Steve McManaman, a retired English professional footballer, who played for football clubs Liverpool FC, Real Madrid and Manchester City, was in India last week for the finals of the Standard Chartered Cup Corporate football tournament. 

Standard Chartered is a partner of Liverpool FC and has its logo on its jersey. We caught up with McManaman for a short chat on the sidelines of the event.

Edited excerpts:

What was your first brand endorsement deal and how did that come about? 

My first brand endorsement deal? Wow! I don't know when it was. I don't know what age I was, but it would have just been simply somebody giving me some free football boots to wear and maybe some free sportswear too. It wasn't anything significant. Not like it is now.

After getting the free pair of football boots, I went, "thank you very much", and just wore them. So, financially, there was nothing.

And when was the first financial big deal? 

It's not like it was now. It was a lot different then. Yes, we did get paid for wearing the boots, but I don't know what age I would have been. Maybe when I played for the first team (at Liverpool FC). But to be very honest, I can't remember.  But I know it wasn't substantial. I wish it was but it wasn't. 

The game is far more commercial today. How has this affected the quality of the game? 

I don't think it's affected the quality of the game. I think there's more finance involved. So, the transfer fees have gone up, the wages have gone up, the quality of the stadiums has gone up and, the quality of what the viewer sees - the television coverage has improved. So, I think that's only beneficial really. The money's coming into the game. As long as everybody manages the money correctly, I think it's fine. 

Social media trolling is a very big issue. And there have been requests to social media platforms to play a referee and curtail it. What are your views? 

I don't use social media and I hate it. I understand why it's there. But I also understand the negatives against it. Like you said, the trolling of people. I think the children of today shouldn't have (access to) it. Everybody's addicted to their phones at this moment in time and I don't think it's good for society. I'm not a huge advocate of social media at all.

Would you also urge social media companies to curb trolling? 

Of course. I think it's disgusting. I think you can't allow any negativity like that on these sites. Like I said earlier, I am not on social media, so, I don't know what goes on. I don't read it. I think a lot of negativity is not good for anybody. So, I stay well away from it. But, of course, whatever company it is, it needs policing. You cannot have idiots out there just saying whatever they want on a keyboard. 

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