football firsts
Middlesbrough winger Albert Adomah talks us through his football memories
First team you watched live? I didn’t really like going to matches when I was young! I love football, but I’d much rather be playing than watching. QPR were my local team growing up, but I didn’t go and watch football that much because I always played as often as I possibly could. I first went to Loftus Road when I was about 14 with a few mates I used to play park football with. First football hero? Les Ferdinand was a huge hero of mine. I used to play as a striker when I played park football and I loved scoring goals. He scored loads of goals, so I think that’s why I looked up to him back then. Paul Furlong was also playing at QPR when I was growing up, so when I got to play at Barnet with him that was a bit of a weird moment for me. He was coming to the end of his career and I was just starting out. I was seriously starstruck. First pair of boots? A pair of black Umbro boots with white trimming that my dad bought me when I was ten years old. I remember putting them on for the first time and they were so heavy that I didn’t think I could run in them. They had really long old-school laces too; I could wrap them around the boots about eight times! First kit? It was a Manchester United shirt when I was 14. They were such a big club and, even though my local side was QPR, it was just such an iconic shirt. I can’t remember who got it for me, but it turned out to be a cool kit to have in the end. First professional game? It was for Barnet against Hereford. None of my family were there because it was quite a long way to go, but it was still incredibly special. I’d been playing for Harrow Borough in the Isthmian League while I was at college, and then Barnet were interested and I couldn’t say no. I’d just signed my first professional contract and I couldn’t wait to play my first game. We played at Hereford under the lights. It was 0-0 at half-time and early in the second half the ball just fell to me in the box and I slotted it home. It was a bit of a tap-in really, but it was nice to get one on my debut. I was on top of the world, and we won with a late goal, which was just the icing on the cake. First red card? Amazingly it was only last year, against Charlton. I was already on a yellow and it was really late in the game, maybe with about ten minutes left. I went in for a 50-50 and initially the referee gave it our way, but then he had a word with his assistant and changed his mind. After that he had to book me again, so I was off. I was surprised, especially because I thought the referee had given us the freekick and then changed it to the wrong decision. It was pretty annoying. I got fined too, so I was pretty unhappy with the whole thing.