He was left devastated by the end of his football career, but within years he’d be a familiar face on primetime telly
Interview: Adrian Lobb
At 16, I had one passion and that was football. For a lot of athletes, that is what separates us from our friends. Our focus, our drive, our sacrifice and also the luxury of knowing what we want to do. Getting there and doing it is the difficult part. But the plans were set out in my mind and I was putting that into practice in terms of work and discipline and not going to parties, not drinking all the time.
If I had another hobby, I’d be taking focus from what I was trying to do.
So there was no room for hobbies. My life was playing football every single minute of every single day. Even at family parties, I’d be there for two minutes with my football, then I’d be out in the garden trying to hone every skill element of the game I loved.
I grew up in Clifton [Nottingham], which was one of the biggest council estates in Europe. It’s just pure poverty there. But there was a lot of love on our estate. And it was my training ground. It made me who I am today, so I’ll always be thankful for it – I would be out there when the street lights were on and it was pitch black. My friends would be getting pulled off the street to go to bed and I’d always be the last one, just kicking the ball against a hedge.
Our house was full of sport.
Football was always on the telly and my dad played semi-professionally, my mum was doing taekwondo. On top of that I had parents who were reasonably demanding. My dad, in particular, when it came to football. He fell short, essentially. Being a semi-professional footballer is no mean feat, but it’s not what he planned and he knows where he fell short. So he didn’t want me to do the same. I knew I was different from the age of seven. I was playing with kids four years older than me but was still the best player. By 16, I was really focused. I had just left school and things were developing at Nottingham Forest. I knew I was close.
John Barnes was a big hero of mine. I used to get up every single morning and watch two VHS videos. One called The John Barnes Story, and another called 101 Great Goals. The only other one I had was The Goonies – I could recite every word of the script. But John Barnes stood out – coming from Jamaica, dealing with all the racism. My dad was big on black men, what they had to go through, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, and understanding the importance of players like Joh
