Newcastle: The view from the opposition

Are you looking forward to the game?

It's always nice to go back to Liverpool - I've got some great memories there. But 'looking forward' might not be the right answer, bearing in mind that we haven't been in the best of form, but I'm looking forward to the occasion and hopefully I'll see some of my old pals that I played against. It's going to be a tough one for Newcastle United, I believe.

Who are you looking forward to renewing acquaintances with?

Well there's Kenny Dalglish, there's Ian Rush, there's Alan Kennedy, people like that who were sort of my era, I'll hopefully bump into them and have a catch-up.

There's a tradition of great games between Liverpool and Newcastle, do you see Monday's match as likely to continue that?

I'm not the greatest at predicting games; I'm often asked 'what do you think the score will be?' and I'm not even sure what the result will be. Hopefully there'll be goals because we all like to see goals.

Newcastle haven't been in the best form, and are in a tricky position needing a few wins to be safe from relegation, will this spur your team on?

Technically they're not safe yet and somewhere along the line we need a couple of good results. It would be great to get one at Liverpool - that would be a real achievement. If we got a win there, that would feel a bit like six points, to be honest, but it will be a difficult game bearing in mind that John Carver has had to deal with a massive amount of injuries and the team picks itself.

People outside Newcastle may not know much about Magpies boss John Carver, what's he like as a manager and what will his approach be?

He is very much a football man, and he has been a football man for a long, long time. He's had loads of experience at different clubs under different managers; in particular, he worked under Sir Bobby Robson, who he absolutely adored. So John's got a lot of experience on the management side, certainly as an assistant manager. I think he's been taught by the best. Not only is John a good coach, he's also a supporter and that certainly comes through when you see him interviewed on television, he's very passionate about the football club, he's been a supporter all his life, although he's finding it difficult at the minute because he's not getting the results he would like and obviously that the fans would like. So it's a difficult time for John, but he's been unfortunate in that he's not been able to change the team around because he's had so many injuries.

Which Newcastle players should LFC fans look out for?

Young Ayoze Perez is an up-and-coming lad but he's been thrown in at the deep end because we've got no [Papiss] Cisse, in fact we haven't really got a recognised frontman so that's the sort of problems we're having. Even in the back four who played against Sunderland there was only one recognised player that was playing centre-half and that was Mike Williamson, the other three weren't. [Daryl] Janmaat, who's a right-back, was playing centre-half, you had Jack Colback, a midfielder, playing left-back, and Ryan Taylor who was a midfield player at right-back. So that's the sort of state we're in at the minute - it's not about what team John's going to pick, it's who's available.

And who on the Liverpool side are you worried might hurt Newcastle?

I'm loathe to talk about individuals because it invariably comes back to bite you. From a Newcastle perspective every man has to do his job on his own particular opponent, there's so many class players at Liverpool that trying to pick one out is very difficult.

You do have a connection with Liverpool, as you played in the 1974 cup final against the Reds. As Liverpool ran out 3-0 winners, is it a bit bittersweet going to Anfield?

Thank you for reminding me of that! That was the last game I ever played for Newcastle, funnily enough, after 14 years so it was bittersweet if you like. We were under pressure in the first half, quite frankly when we came off at half-time 0-0, I was thinking to myself 'we might go on to win this'. That was the feeling in the first half because we were second best, but you think sometimes if you defend and keep a clean sheet you can win. But, of course, they beat us second half and we were well and truly beaten.

Finally, Bobby, what are you up to at the moment?

I'm involved at the club here working on the corporate side, and I do some work on the ambassadorial side. I go to quite a lot of away matches, and I thoroughly enjoy it. As I say, I meet some of my old pals and I think I've got the best job at the club.