Former goalkeeper Lionel Perez reminisces about Cambridge United career after being inducted into club’s Hall of Fame
With his curling locks and a flamboyant, some might say mercurial style, Lionel Perez became a cult hero at the Abbey Stadium.
Once greeted with a banner reading ‘God with a Perm’ by supporters, it summed up the feelings of fans to the Frenchman during a 104-game career at Cambridge United.
In the cast of goalkeepers of old, he was an extrovert who thrilled, and had the occasional ability to infuriate.
While the ‘perm’ may be no more, the charisma is still just the same.
Perez made the 740-mile trip from his home in the south of France to return to his old stomping ground to be inducted into the U’s Hall of Fame last month.
His last appearance at the Abbey for the U’s was back in 2002, when they were relegated to the old Division Three, and it is from that match the citation for his induction was taken.
For those that are too young to have seen the shot-stopper in Amber and Black, it is worth revisiting that moment.
“It’s the last home game of 2001/02 and United, already relegated to Division Three, are awarded a late penalty,” reads the citation. “Throughout the season supporters have been calling for their hero, goalkeeper Lionel Perez, to be allowed to take a spot kick.
“Given the nod, he strides purposefully forward and blasts the ball straight down the middle. In stopping the thunderbolt, Tranmere keeper Joe Murphy is winded, injures an ankle, and is stretchered off.
“The miss didn’t matter. This was Lionel’s swansong; his chance to say au revoir in fittingly flamboyant style to his fanatical admirers on the terraces.”
With Perez one of 13 new inductees to the Hall of Fame, it was a fitting time for former players and fans to say bonjour once more.
Daughter Cassandra, who was born in Newcastle, accompanied him for the trip, and would have been left in no doubt of the regard in which her father is held in the city.
It is, though, an affection which is reciprocal.
“I lived in another country which I never thought I was going to do when I was a young boy, and for me it opened my mind and changed my way to see the world and to be a man,” says Perez, now 54.
“I am a part of England, it is in my blood and I know I’ve got this luggage on me which is a light luggage and it’s a pleasure to have. I am the best ambassador of England.
“In Cambridge I was at the top of my life. For family life, for wellbeing and Cambridge United – it was the perfect moment to live exactly the dream life.
“I was living in a city that was amazing. The family was good. The kids were round the corner at the school.
“I cry for these clubs – for Cambridge and Sunderland. They are very special.
“In Cambridge it was at the end of my career. For me, it was a home – I felt at home when I was there. I belonged here, and not France anymore.
“The stars were lining the way here, it was the best time of my life. It’s still good now, I enjoy my life but at that point it was amazing.”
Perez started his career at Nimes before spending three years at Bordeaux alongside France World Cup stars Zinedine Zidane, Christophe Dugarry and Bixente Lizarazu.
It was in 1996 that, aged 29, he moved to the Premier League with Sunderland, where he would make 75 appearances in a two-year period.
The Premier League brand was on the rise, but Perez was still able to lead a ‘normal’ life, although this was slightly more difficult at times during a 21-month spell at Newcastle.
“It was fantastic because everybody would recognise you in the town and you have enough for your ego,” he says.
“I’m not David Beckham so I could go for a walk, go in the pub, go in the discotheque, go in the restaurants, go on holiday in England.
“Everything was just perfect because the people knew you but they would leave you in peace.
“You can go in the pub after a game in the Premier League, and everybody was there, of course, but sometimes I went outside with Alan Shearer or David Ginola, it was different.
“It wasn’t the same night, if you see what I mean, because it was the step above. For me, I was just recognised but not at an unbelievable level in sport.”
After his time at United, Perez went on to have spells at Enfield, Chelmsford City and Stevenage Borough, where he would also become the goalkeeping coach until 2006.
Perez moved back to France and coached two clubs, but now works on ‘civvy’ street, so to speak, in his home town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze.
“Now I am working because I need to work to pay my bills. But I’m very happy with that,” he says.
“I come from a worker background, it doesn’t bother me to wake up in the morning and to forget what I did 10 years ago.
