From League Two to training with Tugay, Yorke and Cole!

Notts CouNty y and former Blackburn Rovers striker JON STEAD on putting Manchester united to the sword and how singing Michael Jackson songs tires him out:

1 FIRST FOOTBALL MEMORY

I was going on trial for Huddersfield Schools and I didn’t have any kit. My stepdad brought me an old England shirt when he turned up to take me to the trials. It was the old sky blue, Umbro shirt.

2 BEST PLAYER I’VE PLAYED WITH

Tugay at Blackburn. He was fantastic, a real character but an amazing player as well. That was towards the end of his career — he was probably even better in his prime. Walking into a training session with Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Tugay and all these sorts of players was a bit of an eye-opener!

3 TOUGHEST OPPONENT

Jamie Carragher. He wasn’t the biggest but he commanded the players around him. Whenever you think you’ve managed to find some space he would always turn up.

4 FAVOURITE FOOTBALLING MOMENT

Scoring the winner for Blackburn against Manchester United is still the highlight. The Chelsea cup game (with Bradford) was special but if I had to pick one it would be this. I had just jumped from the old Division Three into the Premier League. It was at Ewood, 80-odd minutes and Paul Gallagher just slipped me in and I scored. It was a massive three points to keep us in the Premier League.

5 SPORTING HERO

Growing up it was always Ian Wright. He was the striker I watched as a boy. He has got to be up there but David Beckham is the ultimate sporting icon.

6 TOUGHEST AWAY GROUND

The most difficult away game I’ve had was at Highbury in 2004. We never touched the ball. Arsenal were incredible that day. It was a tight pitch but they made it seem massive.

7 THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT

It was probably something like NSYNC, before the youth-team days!

8 KARAOKE SONG

On the karaoke it’s a bit of Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson, but it gets tiring. There’s a lot of shouting in it. It takes it out of you towards the end.

9 BEST-DRESSED TEAM-MATE

Jorge Grant seems to have a new bit of gear on every day and he’s always tweeting about hats he’s getting. But it’s a standard trackie or jeans and a T-shirt for me.

10 DREAM DINNER-PARTY GUESTS

Michael Jackson, David Beckham and Marilyn Monroe.

11 IF I WASN’T A FOOTBALLER

I would be an architect. I loved graphics at school and that is definitely something I’d have gone into.