EX-GUNNER WHO COULD SPELL DOOM

Sutton’s former Gunner Craig Eastmond talks to MoS columnist — and Spurs legend — Glenn Hoddle about how he has rescued his career... and how his current club can add to Wenger’s woe

GLENN HODDLE: I’m really interested to meet you, not just because you have this great opportunity on Monday to play against your former club Arsenal. But also because I’m intrigued to hear about what happened when you left Arsenal back in 2013, when you were 22.

I used to run an academy in Spain where we took English players, who had been released by clubs at the age of 18, and tried to get them back into the game. Hull’s Sam Clucas and Derby’s Ikechi Anya both came through from there having been rejected by Wycombe and Lincoln.

I’ve always felt that a lot of young players can get rejected or lose their way but still have a lot of potential to play professionally.

Obviously your situation is slightly different because you had a taste of first-team football, which probably makes it even harder.

CRAIG EASTMOND: My Arsenal debut was against Liverpool in the Carling Cup. And in the dressing room were Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey. I came on against Portsmouth for my Premier League debut and then I started against Bolton in the League in 2010, when I was 20. I started a Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010.

At first, I was nervous, sitting next to those big players. I wanted to ask: ‘What was your first game like? What were you going through?’ If I was doing it now I’d try to speak to someone and ask them. Now I tend to speak and not try to hold it in. But there would be Robin van Persie, Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas, not my kind of people! I’m tiptoeing round.

GH: That’s what we tried to teach the kids at the academy, that their environment might change but they have to stay the same player.

CE: I went on loan to Millwall and Wycombe and I felt it was my turn to play men’s football. Obviously the set-up was different with the facilities, and that was a big shock. But I was just happy playing. Then I went to Colchester on loan for three months and the manager, Joe Dunne, signed me. Before that, I’d never done a whole season. That was a big learning curve.

GH: That’s testing, to play 45 games. And the intensity when your manager’s head is on the chopping block.

CE: Yeah, it was. But in the second season the manager left and the head of the academy, Tony Humes, came in. He would say I was doing well, there was nothing I was doing wrong, but that I was not in his plans. So I’d say: ‘What do I need to do to be in your plans?’ But the chairman said he wanted to promote players through the academy and sell them. And obviously if the chairman had said that, that’s what he’s got to do. I asked to leave because if I couldn’t go on loan...

GH: You can feel very old in football at the age of 23, because they have an 18-year-old coming through they’re more excited about. It’s not methodical, though. It’s very much in the eye of the beholder.

Another manager might have liked what he’d seen in you and you might still be there. I found that with the academy lads. It’s just that they haven’t suited someone’s eye. But the potential is still there. So many just need time, but clubs can’t wait. They have different needs.

CE: I needed to go somewhere. So I went to Yeovil. That was more or less the same. The manager who took me there, Terry Skiverton, got sacked two weeks after I joined. The new manager, Paul Sturrock, told us he would be bringing 11 or 12 new players in for the next season and that whoever didn’t have a contract would be let go. So I was without a club.

GH: So the two breaks that you needed, at Colchester and Yeovil, instead of going this way, have gone that way. And that’s nothing to do with your talent as a player. It’s purely out of your hands.

CE: That was one of my lowest points. If someone comes in and you’re not part of their plans, there’s nothing you can do. From the moment the manager (Sturrock) came in at Yeovil and said he was bringing in new players, I was thinking: ‘I’ve just left Colchester to come here and now what can I do?’ Every day in training I was thinking: ‘What can I do? Where’s the next door opening for me?’ I couldn’t find anything. I ended up training alone.

GH: The pressure was back on you and it wasn’t your fault. I don’t know if you were given the chance to show what you could do or not, but with the pressure you have to deal with at that age, it’s an awful position to be in. And a lot of experienced players wouldn’t have coped with that.

CE: When I left Yeovil and I didn’t have a contract I was thinking: ‘What else am I going to do?’ I was trying to get a team and a contract and get to play again. Jamie Lawrence (the former Leicester City and Bradford player) does some fitness training in Battersea, south London, and I worked with him. Jamie would say I could do it, that I had the ability. He spoke to a few people and Sutton came along and I trained with them from the start of 2015-16 season. I was low on confidence, but at Sutton I was back fighting again.

I knew a few of the boys from Arsenal, like Roarie Deacon, Jeffrey Monakana and now we have Jack Jebb. I felt like one of the boys. The feeling in winning the title last season in the National League South last season, it’s hard to explain. I had never won anything like that.

And the manager, Paul Doswell, believed in me. He’d say: ‘Soon you’re going to get back up there. But sometimes you have to come back down.’ That’s what I’m trying to do. Back to basics, playing football with all my friends.

GH: But you had to drop down quite a bit...

CE: Yeah, I was always thinking: ‘I can’t believe I’m down here. What have I done wrong?’ But sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward. And everyone kept saying that if you keep doing what you did at other teams, you can still come up the ladder.

Jamie Vardy’s story is inspiring because he’s played in every league and at every level. It doesn’t matter where you start, just where you finish. My mental strength is so much better, one of my strong points, because you learn so much from when you first started playing football. Because when you’re low, you have to find your confidence.

