Walters’ fairytale is simply the Chest
TEN years ago Jon Walters was earning £750 a week at League Two Chester.
Three years from now – if everything goes to plan – Burnley’s £3million summer recruit will celebrate his 10th anniversary as a Premier League footballer.
That is some turnaround for a one-time journeyman used to scrapping for a living and he also has the carrot of a World Cup to look forward to.
The striker clocked up 226 Premier League games for Stoke in his seven years with the Potters before his switch to the Clarets last month.
Walters said: “I was never bothered about being a League Two player. What I mean by that is that I didn’t feel I deserved better. I was proud to be where I was.
“The fact is that whatever league you’re in, you’re just focused on where you’re playing at that particular moment. You don’t think about anything else bar the weekend game or how you’re getting on in life.
“Of course, you always want to improve, go to a better club and keep moving up.
“And that was the case at Chester City. I’ve done well since then. It’s been some journey.”
It sure has. From Chester he went to Ipswich, captaining the Tractor Boys before earning his move to Stoke.
Meanwhile, Ireland called and his crucial goals against Scotland, Georgia and Bosnia sent the Boys in Green to Euro 2016, earning Walters the Ireland Player of the Year award for 2015.
Now 33, he has been handed a three-year deal.
Walters added: “The reason I am still going comes down to attitude. There is so much that goes on apart from games, like training every day, the extra work you put in away from the game, the summers that you don’t stop working hard, the way you live. It’s just hard work.
“The harder you work, the more luck you get.
“A lot of players down the years have players have been unlucky though injuries. And a lot of good players haven’t looked after themselves and said they were unlucky.
“A lot of success stems from mental toughness. There are a lot of players in the lower leagues that have unbelievable technical ability who were released from the top academies.”
As far as his 2020 vision goes, Walters said: “The plan at Stoke was to consolidate in the Premier League and it felt like we did that.
“We hope to do something similar here with Burnley, to just keep steadily improving.”