YOU NEED SUPPORT
The people behind the players
TALENT will take you part of the way, but you also need dedication if you are to become a professional footballer. You have to make sacrifices – and often the people around you have to do so, too. A sprinkling of luck also helps – being in the right place at the right time.
While some players forget their roots, that’s not the case with forward Robbie Simpson, who recently left Cambridge United, or Fulham striker Matt Smith.
Both players started in Non-League, with Cambridge City and New Mills respectively, but thanks to the help of family and some wellknown stars in the game, they’ve have carved out careers in the cut-throat world of professional football.
Simpson said:“My dad, Dave, would work 12-hour days in the city, working from 7am till 7pm, and then in every ounce of his spare time he was ferrying me around the country to play football, so he’s been a massive influence on me.
“He was heavily involved in my local team Knebworth when I was younger as well, so that got me into playing football from a young age.
“I was three when I played for Knebs underfives! From very early on football was pretty much all I wanted to do.
“My mum, Sue, was a massive influence on me staying in education and going to university, so I had both sides of the spectrum from my mum and dad.”
Smith also admitted that family was massively important to him.
His father, Ian, played for Birmingham City, Hearts and Queen’s Park, among others, during his 11-year career.
“Without a shadow of a doubt he’s been the biggest influence in my career,” he said. “He follows me to every game, home and away without failure, and I have been training with him since I was a little boy, so he was a massive influence on me – and he is still a big influence now.”
Alongside family being a crucial part of their development as footballers, both credited former strikers for helping them make the step up into the pro game.
Simpson, 31, acknowledged former West Ham United and Crystal Palace forward Iain Dowie, who was manager of Coventry City in 2006, for giving him his big chance.
Meanwhile, Smith, 26, gave thanks to exArsenal and Manchester City man Paul Dickov for his success. The former Scotland international was the manager of Oldham Athletic when Birmingham-born Smith made the move there in 2011.
Dowie gave Simpson his big shot in league football and the Loughborough University graduate has a clear recollection of how the move to the Sky Blues came about.
being a striker himself, Paul Dickov gave me lots of advice along the way. He is without doubt one of the biggest influences in my career as a footballer
TOM HESLOP talks to ex-Cambridge United striker Robbie Simpson and Fulham forward Matt Smith about the people who helped them carve out a career in professional football
“I was playing quite well for Cambridge United at the time, I think I had scored 15 goals in the last 15 games and I had loads of agents ringing me, so I made a point of not answering a number unless I knew it. If they wanted to speak to me then they had to leave a voicemail and I would ring them back.
“I was in university and I was getting ready for a night out, I think it was a fancy dress night out! I listened to a voicemail and it was ‘Hi Robbie, it’s Iain Dowie from Coventry City, just wanted to speak to you’ and I was immediately like ‘I can’t believe I missed that phone call’.
“I immediately rang him back, but he didn’t answer and I left him a voicemail. Then it wasn’t until another couple of weeks later that people told me Coventry and Tim Flowers, he was the assistant for Iain at the time, had been watching me for the last four or five games of the season and then I signed for them in the summer.”
Simpson made over 60 appearances for the Sky Blues and the Poole-born hot-shot couldn’t help but praise the man who gave him his first real shot in the big leagues.
“It was my first ever proper professional football club because while I was at Cambridge United I was still at university.
“I got to experience what it was like and Iain in particular, even to this day, is probably the best manager that I have had at getting a team together and reviewing work kind of as a family. That speaks volumes for him.
“I say family because every Christmas he will send me a text message or a card in the post wishing me Happy Christmas.
“He keeps in touch when he sees that I have done stuff well and he sends me texts. It’s that kind of connection that he had with all his players.
“We felt like a family and it was a good feeling. He had a big influence on me not only football-wise, because he is a great coach and improved me massively as a player, but as a person really in growing up and learning what it takes to be successful in a team environment.”
Smith, like Simpson, highlighted that he owes a lot to Dickov for giving him his first chance at being able to taste what it is like to be a professional footballer.
“I went with my agent to meet Paul at a Frankie & Benny’s that was just round the corner from the University of Manchester. Paul had been tracking my progress for a while at Non-League level because I’d been scoring a lot of goals. When he told me that he wanted to sign me, I was ecstatic. I graduated in the June and then I started at Oldham in July. I will be forever in debt to Paul for giving me my chance in the Football League. I played for him for two seasons and I made over 70 appearances, so it was definitely a learning curve for me.
“I didn’t start a lot of games but he certainly gave me the opportunity to go out and showcase my talents. Being a striker himself, he gave me lots of advice along the way. He is without doubt one of the biggest influences in my career as a footballer.”
It just goes to show there are players who recognise what they have – and are grateful to the people who helped them, believed in them and gave them the chance to make their dreams come true.
MY DAD WOULD WORK 12-HOUR DAYS IN THE CITY AND THEN IN EVERY OUNCE OF HIS SPARE TIME HE WAS FERRYING ME AROUND THE COUNTRY TO PLAY FOOTBALL Grateful: Striker Robbie Simpson