Five minutes with... Darren Anderton

Darren Anderton, 50, joined us from Portsmouth in 1992 and went on to hold our appearance record in the Premier League - 299 - until Hugo Lloris became the first player to reach the 300 mark at the start of last season.

Now living in the USA, Darren made 358 appearances for us in all competitions between 1992-2004. He went on to play for Birmingham City, Wolves and ended his career, aged 36, at AFC Bournemouth. He earned 30 England caps and was part of the squad that reached the semi-finals of Euro 96.

Darren is back in the UK and a delighted spectator as we beat Southampton 4-1 in our Premier League opener on Saturday...

How are you today?

Darren: “I’m good, funnily enough, I’m sat here in Southampton, visiting my family, bumping into people down here who aren’t too happy about the result on Saturday!”

Tell us about life Stateside...

Darren: “It’s great. The weather is like it is here at the moment all the time out there, 70-75 degrees, hotter in the summer. We live two hours south of San Francisco, by Monterey and Pebble Beach, a beautiful part of the world. My wife is from there, our baby Jack is now 15 months old, so life is good, yes.”

What was it like to be back ‘home’ in N17 on Saturday?

Darren: “It was lovely to be back, seeing plenty of old faces, as always. It’s always nice being around the place and you get those tingles when you’re driving in and you get close to the stadium. It was such a great day, getting little Jack his first Spurs kit, and the performance was great. This could be a special season. No-one wants to get carried away, but this looks like an amazing opportunity.”

You watched this team live for the first time - what did you think?

Darren: “It’s a winning team. The way Antonio Conte plays his football is about being reliable, sometimes we won’t play like we did against Southampton, and we’ll have to battle and be difficult to beat and I just feel that’s what he’s all about. It’s a long, hard season and you have to have a squad of players to deal with that, not just that starting XI. The signings are so good, yet none of them started! If you want to compete in Premier League, Champions League and all competitions, it’s about the squad, not just 11 players.”

If you could play with one Spurs player from any era, who would it be?

Darren: “Wow, that’s tough. I’d say Glenn Hoddle. I played with him in training enough to see exactly what he was all about. That would have been nice.”

If you could play in any Spurs match in any era, what would it be?

Darren: “That’s another tough one. I’d probably go for the Ricky Villa FA Cup Final replay, 1981, playing with those lads. I’ve met them all now and what great lads they are. I would have loved to have been part of that.”

What do Spurs mean to you?

Darren: “As I said at the weekend, it’s home. It’s where I spent my ‘adult’ life, as such and the majority of my football career. I’ll never forget how special that was, and the way people are with me, as well.”

What are you up to for the rest of the day?

Darren: “We’re just taking little Jack to the park… when he has a nap later, we might have one too!”

We spoke to Darren on Monday...

Follow him @DarrenAnderton on Twitter...