The Coke Column

Hi everyone and welcome to The Coke Column. I am really pleased to have the opportunity to write my own column for Footy-Boots.com.

As a football boot enthusiast, Footy-Boots helps keep me updated with everything that is going on with football boots and lets me know when a new range of my favourite football boots are going to be released.

I am going to try my best to give you a perspective on what it’s like to be a professional footballer, as well as keeping you updated with my news and answering any questions you may have.

This week I am going to tell you about my career so far and how I have got to where I am.

I was born in Paddington in London. I went to school just down the road in Chiswick. Whilst at school I preferred being out on the sports field rather than sitting in the classroom. I enjoyed playing loads of sport at school, obviously football was the sport I enjoyed the most but I was also a quite decent 800m runner, and played quite a lot of basketball and table tennis.

After leaving school at 16, I joined QPR. Whilst at QPR, I also did a college GNVQ in Sport and Leisure, to have something to fall back on in case things didn’t work out. Unfortunately I was let go by QPR at 18. To be honest, I was in pieces when Tim Breacker and Garry Waddock released me. After getting rejected by a club, a lot of players just sack football off altogether, however I was determined to prove myself and become a professional footballer.

I trialled at various different clubs including Bristol City and Crystal Palace. I was offered a contract by Bristol City but coincidentally at the same time I was offered a trial at Fulham. It was a hard decision to make, but I decided to have a crack at winning a contract at Fulham. Unfortunately things didn’t work out and I ended up signing for non league Kingstonian.

Whilst I was at Kingstonian I picked up an office job to give me some extra money. I was playing pretty well for Kingstonian and that encouraged the then Mansfield Town manager Carlton Palmer to take me in on trial. Only a few days later, I was making my League debut away at Bristol Rovers.

After two years at Mansfield, I was given the opportunity to join Northampton Town in the summer.

I suffered a knee cartilage injury back in January whilst playing for Mansfield. There have been several complications since and it’s been pretty frustrating sitting on the sidelines for nearly nine months.

I’m looking forward to pulling on a Northampton Town shirt soon and repaying the faith the manager has shown in signing me.

Your questions:

How many pair of football boots do you have and who cleans them? from Artur

Hi Artur, good question.
I currently have four pairs of football boots. I wear the moulded version of the Adidas Predator Absolute. I’ve always worn Adidas football boots since I can remember. I usually go through about four pairs of football boots a season. Obviously so far this season I’ve not had as much use of them as I would have liked! One of the youth team players cleans my football boots for me.

Who are your best mates in football? from Chris D

Adam Birchall (Umbro X Boot III) and Jon D’Laryea (Adidas Predator Absolute).

Birchy now plays for Barnet but was at Mansfield with me for a while. He is a nippy striker and used to be at Arsenal when he was younger and also played for Wales U-21.

Jon was my best mate at Mansfield. We shared a house together and he is also a central midfielder. He’s currently coming back from injury as well.

Hows the injury going? What do you think of your new teammates so far? from Chris

Hi Chris, nice to get a question from a cobblers fan! Hopefully the worst of my injury is over. I went to see a specialist a few weeks ago as I was still suffering from a bit of knee pain. It seems that some of the scar tissue from the initial operation got stuck and was giving me discomfort. The specialist had a look around and hopefully there shouldn’t be any further problems. I’m hoping to be challenging for a first team place in two months.

Regarding my teammates, they’re all great lads. What I really like is that there are no individual groups in the dressing room. We are all one big group which is the way it should be, and everyone gets on with everyone else.

Thanks for your questions! Keep them coming, and see you in two weeks!