Exclusive: Tranmere's Neil Danns on returning to Merseyside, Sven Goran Eriksson and witnessing Bury's demise

When Neil Danns steps out for Tranmere Rovers in their FA Cup third-round replay against Watford tonight, he will see a familiar figure, standing, arms folded, in the opposition technical area. Danns played for Nigel Pearson at Leicester six years ago. And is delighted by the opportunity to take him on again, after his man-of-the-match performance fuelled Tranmere’s remarkable comeback from three goals down in the first game at Vicarage Road last weekend.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Nigel, he’s a good man,” Danns says at the club’s training ground in Wallasey on the Wirral. “If there’s anyone who can turn a club round, it’s him. I wish him all the luck in the world with Watford. Apart from Tuesday, obviously.”

Finding himself up against a former manager is not an unusual thing for Danns. Across a two-decade-long career, the 37-year-old central midfielder has played for all sorts of coaches, including Graeme Souness, Neil Lennon, Neil Warnock and Sven Goran Eriksson.

“Let’s just say Sven wasn’t exactly hands-on when it came to training,” he smiles. “He just stood back from the sidelines and let you get on with it. You go from him to Lennon or Souness, who let you know in no uncertain terms when you’re not doing exactly what they want.” Though there is no point asking him who was the best coach he played for.

“I couldn’t choose,” he says. “You learn from all of them. Actually, you learn from everything. I go and watch my lad play at the Liverpool academy two, three times a week. I’m watching the under-14s there and I’m looking to see what I can learn. My son has way more ability than me. So, I watch him and think: I’ve got to work on my weaker foot.”

From the time he was selected for the Football Association school at Lilleshall alongside Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe, in the cohort that was meant to be the future of English football, Danns has been forever on the lookout for things that might help him improve his game. That is why he reckons he is still tearing around in the most demanding position on the pitch at an age most of his contemporaries have long since retired to the pundits’ sofa.

“Robbie Fowler’s lad plays with my lad and he said to me the other day, ‘keep playing’. I’ve had opportunities to go into coaching. But the way I see it, once it’s done, there’s no going back. Just keep playing. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

Though he admits things have changed in his approach. Not least in the number of yellow cards he picks up. Fans of Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers and Leicester City who used to laud one of the most ferocious midfield terriers as he regularly squared up to opponents, will barely recognise the conciliatory figure he cuts these days.

“I was always arguing with refs, always had something to say,” he admits. “When I was young, if there was a 50-50 tackle, I was like, there’s no way he’s doing me here. Whereas now, I go into it thinking: ‘I hope we’re both safe.’ That’s age. You do change. I’m coming to that point where just being involved is a privilege.”

His newly reflective approach is in part, he reckons, a consequence of how he now spends his time off the pitch. He comes from a family steeped in the entertainment business (his father, a former European skateboard champion, was a dancer on several British Eurovision entries, while his uncle played professionally in bands in West End theatres) and he has taught himself to play the guitar and the piano and enrolled on a music production course in Manchester.

“These last few years I’ve been producing, engineering, writing songs. One thing I’ve come to learn is you need something to escape football. Otherwise you get too consumed in it. Lose a game on Saturday and I used to think about it till next Saturday. It was too much. I had a sort of OCD, if I didn’t do an extra 20 minutes with a football after training, in my head I was beating myself up. When I do my music it completely goes. It makes me a better player because it’s recharge time. You can overthink. The game is simple.”

A thoughtful character, he was glad of such escape last season, when, as captain of Bury, he was embroiled in the club’s demise, finding himself going unpaid for five months.

“I was all right, because I’m lucky enough to have been in the game long enough to be financially secure. But some of the lads were really struggling, living right on the line. As were the staff; the kit guy not being paid: it was a scandal.”

He was there in September outside Gigg Lane, sharing the grief of the supporters the night the club were dispatched into oblivion.

“That really made me realise what football means to people. There were good people there, weeping. I came to appreciate how lucky I was to be able to play the game.”

After scoring all of Guyana’s three goals in the Gold Cup last summer, he had a number of offers on the table once it became clear there was no job at Bury. But it was the chance to go back to his native Merseyside with Tranmere that was to prove irresistible. And every game he has played for Mickey Mellon’s League One side he has embraced with rare enthusiasm. Even a replay against the Premier League’s form team holds nothing in the way of trepidation.

“I count myself as lucky enough to have played against Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho. I’ve played against Cristiano Ronaldo. I never see it as a challenge. It’s a game. As long as you’ve got the confidence in your own ability, just go out and give it a go. It’s an opportunity you relish. Especially at my age.”