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.
It’s just pure poverty there. But there was a lot of
