DEFENDER MINGS AIMS TO BE HOT PROPERTY AGAIN
YOU could put your house on Aston Villa winning at Birmingham today, such is their dominance of the Second City derby, writes John Wragg. But it might be worth a word with Tyrone Mings first before betting the house. He used to be a mortgage broker until he managed to make a career of his real interest, football. From Non-League football with Yate and Chippenham while working as a mortgage adviser, Mings got his break with Ipswich and then an £8m move into the Premier League with Bournemouth. Cruciate knee damage and a stress fracture of the back were serious injuries Mings, 25, had to recover from and then, when he did, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe didn’t pick him. In four years with the Cherries, Mings has started ten league games, plus seven sub appearances. His answer is to move house on a loan spell at Villa where he’ll be playing his seventh Championship game today in the heart of their defence. Mings has played in the East Anglian derbies with Ipswich, but this battle of Brum, he admits, is new, different territory. Ipswich rarely win a derby, their last victory dating back ten years. Villa, on the other hand, rarely lose one, dating back 14 years to the last time Birmingham won in the league. “I don’t have fond memories of the Ipswich derbies,” admits Mings. “We never beat Norwich and that includes in the Championship play-off semi-finals. “But I’m looking forward to this derby, looking forward to the hostility which I’m sure we are going to face. “The occasion around a derby is impossible to get away from, as much as people say ‘treat it as another game’. “You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel some heightened level of emotion.” As he talks, Mings is caressing his left knee and showing the scars of operations. He still has to do regular work on his knee and back to keep the recovery strong. “This area here,” says Mings, rubbing down his knee, “is just numb, can’t feel anything, there has been so much work done. “Now, to be playing consistently for such a big club as Aston Villa is the only thing I can ask. “I have been injured enough times to know not to look too far in advance. I had a lot of plans back in the day before I got injured in terms of goals, ambitions. “But in four years I don’t think I’ve played over 20 league games. To be that restricted in doing your job is frustrating to say the least. “I think it is showing in my performances, how passionate I am about playing football.” Mings was a mortgage broker for nine months until seven years ago when Chippenham Town team-mate Toby Osman, son of Russell, recommended him to Ipswich. Manager Mick McCarthy watched Mings play for five minutes and bought him for ten grand and a friendly at Chippenham. But then the injuries interrupted the dream six minutes after Mings came on at half-time for his Bournemouth debut at Leicester. “I did my cruciate and my medial ligaments at the same time,” he said. “See those two scars there? I had three operations on this knee and then I had a stress fracture of the back last year. “I still have the same dreams, but I am focussing short-term for now. “In the first four years of my career I took my success for granted. I signed for Ipswich almost overnight from being a mortgage adviser. “A mortgage broker was my future and then for three and a half years at Ipswich I didn’t know setbacks, I didn’t know failure in football. To have a setback and then to be able to continue as I am now is an opportunity that I am not overlooking.”