CORIE WILL HIT BACK WAN DAY
Red Devil tipping Andrews to shine
FROM being left out in the cold at the age of
19, Corie Andrews is ready to prove doubters wrong as he looks forward to a new challenge at Kingstonian.
And he’s got plenty of backing in the shape of Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who exclusively told The NLP that his former teammate can still make his mark.
Andrews, 22, was released by Crystal Palace where he had played for ten years during his childhood, and from then hit a rocky road in his career.
“When I got released,
I hit my lowest moment, and I just lost confidence in myself, I didn’t believe in myself anymore,” he told The NLP.
“You have everything at your feet and you just have it taken away from you, it was horrible.
“Football was my life and when it gets taken away from you, then you just feel like a new person, a person I wasn’t.
“It broke me and I felt that I was in a dark hole that I couldn’t get out of.”
Last season, Andrews trained with League Two side Crawley Town but failed to make it into the first team.
Whyteleafe manager Harry Hudson, who Andrews knew from his time at Palace, offered the striker a lifeline shortly after.
“The gaffer gave me a chance to come in and revive my career,” he added. “I played there last season and from there I feel like myself again.
“He let me have another chance in the game which I want to take with both hands and succeed. I am still only 22 so I have a lot of chances to do well ahead of me.”
Indeed, Wan-Bissaka agrees and told The NLP that AnBASILDON drews has what it takes to succeed. “I am still very close to Corie, I played with him from the U12s to the U21s. I had the opportunity to see firsthand his progress and development,” said the right-back who cost United £50m from Palace in June last year.
Ambition
“He knows when to have a laugh and when to get his head down. We have some great memories together and I am glad that he has managed to keep his head up. I can only hope he has a good future ahead of him because he deserves it.”
Andrews has grown up and turned a corner since his release from Selhurst Park and hopes that will lead him back to the Football League.
“I’ve learned a lot and I’ve made mistakes that I know I would never make again,” he said. “This has made me mature as a person. There are things that I would do then I wouldn’t do now.
“I have ambitions to play higher, I want to play in the Football League but Kingstonian is my focus. The ambition that they have got is a challenge for me and I cannot wait to get started.
“Knowing the players that they’ve got and the style of play, I think the team can push for a lot more than what they did last season (tenth pre-lockdown). I think we can win the league – teams are going to be scared of our force next season.”