I worked on a building site near Arsenal. Now I’m out to bulldoze them
READY for work on a London building site at 7am and ready for a pint at 6pm, for Curtis Edwards the nearby Emirates Stadium was somewhere he simply passed on the train back home to Teesside.
That was less than three years ago. Tonight, the 24-year-old midfielder lines up for Swedish side Ostersunds against Arsenal in the Europa League. In seven days’ time he will have 50 friends and family inside the Emirates for the return leg.
The idea was unimaginable when Edwards was earning £400 a week as a labourer after a string of failed trials following his release by Middlesbrough.
‘I’d given up on football, really. I had a trial at Hartlepool — that’s quite a drop from Boro — and once they say “no”, you start to think that’s it,’ Edwards told Sportsmail from his Ostersund apartment, where the temperature outside is -20°C.
‘I started working with my dad, labouring all over the country — Birmingham, Liverpool, London. I was up at King’s Cross, not far from Arsenal, all the time just having a few beers with a friend.
‘It was tough. My body was aching at the end of every day. That’s when I had a real turning point, it was the kick up the backside I needed. I had talent, I needed to sort myself out. Why was I giving up?’ A friend put him in touch with Brian Wake, a fellow Teessider who was manager of Swedish third-tier side Ytterhogdals. His trial was a Facebook video chat and, desperate to resurrect his career, Edwards packed away his tools and headed to Scandinavia.
A year or so later came a chance call from top-flight Ostersunds, managed by Englishman Graham Potter. They needed players to make up the numbers for a friendly, so Edwards drove five hours to Stockholm for the game. He impressed, was invited back and Potter asked him to sign for the club, who play on an artificial pitch.
‘This was the second chance I needed,’ said the Swedish Cup winner. ‘I let myself down with my attitude when I was younger. I didn’t understand what it took to make it. I’d had everything on a plate from a young age, I was highly rated, I always thought it would be easy. Immaturity cost me.’
He has done a lot of growing up away from home and the temptation of a night on the town with his friends.
‘I was out drinking every weekend,’ he said. ‘That’s stopped now — especially as it’s £9 a pint! I’ve got a Swedish girlfriend and I love it here. I took her back home at Christmas. We got the train to London. It takes you past the Emirates. She couldn’t believe that’s where I will be playing. Even I was a bit, like, “Wow, this is going to be real”.’
It is real because of an against-the-odds journey which has taken Ostersunds past Galatasaray in the qualifiers before negotiating a group with Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin and Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine.
Edwards scored in the 2-2 home draw with Bilbao, whose side included Manchester City’s new £57million defender Aymeric Laporte. ‘He was very good but he was nowhere to be seen when I scored!’ laughed Edwards.
‘We broke down the right, I’d made a late run to the edge of the box and the ball came at me on the volley. I kept it low, first time, bottom corner, what a feeling.
‘You start to think, “We’re not that far off these teams”. For all the doubts you’ve had about yourself as a player before, after those games you start to think just how far you can go. So why can’t we get something against Arsenal?’