“It was a champagne life, but it’s alright, I like lager as well. It can be a beer life, I like it as well.”
He works in a factory in his birthplace but, having played at one of the highest levels in football, admits there was an incident that stands out at the beginning when going back to work.
“One day I nearly fought one man,” Perez explains. “I arrived in the changing room at work, and it was my second day.
“You know like a new club and everything, where people take the mickey because they say you are a morning man and you are there.
“He watched me and said, ‘Are you Lionel Perez?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I’m Lionel Perez’. He said, ‘What are you doing here?’.
“Then I stopped. I said, ‘Listen to me, you know what? I lived in a different country, I went to the best hotels in Europe, even you wouldn’t dream about it, I’ve met some women you would never imagine.
“You know what, I’m working now because I spent all my money and I need to pay the bills and raise my kids. Is there something wrong with that?’.
“That man just sat down. I never had one word after that.”
Perez does not linger on the past, he is happy to move on with the memories.
But you could tell it clearly meant a lot when former U’s striker Dave Kitson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same night as Perez, talked glowingly of how on arriving at the Abbey, the goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach Ali Uzunhasanoglu helped him settle.
“Sometimes I’m very happy, when I see Dave Kitson and what he said about when we were training together, as well as Paul Wanless,” he explains.
“He said I was inspirational. Sometimes you need just a little bit of stuff to make you happy. I’m just happy to remember that sometimes some people remember you.
“It’s not only that, I’m feeling really quite proud about what they said because I play high, I play down but I leave the same picture of someone who is fighting for his brother and I love that.”
When you reminisce, it is difficult not to do so without asking about particular moments or games.
That penalty kick at the Abbey will forever be etched in the memories of United fans, and while Perez initially suggests that just his time at Sunderland and the U’s were the highlights of his footballing life, on being pushed, he does offer another suggestion.
It was in the First Division play-off semi-final, second leg for Sunderland against Sheffield United at the Stadium of Light in 1998. They trailed 2-1 from the first leg, but turned the tables to go 3-2 up on aggregate.
With 17 minutes remaining, Perez made a double save to deny Graham Stuart and Paul Devlin’s rebound.
“If they scored, we were out of Wembley,” says Perez.
“The stand stopped for a moment, then I pushed it away and then all the stadium roared ‘Lionel, Lionel’.
“I knew the hand was going on me and saying, ‘Son nobody is going to beat you’.
“I remember there were 50,000 people just screaming my name, with the French flag. I turned on the pitch and just felt nobody could touch me.
“That is my best save at a very important moment.
“As a consequence of that act, we went to Wembley.”
It would lead Sunderland to the play-off final to face Charlton Athletic.
“And Wembley was my worst souvenir – even if the save was the best,” says Perez.
In a memorable play-off final, it finished 4-4, but Charlton were promoted after winning the penalty shootout 7-6.
It was, however, a result that the goalkeeper believes ultimately put him on the path to Cambridge United.
“We lost and we didn’t go up, and in the morning I received a letter from Peter Reid (Sunderland’s manager) saying I was free to find another club,” he explains.
“The day after, Kenny Dalglish rang me – I was in France at my parents’ house – and said I want you to go to Newcastle.
“If we won this game, I don’t think I would be here today because I would stay in Sunderland – because there would be two options, either we were going up and I would have a new contract, or you don’t go up and you change.”
Things did not pan out as hoped at Newcastle, and he joined Cambridge United initially on loan in March 2000.
Perez kept four clean sheets in his first five games to help Roy McFarland’s side stay in Division Two (now League One).
He took a pay cut to join United on a permanent basis that summer, and helped them avoid relegation for a second time, only for it to finally end up being third time unlucky the following season.
But by that point Perez had established himself in the hearts and minds of U’s fans forever, and that was ‘formally’ sealed with a place in the Hall of Fame last month.
“Of course, every human being when they receive a prize, it brings great pleasure,” he adds.
“To be there and to see all these people around the club makes me very happy. To bring my daughter as well was special.”
