Big Interview - Luke Varney on why he’s so happy at Cheltenham
LUKE Varney is an easy target for opposition fans these days. “I’ve got a receding hairline and I’m pretty old, so yeah,” laughs the Cheltenham Town striker, “I do get a bit of banter!” At 37, however, he is just grateful to be getting stick at all. Released by Burton Albion in the summer of 2018, Varney spent four months out of work.
Marooned in front of Soccer Saturday, he increasingly feared the curtain had tumbled on a career spanning 15 years and ten clubs.
“A lot of managers said they wanted to sign me,” recalls the former Leeds, Ipswich and Blackburn forward, who also made 30 Premier League appearances for Blackpool.
“Then it got to chairman level, and they were all worried about my age.
“When that happens in July, you think ‘Okay, plenty of time yet. “By August and September, you’re watching the results come in and thinking ‘This might be the end of the road’. Most mornings, all I could do was go for a run and hope the phone rang.”
When it finally did, the man on the other end was Michael Duff, recently installed as the manager of Cheltenham.
Just four years older than Varney, Duff had spent over a decade in Burnley’s back four and was a regular foe in the Championship. “He’s combative like me and we had some good tear-ups over the years,” says Varney. “The first thing he said when I met him was that I’d given him a shiner the last time we played.
“But we got on great and chatting to him was dead refreshing. He was not long finished, and very current in his ideas. I signed for him on my 36th birthday.”
A year on, Varney says, it has proved one of the best moves of his career.
The goals are flowing. The wins stacking up. Better yet, though, is a sense of purpose and belonging that he rarely felt in grander surroundings.
“It sounds a bit trite, but the lads here… they’re real people,” says Varney, who started his career at Quorn before joining Crewe as a 20-year-old in 2003.
“When I was at the big clubs with big players, we’d play the game then shoot off. Nobody did anything together. Everybody lived in a bubble.
“Ipswich was an exception to that, actually. We all lived locally and we had a good captain who kept us together.
“But this is a proper job. Nobody is on big wages. Everyone’s partner works full-time.
“They’re all going home to look after kids and do jobs around the house. It’s real life.
“When I first signed for Cheltenham, there were lads on six-month contracts. They could have been out of a job by January. I couldn’t believe it.
Scrapping
“The rest of us are scrapping about, trying to get one-year deals. All anyone can do is live for the moment. It’s such a refreshing contrast to some of the places I’ve been, where you’ve got lads on three-year contracts just resting on their laurels.
“It’s a funny thing, but this is only the second club - after Ipswich - that I’ve felt part of. That’s the honest truth.
“Because I recognise supporters. I know literally every member of staff. I speak to the groundsman all the time, the chef as well. I know every nook and cranny of the place.
“And when we go out into the community, it’s not a token gesture - there’s a genuine bond. “Now, you think of somewhere like Leeds. How many staff have they got? It was a monster of a club that constantly changed hands. I had no chance of ever getting to know them all.
“Don’t get me wrong, I loved the experience. But it didn’t make you feel real and alive the way this place does.” By his own admission, Varney represented a major gamble for Duff, whose limited budget of
fered little margin for error. Yet it has paid off in fine fashion, with 14 goals last season staving off relegation and a further six this term aiding a promotion push.
“We keep joking that I’ve found my level,” laughs Varney. “I probably should have dropped down years ago!
“But I must admit, I’ve always said that if you give me games, I’ll give you goals.
“If I’m on the pitch and not scoring, I’ll hold my hands up and say I didn’t pull my weight. But my last few clubs, I just didn’t get the minutes.
“I’m just enjoying it - that’s the key. I’ve had a little insight into life without football and I didn’t much like it so I’m just trying to squeeze every last drop out of my body.
“And my kids are getting to see me play now, which I love. I’ve got two girls, six and eight, and they’re besotted. They love the place.
“They’re there every week with their Cheltenham shirts on and they’ve both got their favourite players. Neither of which is me by the way!
“I played at some big clubs and I’m gutted they missed out on that. I even said to my wife that I probably had children a bit too late. But having them watch me now makes me very proud.”
Influence
If Varney’s kids help to keep him young, so does a reduced training regime and the influence of a young squad.
“I often say that I’m looking after kids at home and I’m looking after kids at work!” laughs the former Derby striker.
“But it’s good. I can still relate to a lot of their stories and things.” Does he use Instagram?
“Yeah, a little bit,” he says. “My wife makes me. The gaffer is only a few years older than me and he says he doesn’t believe in it.
“But it’s the way of the world now, isn’t it? And if you use it properly it can be beneficial.
“I’ve ended up getting in touch with people I went to school with, which I’d never have done if not for Instagram.
“The only thing I’ve never used is twitter. I didn’t really want to see any ill-feeling towards me after games. My brother used to get stick on my behalf and I’d tell him to stop using it as well.
“As I say, I get enough stick on the pitch without coming home to it! Thankfully, I’m still sticking the ball in the net so that’s my comeback.”