When it comes to sitting down for one of our infamous ‘One-on-One' sessions it is always best when you have an experienced player with a colourful career who is not afraid to speak their mind. This makes former AC Milan and Socceroos stopper Zeljko ‘Spider' Kalac a near perfect candidate.

Arriving at our offices in McMahons Point in good spirits, a friendly Kalac is happy to wade through your questions and never hold back on what he really thinks. We only wish we could have published some of his off-the-record comments too!

There is plenty to discuss with the outspoken Kalac in a career which spanned over two decades in Australia, Netherlands, Italy and Greece (but the latter is something he'd rather forget it seems!), plus Australia's first World Cup in 32 years.

From life as a 16-year old Sydney United keeper, to UK permit snubs, winning the Champions League, his rivalry with Schwarzer, that Croatia mistake, gambling every day and growing a beer belly...

Were any other sports a possibility for you? At 6ft 7in you could have been a basketball star surely?
Jack Allard, Port Hedland
There was never any other sport for me. I came from a footballing background and I could never run, so other sports were out of the question. I played everything when I was at school like tennis, golf, rugby league, cricket and AFL. I played the lot when I had to at school, but when it came to the weekend it was only ever football.

What was it like being thrown into NSL action with that Sydney United team as a 16 year-old when regular goalkeeper Tony Franken was injured? Did you hope he'd remain crocked?
Mike Bosch, Streaky Bay
At the time the coach Ron Corry believed in using young players at every opprounity. It was an unbelievable feeling for me to play for a club that I'd always loved at the tender age of 16. Tony had a bad injury which I think was his cruciate and he was out for around nine months. When he did recover and was ready to play football again, he never took my spot from me.

What was special about the Sydney United keeper set up in the early '90s? Producing yourself, Bozza and Tony Franken, there must have been something in the water!?
Josh Kelly, Adelaide Hills
We had an unbelievable goalkeeper coach in Ron Corry, he was the start of it all. When I was only 14 I used to train with Steve Watson and Greg Woodhouse, who were the goalkeepers at Sydney United at the time. Ron Corry then took over as head coach and Steve Watson took over as goalkeeping coach, so there was this continued flow of good goalkeeper coaches.

During the 1993/94 season you kept an NSL record 12 clean sheets in 26 games for Sydney United, but only finished third in the league. Did the strikers not match your goalkeeping skills?
Bojan Kvesic, Punchbowl
That was the year we just couldn't score - I think we played a record of eight 0-0s or something! Not that the strikers weren't good, we just couldn't put the ball in the net. It was a young team and I was always busy in goal. That was the year we beat Adelaide City in Adelaide 1-0 and I played unbelievable. We didn't cross halfway, then we grabbed a goal in the only time we did get out of our half for a 1-0 win. They hated me in Adelaide as it was one of those places I always played well. The Sydney United days were different class though and I had a lot of friends that played there.

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