Kevin Nolan will be reunited with an old friend tomorrow. Their separation has gone well.
THE odd couple will be reunited in Liverpool tomorrow. Whether Kevin Nolan gets his wish to kick Andy Carroll across his favourite football ground remains to be seen, but irrespective the landlord will meet up with his former lodger in the bars and restaurants of Liverpool afterwards.
Earlier this season, Carroll was ordered by a judge to live with his club captain while on bail over an alleged assault (for which he was later cleared). One newspaper jokingly dubbed Nolan “Rigsby” after Leonard Rossiter’s Rising Damp character, while the youthful, long-haired Carroll played Richard Beckinsale’s Alan.
“When you look back on it now, it was very bizarre, but it worked,” says Nolan.
“It was just normal when it was happening. In our family that’s what we do for our friends, I’ve been brought up like that by my mum and dad.
“My wife was so welcoming with him in letting him stay. Of course I did have to ring her first just to ask if it’s okay and she was fine, that’s just the kind of people we are and Andy was very grateful for that.”
Unlike the bickering Rigsby and Alan, Nolan and Carroll formed a firm friendship as house-mates. Carroll’s £35m departure did nothing to break the bond – the England striker moved to the city of Nolan’s birth to play for Liverpool, the club he occasionally watched from the terraces. And the friendship extended beyond its two leading characters.
“Andy being a young lad, he had his family there for him but sometimes you need other people as well,” says Nolan. “Even now in Liverpool, even though he feels detached from his family, he knows if he needs it he’s got someone to go and lean on.
“My dad and my mum and all my family are there for him.
“It’s been nice getting to know his mum and dad because they try to come to as many games at St James’ because they’re Newcastle fans.” It was a tough time for all concerned. As Carroll’s court commitments started to pile up, the rising scamp’s Range Rover was torched, Nolan’s garage vandalised – upsetting for anyone, doubly so for a man with a wife and young children. Typically, though, Nolan can laugh at it now. When asked if he has had to find a new babysitter since Carroll left, the response is instant.
“You’re joking, aren’t you? I wouldn’t leave him with my kids!” he says. “He’d probably have the house burned down, or the car!”
A thigh injury might rule Carroll out of tomorrow’s televised game, but Nolan thinks he will find it “weird” if the pair take to the Anfield pitch as opponents. He expects it to be a damn sight more difficult for his friend.
“It’s going to be weird, but we’ve only known each other a couple of years even though we’re really good mates, best mates and we speak to each other virtually every day,” he reflects.
“We’re both professionals with jobs to do.
