BAD TIMES ARE BEHIND ME AT LAST, INSISTS NEW BOY SLEW
JORDAN SLEW reckons you learn more from the bad times than the good, which is just as well for the Chesterfield new boy.
It has not been plain sailing since he signed for Blackburn Rovers, then of the Premier League, for £1.1m in August 2011.
He made just one league appearance for Rovers – as a late substitute at Old Trafford, as it happens – before leaving in 2015, with five separate loan spells along the way.
A stint at Cambridge United followed, but the 23year-old hit the headlines for the wrong reasons – slapped with a £1,400 fine and a sixmonth driving ban in August after he was caught driving at 156mph in his BMW – before leaving the club this month.
However, Slew was unveiled as a Chesterfield player on Thursday, after joining until the end of the season, and insists he has learnt from his errors. None more so than that motorway indiscretion.
“You make mistakes in life,” he said.“That is a big mistake of mine and it won’t be happening again. I have served my punishment. I’m a more mature man now and I know what’s right.
“When I first went to Blackburn, it was four or five years ago as a young kid. It didn’t work out how I wanted it to, like a lot of things in life.
“You make mistakes and sometimes you get bad luck. It was maybe a bit of both and I have learnt a lot from that. That is the most important thing.
“I went to a fair few clubs and I got a bad injury at one point.You learn more from the bad times than the good and I think I’m a very wise man because of that now.”
Slew endured as much frustration during his time at Ewood Park as most footballers could expect from an entire career. Just over a year ago, enough was enough.
However, things didn’t get much better at the Abbey Stadium, where the striker arrived in February only to find himself on the transfer list in May.
“It was about moving on to the next chapter in my life,” Slew continued, recalling his move to the U’s.“The most important thing was to be playing football and it was time to move on.
“It was a little bit up and down. It did hurt at first to be transfer listed, but I got told at the end of the season and had the whole summer to digest it.
“I went on holiday in May and, as soon as I got back, I was working hard on the running track.When I came back, it was at the fittest I have ever been.”
The next obstacle arrived in the shape of a new manager. After Shaun Derry took over at Cambridge in November, Slew featured just three times before cancelling his contract by mutual consent on February 1.
Spireites boss Danny Wilson – who managed him as a youngster at Sheffield United – was quick to capitalise on that and Slew is, at long last, ready to let the good times roll.
“The change of manager at Cambridge was a bit difficult, with the new one coming in and putting his own plans in place and that’s absolutely fine,” he added.
“I left Cambridge on the Monday and I started training with Chesterfield on the Tuesday. It was me that approached the club. I wanted to get on with the lads, train and keep fit and, when I got offered the contract, I snapped it up.
“The manager has just said keep doing what I’m doing in training and just work hard. He has known me for a long time and he knows what I can do.”