeping all in proportion is hard for any young player at first. Tarkowski admits social media was a big issue for him when he started gaining profile at Oldham. In the first team at 18, he was quickly celebrated for being more of a ball-player than most League One centre-halves, fans dubbing him “New Moston Beckenbauer” — New Moston being the suburb where the Tarkowskis lived.

“I used to get carried away with myself, dribbling from my box to their box,” he recalls. “I had a bit of a mixed time and I was young and naive — I’d be on Twitter and see somebody slagging me off and take it really personally.

“It’s a real challenge for any young footballer. I see them responding [to tweets] and think, ‘Why?’ Not everybody’s going to like you as a person and player. You have to laugh it off. But back then, if I had a bad game and a couple of tweets came in I’d really beat myself up.”

Yet in other aspects he had the opposite problem — not taking things seriously enough. He didn’t leave home until 21 and portrays himself in a comfort zone: still loving life under mum and dad’s roof, training ground 10 minutes up the road, spending the £200 a week he earned from Oldham socialising with all his best mates.

“Soft,” he says. Not physically, but in other ways. “I was big and could move people out of the way but looking back I was mentally weak. At 15, 16 I started going for runs on my own but I’d run for 20 minutes and wouldn’t push myself hard. The first pre-season at Oldham, I turned up and was one of the least fit there. That was my big shock. I’d relied on my ability on the ball, but you need more than a nice pass and nice touch to be a good footballer.”

He credits former Oldham manager Tony Philliskirk, now with Burnley, for shaking him from his bubble. Sean Dyche is the other big influence, perhaps reaffirming principles he learnt at North West Counties League side Maine Road, whom he joined at 15 after being released by Blackburn.

“At Blackburn’s academy I was taught to play, play, play. Maine Road was about being a man — you could be up against 6ft 5in meatheads and if you had to head it or kick it away that’s what you did.

“At Oldham, there are some good players at that level but different styles and at times I was told to just put it in the channels. I went to Brentford and they were total football. Then I came here and it was back to the old style.

“The gaffer knew I could play, but wanted to bring out that ‘real’ side of me, to get me to enjoy blocks and tackles. He’s always in my ear in training about being in the right position, not turning my back, getting in the way of the ball. So I like the journey, the fact I can play but also be an out-and-out defender.”

The amalgam impresses Gareth Southgate, who named Tarkowski on his World Cup standby list. He withdrew to have a hernia operation and also pulled out of the last two squads with injuries. At 26, his ambition is “to establish myself in the England squad. A big goal of mine is to be a consistent pick and I know that’s not easy.”

Despite his United past he doesn’t care about thwarting Liverpool’s title hopes. “My only thought is Burnley. We need the points just as much as Liverpool so I’m sure it will be a very, very tough game,” he says. Facing Mo Salah? “His finishing has been sublime. People are questioning him because he’s not scored in three games or something but that’s so ridiculous.”

In January, stories appeared about Liverpool wanting Tarkowski but Burnley pricing him at £50m. Dyche rubbished these and Tarkowski laughs: “It was a very quiet window and it’s the papers’ job to get some gossip going. I’m sure if there was any real interest the gaffer would have been honest and told me. There was no contact with me directly.”

In training, Burnley teammates took to shouting “50 million!” every time he made a pass. Not that he needed feet kept on the ground. This friendly, engaging giant of a lad needs no lessons in perspective.

[dermotdermot]

MIGHTY TARKOWSKI!

[Bordeauxclaret]

Anyone not given an interview this week?

[Zom Zom]

Nice read. Thanks NZ_C.

[ClaretTony]

The move to Burnley, or the move back to the NW, was all about his mum which says a lot about him. The one thing that comes through loud and clear with these interviews is something we all already knew, how grounded our players are.

[MACCA]

Anyone not given an interview this week?

When you're about to play 1 of the title challengers anyone and everyone wants an interview.