Joy of boy who stole the show
Jaden, 10, hails best Christmas gift
AGROUP of women finished their mochas and lattes in Bristol City’s coffee shop just before lunchtime, then one turned to the rest. The new local celebrity was firmly on her agenda.
‘Have you seen Jaden this morning?’ she asked. ‘The boy happened to be in the right place at the right time, didn’t he?’
Well, not exactly. The unlikely star of Manchester United’s humbling at Ashton Gate, 10-year-old ball boy Jaden Neale, was not merely in the right place when Lee Johnson hurtled down the touchline in jubilant celebration of Korey Smith’s historic stoppage-time winner. ‘The manager was running down, so I ran towards him as well,’ Jaden told Sportsmail.
Johnson picked up the child and swung him around in a moment of unbridled joy. It provided the internet with a feelgood video clip right before Christmas. Not that Jaden is too fussed about the big day now.
His Christmases all came at once on Wednesday night, when the club he has watched for six years — and whose academy he plays for — toppled a giant.
Jaden’s excitement lit up television screens across the country. ‘That’s my best Christmas present — nothing can beat that,’ he said, drawing smiles from parents Laura and Mike.
‘I was really excited! I’ve met the manager a couple of times and he’s nice. It’s the best game I’ve ever seen Bristol City play. The atmosphere was really loud. It’s not normally that loud!
‘I just couldn’t believe what I’d seen in the last minute.
‘My favourite player is Joe Bryan. I look up to him. I am a winger or a striker. I reckon they’ll go up this season — 100 per cent!’
Johnson is going to sign a framed picture of their embrace, which will sit alongside one of Aden Flint’s boots and Smith’s captain’s armband, collected after previous matches. ‘He’s got a little shelf going,’ said Laura.
Neale, who attends Parson Street Primary School near Ashton Gate, is a confident kid whose favourite subject is maths.
Dad Mike, a Commonwealth judo gold medallist in 2000, talks about the football tricks and flicks his son performs on matchdays.
And it sounds like he helped his beloved Robins earn a point in the Championship earlier in the campaign, preventing Millwall pressing for a winner. ‘Yeah, I just kept the ball,’ he said with a grin. ‘It was 0-0.’
JOSE MOURINHO had Manchester United back in training at lunchtime yesterday, even though travel chaos meant they did not arrive back from Bristol until 5am. United’s private flight was cancelled due to fog, leaving them to take the 174-mile trip by coach. They reported at Carrington around midday to prepare for tomorrow night’s match at Leicester. Earlier, United’s plane down to Bristol on Wednesday had been redirected to Cardiff because of bad weather.