GH: I think clubs have changed a little bit since I was there. But you need a mentor, who knows the game, but who isn’t involved as a coach, who you can go to and discuss your worries. A sports psychologist will work with top players but this would be more of a mentorship role. Kids don’t know how well they’re doing or if they’ll get a contract.

When I went to Swindon we had this kid called Wayne O’Sullivan, who was as good as gold, lovely kid, but he wasn’t quite showing us what he could do. He was coming to the end of his deal and he was nervous.

So I pulled him in and said: ‘Look, at the moment it doesn’t look like you’ll be re-engaged. But because your attitude is good, there are nine reserve-team games left and you’re playing every game. And we’ll get people to come and watch you.’

You could see it was a relief to him. Obviously, he didn’t want to hear he probably wouldn’t get a contract but fear and uncertainty had been crushing him. Next day in training it was as though his chains were off. He started to play. He played five reserve games out of this world and we signed him on for another year.

We got Swindon up and I left to go to Chelsea. John Gorman stayed as

manager and the next season I was watching him play at Anfield, at Old Trafford. This is a player who was going to be released. He played more than 60 games for Swindon, more than 70 for Cardiff, 80 for Plymouth and went on to play pro football in Australia.

CE: Sometimes you’re there at a club, but you’re not really there. You want to feel 100 per cent part of it, but you are held back if you don’t feel part of the club.

GH: When you’re young, you’re held back by pressure. You need someone to talk to, someone to assist you and be honest with you. Someone who knows what the game is about so you can open up to them. If you’re not good enough and you’ve been given the right opportunities, at least you know you’ve given it everything. Football can be a brutal environment. And the elite clubs, they’re only looking to get one or two players from the youth ranks.

Every player we took on at the academy, we were having to rewire them mentally. Nothing to do with their football. You had to train and improve them there, of course, but the first thing was to deal with that thought: ‘You don’t believe you’re good enough, do you?’ Because they’d been released, they’d been rejected by other clubs as well, they felt like failures. Did you feel like that, leaving Arsenal?

CE: Yeah, of course. You don’t really want to leave a big club, do you? I wanted to stay but now I’m playing I’m thinking should I have left earlier to get more experience quicker. It is good being at a big club and you learn more. I enjoyed it, but I think I should have left earlier.

GH: Is there anything you look back at and think: ‘Maybe I should have done this differently?’

CE: Yeah. I keep myself to myself. I don’t really say things. I should have asked for more advice: ‘Can you help me with this?’ I was always keeping things to myself. I would go to football, come home and then always think about it myself.

GH: Was there no one you could to go at the club about your game or more personal stuff?

CE: I never really thought I could speak to someone at the club about how my game was going, apart from managers. But sometimes they can tell you the truth; sometimes they can lie to you. Sometimes, you know yourself after a game that you haven’t done well. But some managers will say: ‘Oh, you done good today.’ But in yourself, you know.

GH: At that age around 18, 19, 20, there are many fears and emotions going through you, it’s difficult to get the balance right. Physically and mentally you’re changing and trying to become a footballer in a harsh world where 28-year-olds are at their peak. When you’re not breaking through, you don’t feel as confident. You need someone to speak to and say: ‘I’m really worried about this. I don’t know whether to go or not.’ That bit of support, not making the decision, but helping players take a decision, could make the difference.

CE: Having someone to have talked to would have helped, someone who knows a bit about the game.

GH: It’s great you are finding your way back and have this wonderful opportunity to play Arsenal.

CE: I support Arsenal as well! I never thought I’d play against them. It’s not like I have to go out and show Arsenal what they’re missing. I’m just happy for myself to play against them — and I hope it goes well.

When the draw came out, I was happy. Then after we beat Leeds, I was sent off at Borehamwood and had a three-game suspension. The minute I was sent off, I was: ‘Oh my days, I’m going to miss this now!’

When the team came back in the dressing room they were all saying: ‘You know you’re going to miss the Arsenal game now ... any chance we can have your tickets?’

Then the manager told me there were three games before Arsenal, but the weather was going to be bad. And if one of them was called off, I’d miss the Arsenal game. So I’ve been checking the weather every day, especially for the Guiseley game which was up Leeds way!

GH: What’s tough about playing in the National League?

CE: Midweek games. You don’t really want to go up north or down the south west on a Tuesday night, like Guiseley or Truro. We’re not full time so some people have to call into their boss or take the day off.

We travel by train in the morning, stay over and get a train back early morning. You just want to come home. But some people have to work so they’ll drive there so they can get back in time and they get back home at 4am with work the same day. But it’s a good league, with former Football League teams like Tranmere and Dagenham, so you get to play in front of big crowds. GH: What do you hope for now? CE: I want to get up the ladder, to be the best I can be. That doesn’t mean I have to be in the Premier League straightaway, but I want to play to the best of my ability. I want to show people that I can do it and play against good players. And I know what to do if something’s on my mind, I know I need to find someone close to me and talk.

GH: You can always contact me, as it’s a passion of mine to get players back in. And as a Spurs man, good luck on Monday. I hope you score the winner!