A BELLEEK GAA lover man had to put some soccer legends in their place last week.
Martin Freeburn was appearing on Gary Neville’s hugely popular soccer podcast, Stick To Football, which features Neville, Keane, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher when things got a little lively.
Mr Freeburn was on the show after winning the previous week’s Super 7 competition by predicting the right score between Salford and Wrexham of 3-1.
In the episode, which has had 1.4 million views on YouTube so far, Mr Freeburn was introduced as “Martin from Belfast”, and he soon corrected them.
“Guys if you don’t mind, I’m not from Belfast. The secrets out – I’m actually from Belleek in County Fermanagh,” he told them.
“Where’s that?” Neville asked. “It’s in the west. Roy might know?” Mr Freeburn replied while looking at Keane. “I have an idea,” Keane said.
Speaking to the Herald, Mr Freeburn made it clear he had nothing against Belfast or Belfast people but felt he had to put the record straight.
“You can take the man out of Fermanagh but you can’t take Fermanagh out of the man!” he joked.
“But it was a super day, very surreal. I’m an Arsenal supporter so to meet Ian Wright was exciting. He’s such a warm character.
“Meeting Roy Keane was great too, considering who he is.
“They were all very friendly. They all genuinely get on very well – there’s nothing staged. Keane and Wright bounce off each other. They’re really good friends.”
Mr Freeburn, who works as the Northern Ireland Quality Manager for Guinness, spent the day at the studios in Manchester with his brother Liam who joined him on the trip. The show paid for their flights and hotel.
“We were there from 10.30am to 3.30pm,” Mr Freeburn said.
“You’d be lucky to meet one of your idols, but to meet four or five is surreal. Meeting people that you’d admired through the years was fantastic. Their knowledge of soccer is encyclopedic.”
During the show, he joined Keane and Wright’s team as they predicted Premier League scores for the following weekend’s matches.
When the Belleek man predicted 3-1 to Liverpool against Nottingham Forest, Manchester United legend Keane told him: “Don’t get too carried away with yourself!”
After they had made their predictions he asked the panelists a question.
“Outside of soccer, who would be an ideal guest [on the show]?” he asked.
Carragher went for Rod Stewart as he’d be “half cut” if he came on it.
Keane went for Bob Dylan, but Mr Freeburn then changed the question slightly for him saying: “What Irish person?” “Daniel Day-Lewis,” Keane replied.
Neville then plumped for Barack Obama, while Wright chose comedian Ricky Gervais and Scott picked Ronan Keating.
At the end of the segment, Carragher couldn’t resist teasing: “Safe trip back to Belfast!”
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