PERRY EXCITED FOR HIS NEW VENTURE
KYLE PERRY put his creative talents to good use at the start of lockdown. The new Redditch United striker jokes he’s been on the Step 3 merry-go-round in recent seasons but he’s scored some goals down the years.
So the 34-year-old started trawling through YouTube for some of his greatest hits. A searing volley for AFC Telford. A lovely lob for Altrincham. A diving header for Ilkeston.
“I did 50 goals by Kyle Perry!” the effervescent Perry tells The NLP. “The first month of lockdown I sat through YouTube trying to think of games I played in and scored a goal. I managed to find 50. I put them all together, chopped it all up, put some music on it, and it’s something nice to look back on.
“It kind of reminds you why you started in the first place when you were a kid. Nothing beats the exhilaration of scoring a goal. You have an outer body experience no matter what level and in front of how many people. I can remember every single goal.
“There are some special goals on there. I could finish as well! I’d love to get myself super fit and finish like that again.”
Lockdown has helped the well-travelled frontman get really fit with morning runs and evening bike rides.
He wants a crack at management in the coming years but, for now, is still hunting that feeling of finding the back of the net.
“I don’t think it goes away,” he says. “People say to me, ‘You’ll be dropping down to centre back soon’. And I say, ‘I’m still scoring goals!’ I still move around a lot for a big man. The most embarrassing thing is the shirts don’t fit me. I think at Coalville it made the BBC that I had to wear the fans’ shirts for my first couple of games because they couldn’t get me one!
“But that sensation of scoring doesn’t go away. And if you put the ball in the box, nine times out of ten I will put it in the net.
“It’s just now everyone tells me the game’s changed. That target men aren’t needed anymore because you need your strikers to get back. It’s a difficult position because I’m kind of ready to go into management but I feel I can still add something on the pitch and I’ve got a few seasons left.”
Perry began his career as a youngster at Walsall before a prolific spell at AFC Telford. But he was his role in Chasetown’s FA Cup run that got him back into he professional game with Port Vale in 2008. Since then he’s had time at Mansfield, Tamworth, Lincoln, Nuneaton, Altrincham – where he won promotion to the Conference – and a clutch of others including Stafford Rangers, Coalville, Bromsgrove Sporting, Alvechurch and Stratford Town.
It’s fair to say he’s seen a change of approach to how the game is played in Non-League over the years.
Taught
“Massively in terms of players,” he says. “But it really frustrates me because it’s still the same game. You’ve still got to beat the opposition, you’ve still got to score the most goals.
“They say, play it out from the back, go through midfield, this formation or that formation – no, you just need to win.
“I was taught percentages under Mick Halsall at Walsall when I was a kid. I came up as a winger and you put the ball in the box. If you didn’t put it in 20 times, you ain’t going to play the next game. That’s stayed with me.
“Everyone watches the Premier League. They don’t watch League One and League Two where they do go forward, and they go forward quick with intent.”
Perry is enthusiastic about signing for a Redditch side looking to make the most of their relegation reprieve from Southern League Premier Central.
“They’ve got a new young manager, they’ve also got Matty Dodds there, who has done very well at Leamington over the years, and recently at Stourbridge.” he added. “Michael Townsend has signed as well, who is ex-Barnet and Hereford. So there are familiar faces there. It’s exciting, They want to do it the right way and be sustainable.
“I want to play a part and enjoy it. I call them my exhibition years! This coronavirus has given me time to reflect and a chance to get super fit.”
Perry also wants to help the younger players on, something he has enjoyed doing at other clubs. The story of Josh Gordon, who went from Stafford Rangers to Leicester City, springs to his mind.
“We just worked with him,” he says “In a few months he got to nine goals - typical bigman, little-man old school. I’d hold it up, flick it on, lay it off, put him in.
Flying
“I got this call off an agent looking for a fast striker for Leicester U23s and it was like it was meant to be. Then Keatesy (Dean Keates) took him to Walsall and the rest is history – he’s flying there.
“He posted a video on Instagram where he was kicking the ball against a wall with his right foot. I said, ‘Mate, my mortgage isn’t going to pay itself, you’ve got to use your left foot as well!’ He said, ‘Pez, I’ll work on it tomorrow!’ I always joke with him he’ll pay my mortgage off one day”
Now Perry is looking forward to football’s return with his new club when the country returns to the ‘new normal’.
“I’m a Marketing Manager for a manufacturing company in construction – so I’m fortunate I’ve had a job,” he says. “The only difference for me really is that I’m working from home now, which I love. I’m working in my hot tub in my garden!
“I’ve always joked I could write a book from some of the things I’ve seen in football. “But when the whistle blows and you’re on the pitch I will do anything to win. But there’s so much baggage. I call it Bolitics! The game is always a small part, that 90 minutes, of the overall journey.
“I’m looking forward to getting back and playing 90 minutes because I’m a warrior, I’m a fighter – that 90 minutes is what we all do it for.
“There’s no better feeling than scoring a goal. There’s no better feeling than having everybody against you – the fans, the referee – and still getting the win and points on the board.”