Martin Compston's chance to see Jose Mourinho at work on the training pitch was impeded by night out with Paolo Nutini and fellow actor Greg McHugh where Prince also turned up.
Compston, who plays DS Arnott on BBC show Line Of Duty, was part of the Rest Of The World team for the 2014 Soccer Aid match and Mourinho was the manager.
The Scot played professional football as a teenager with Greenock Morton before pursuing an acting career.
"He's so well-prepared," Compston told Si Ferry's Open Goal podcast about Mourinho.
I'd done my meniscus a couple of months before. I'd had keyhole [surgery], missed a job because I was playing in some charity thing. My agent said, 'Maybe it's time to knock it on the head'.
The Soccer Aid phone call came and I was like, 'I need to play in this'. I didn't know if I was fit, I didn't know if I could run. They said to come down a day early and it was Fulham where we trained. I came down to see the Fulham physio. I wasn't doing any rehab with it because I wasn't playing. He said to strap it up and you'll get through the week.
We go to the dinner that night and Jose's there. He says, 'You're playing on Sunday. I know all about you. You're not training this week but you're playing on Sunday'.
I started to panic. I wanted to see him on the training pitch, see what he's like. I came in the first morning. It was a Wednesday morning and he went, 'No, go, go'. So I went into the physio and I was there all day. Then I was panicking because they're out there playing and if somebody does well, he might keep me out.
On Thursday I came in and he was like, 'No, you're not training today'. I spend all day in the physio stuck next to Robbie Williams.
It gets to Thursday night and he comes in and says, 'The physio says you can train tomorrow'.
I'm in the hotel that night buzzing. My phone goes and it's Greg McHugh [friend and actor]. He's like, 'Do you want to come into Soho for a couple of pints?' I'm like, 'No. I'm training and I've got Jose in the morning'.
He says, 'Just come in for a couple of pints. I'm out with Paolo Nutini'. He's a top lad. I'm like, 'No'.
Ten minutes later my phone goes and it's Paolo. He says, 'Just come in for a couple of pints. It'll be fine. You'll be home at a decent time'.
I'm like, 'No'.
Greg goes, 'If you don't come out tonight, you'll regret it for the rest of your life'.
He knows how to push my buttons. So I went for a pint. I met those two in the Groucho.
Greg tells me to sit down and have a pint. I tell them I'm not messing about. We finish that pint and walk around the corner. We sit down and they pour us champagne. Out walks Prince. He's right there. He must have played for about five hours solid. I got back in around seven or eight in the morning.
Jose's there like, 'Do you want to train? I'm like, 'No, Jose, I'm back on the physio table'.
Compston and Mourinho's Rest Of The World side won that game 4-2 (Clarence Seedorf scored a hat-trick and Nicky Byrne got the other). The actor played 80 minutes.
🎥⚽️| After finally getting the chance to train under Mourinho, @martin_compston tells us how Gary Tank Commander’s @gregjmchugh, Paolo Nutini and Prince made an arse of it for him when the time came!
Some excuse to be fair 😂
Full Interview MONDAY @ 5PM w/ @WilliamHill pic.twitter.com/b6WWbTAXOc— Open Goal (@opengoalsport) June 7, 2019
Compston is a huge Celtic fan. On the bus to the game, Mourinho made an admission about the 2003 UEFA Cup final between Celtic and the Mourinho-managed Porto.
"On one of the bus journeys, it was me, Kevin Bridges, Jose Mourinho and wee Rui [Faria]. For four hours, they just told us story after story. It was a class.
"After a couple of Heinies, I got up the courage to chin them about it. I was going, 'You were right out of order'. He [Mourinho] was laughing. He was saying, 'That's the hardest final I've ever played in. My boys were out on their feet. We would have done anything to win that game, yous wouldn't'."
Picture credit: Shutterstock.com
