Back on the Kane gang
ALLSOP READY TO FACE MUSIC AGAIN
THE problem with being an ambitious young striker putting in extra finishing practice in your bid to become a world great is that you need some mug to go in goal.
Step forward Ryan Allsop, now between the sticks at Wycombe.
His reunion with England captain Harry Kane tonight in the FA Cup comes in very different circumstances to when they first got to know each other on Millwall’s training ground in 2012.
“That was pretty much my role,” said Allsop, who was there during Kane’s loan spell. “I was the young goalkeeper with no real choice but to stay out for the finishing drills.
“He was always committed to his craft, putting in the extra hours on his finishing.
“You could see his qualities, but I would not have said he would become one of greatest goalscorers in the country.”
And the world, it transpired, with Kane on the path to the FIFA Golden Boot award.
As a former England Under17 team-mate of JackWilshere, Jesse Lingard and Jonjo Shelvey, Allsop, 28, admits he shared the same lofty international ambitions.
But his career was about to take a very different path. “I had been told by Millwall I was not going to get another contract,” he said.
“My agent rang and asked what I thought about Iceland. I thought he had got me some shelf-stacking work. It was a team called Hottur and their season is in our off-season so my agent suggested spending a couple of months there.
“I flew out on the Friday and played on the Saturday. All the other lads had jobs – I was the only one paid to play.
“There was one gym, one supermarket, a subway and a petrol station. Oh, and one bar.
“It was pretty much 24/7 daylight, but the trial went really well overall. It showed my hunger to succeed.”
Allsop had offers from top Icelandic clubs but instead used his match fitness to impress in trials in England.
He signed for Leyton Orient then Bournemouth, where he made just two Premier League appearances. It is more reason to relish games like this one. “It is my first real big cup tie,” he said. “Nobody expects us to get a result. We were underdogs last season and achieved great things with promotion, so it is important we keep that mindset.”