BIG INTERVIEW
Scott Rendell is living life in the fast lane at Aldershot Town – and he’s loving every minute!
SCOTT Rendell is used to living life in the fast lane. After silencing the boo-boys with a Boxing Day hat-trick against former club Woking, the former Luton and Dagenham striker picked up the keys to a brand new sports car from sponsors BMW as reward. Talk about living life on the edge.
Scott Rendell is a young man who’s had to do a lot of growing up these last couple of years.
Since suffering a serious knee injury playing for Woking against Tranmere on the opening day of the 2015-16 season, the 30-year-old has had time for a fair bit of soulsearching as he embarked on a lengthy rehabilitation programme – funded in part by a £10,000+ donation from kind-hearted Woking supporters.
After tying the knot with new wife Sam in the summer, the relationship with the other loves of his life, the Cards faithful, suddenly turned sour after contract extension talks to stay at the cash-strapped club broke down, prompting a less-than-popular switch to bitter rivals Aldershot Town.
As a result, a significant shift in power has since developed either side of the Surrey/Hampshire border with the Shots enjoying a rare foray at the top end of the National League table, while the Cards are left fighting for their lives at the bottom.
At Christmas time, there’s nothing like a pantomime villain to take centre stage, so up stepped Rendell to rub salt into the wounds, adding to his Boxing Day TV treble with a New Year’s encore to sink his former employers into the bottom four.
Stick
“It’s fair to say it’s been a pretty happy Christmas,” smiled the striker as he embarked on one last joyride in his BMW i8 before handing it back to sponsors BMW Farnborough on Friday.
“This time last year I was just about running again, but although it was the first Christmas I could enjoy in 14 years of playing, I couldn’t wait to get back out playing again.
“When you’re out for a long period of time you do have your tough days and, at times, you wonder whether if it is worth doing it, but you have to stay focused and dream of the good times.
“The way the fixtures fell, the Boxing Day game on the telly against my former club and scoring a hat-trick, it couldn’t have gone any better for me personally, but the most important thing was to do my bit to help Aldershot and give the fans something to cheer about.”
Naturally, the sight of Rendell walking back down the EBB Stadium tunnel with the match ball and then adding another goal in a lastgasp 2-1 victory at Kingfield, didn’t go down too well with the Woking faithful, but mild-mannered Rendell has no axe to grind.
“It’s always nice to score, but I don’t look at Woking any differently than any other club,” he added. “For me, it’s not about who I score against as the aim is score against all of the other teams.
“Of course I expected some stick from the Woking fans, but there were a lot of things going on when I left the club that weren’t aired properly.
“Garry Hill was really honest with me about the club’s situation and it was hard to leave, but I had to think about my family. I’ve got a new wife and two young children, I had to put them first.
“No player is bigger than a football club and I’m just delighted that the club is still running and the fans still have some quality football to watch.
“Aldershot came in with a good offer and a chance to re-build my career, and I was delighted to take up the challenge.
“It is what it is, there are no grievances, the rest is history now.”
With 138 goals from 375 senior appearances, Rendell’s role as Aldershot’s main marksman has never been in doubt since arriving at the Hampshire club in July.
Mentor
But, as manager Gary Waddock’s oldest outfield player at the age of 30, Rendell has unsuspectingly eased into a new role at the EBB Stadium – that as mentor to a number of young, exciting talents, such as 17-year-old strike partner Idris Kanu. “I knew the Aldershot squad was young, but suddenly I’ve become the oldest outfield player so that shows just how young we are,” he added. “I find myself passing on my experience to the young lads, both on the mental
and tactical sides of the game, and it’s a role I’m really enjoying at the moment, so who knows where that may lead in the future?
“When Idris first arrived at training we didn’t realise just how young he was, and were amazed to be told he was just 16 at the time.
“He’s quick, physical, has a good frame and an eye for goal – he’s a real special talent.”
So, with the Shots knocking on the door of a play-off place after three seasons of struggle back in the National League, how far can Rendell, Kanu et al take them?
“The next couple of months are massive for us,” Rendell added. “We had a great start and then a blip over November and the start of December, so we knew we had to turn it around by New Year to save our season really.
“We’ve done that and now we’ve given ourselves a real chance.”