football firsts
Stevenage striker Danny Newton talks us through his football memories
First match? It was Liverpool v Leeds. Danny Murphy scored, I think – that’s all I can remember!
I was a Liverpool fan as a boy. All my family’s from Liverpool, so I was brought up on it.
I was probably only five or six, it was unbelievable. We were right near the Kop, so the fans were brilliant.
It was a good atmosphere – I was waving my flag!
First hero? Brazilian Ronaldo – the original.
I watched a lot of him when I was young and I still do now. He was unbelievable.
He could do everything. He was strong, could score, skilful; I think that’s why I took to him.
When I went on holiday, I used to get my mum and dad to buy me the Real Madrid kits.
First kit? It would’ve been a Liverpool kit; my Dad would’ve made sure of that.
I think I had Fowler on the back, a classic. My dad’s a massive Liverpool fan, so he used to love Robbie Fowler, too.
I had it on all the time, to be fair. It got a lot of use.
First boots? I had some Arrows – pale red boots.
I wasn’t too bothered about having flashy boots as a kid. I just wanted to play football.
I just wanted any old boots so that I could play. I joined
up to a team and was just happy to play – I don’t think it mattered to me then.
First game? My Non-League debut was at Hinckley United. I was 17 at the time and I got put into the first team against York away in the FA Trophy (in November 2011).
My first professional game was for Stevenage against Newport last year, on the first day of the season. We drew 3-3. I scored and we were 3-1 up, thinking it would be a perfect day, but they came back with two late goals, which soured it a bit.
But it was good to get my first goal on my debut.
First goal? It was that goal against Newport – Dale Gorman went to have a shot and I went to follow it in, just in case the keeper spilled it.
It took a deflection off a defender and bounced up perfectly. I was one-on-one with the keeper and I just volleyed it into the bottom corner.
As I ran off celebrating I nearly fell over because there was an area of the grass missing – I nearly went flying but I kept my balance!
First red card? I was at Nuneaton and went on loan to Barwell in 2013. It was my first game. I hadn’t played much and I’d been messed about. I went out, wasn’t fit and couldn’t get near the player. I thought I could make the ball and ended up catching him quite high. It was one of the worst moments in the worst season of my life. I was about to give up, basically. I was losing the love of football. I had no match fitness because I hadn’t played all season. It was a definite red but I came back, did quite well and kicked on from there – I learned from it.