“It definitely shaped me. Once you come through that, you can come through anything”
● Hearts striker inspired by vision of his late father as he bids to make his mark in Gorgie
New Hearts signing COLE STOCKTON on the pain of losing his father at an early age and how he suffered a serious illness which could have killed him.
The night Cole Stockton’s dad died, he had a starring role in his son’s dreams.
“I didn’t know he had passed but that night I had a dream that I was playing football with him,” said the 23-yearold whose tattoos pay visible homage to a man who bestowed a love of the game on Hearts’ summer signing.
“To me, that’s like he came to me first to say ‘I’m here for you’,” said Stockton
Losing his dad was a brutal blow for an adolescent boy who was already struggling with his own life-threatening health issues but he says that nocturnal kickabout helped him move forward with an even stronger focus and made him mentally tougher.
In hospital himself, suffering from septicaemia when he discovered that his father had been admitted with liver failure, he says he was lucky to walk back out, even if it did take him several weeks to get back on his feet and a lot longer to get his footballing ambitions back on track.
“I was critical,” he added. “I think I was on trial at Tranmere at the time, I was 12 or 13, and I remember playing a game and coming off with a sore back, and I didn’t know what it was. I used to play for two teams then so I played for my Sunday League team that afternoon, but when I woke up the next morning I couldn’t move my left leg.
“I went to the doctor and they did MRI scans and that’s when they saw the infection in my groin area. You could see it on the scan.
“Luckily enough I got moved to Alder Hey hospital and the nurses there were brilliant with me. I still donate to them every month. I can’t thank them enough.
“It is a serious illness. It’s like a blood infection. As a kid you don’t realise how serious it is but being around my mum and seeing her face told me.
“If I hadn’t gone and had it checked out I’d have probably snuffed it, basically. They said if I hadn’t gone to the hospital within 48 hours I’d have passed out on the couch (at our house). Thankfully my mum took me to the hospital on time.
“I was in for just over a month, and I lost around five stone because I wasn’t eating. I tried to get back into football but I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t run. Physically I wasn’t ready. It was only after a couple of months that I began to get there gradually.”
Such emotional and physical tumult could have been enough to knock the stuffing out of many but, with some inkings to pay testament and plenty of support from his mum Michelle, Stockton says he uses that period of his life as personal inspiration. As well as tattoos of his dad’s initials and key dates in their lives, the most telling saying is on his forearm. It reads: “My shining star and inspiration”.
“I’ve been through alot but I am not one to drag it out or make it a sob story. It just shows it is doable, you know what I mean? I know there are a lot of people out there who go through hard times but there are good times out there as well.
“It definitely shaped me, it made me mentally stronger,” he said. “It gets you prepared for anything because once you come through that you can come through anything.
“It was a tough period and people express their feelings to you differently and I could have gone one way where I just thought ‘It’s all done now for me’. But luckily I had the right family around me to guide me. I knew what I wanted to do from school and football was always on my mind. And I knew that was what my dad would have wanted. He has always inspired me. Everywhere I go, I know he’s there with me.” Never more so than when Stockton has a football at his feet. “He was more like a Sunday league footballer, but he knew the score. Everything I do in my career is for him,” said Stockton. “And my family as well because during that hard time I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to be around me.”
Moving away from his mum for the first time in his life, he saysshewillprobablyheadup to Edinburgh “every second week” but he is also looking forward to establishing a name for himself in Scotland.
As the Hearts players were put through their pre-season paces at Riccarton yesterday, in a busy and positive set of drills and matches, there was plenty to suggest that Stockton could fare well in the Scottish game. But he knows from experience that heshouldnevertakeanything for granted.
A promising player, who broke into the Tranmere Rovers side at 18, injuries and a switch in manager waylaid his progress but he found his way to goal again while on loan at Morecambe.
Out of contract at Prenton Park, he says his eyes lit up when he heard that Hearts were in for him and, glad that he rebuffed advances from League One and Two clubs down south, he has been impressed since meeting his new squad mates and is confident they can target a Europa League place at the end of the season.
“As soon as Hearts showed interest I couldn’t wait to come up,” he said. “It’s a great club with loads of history and they are always up there in the league. Good players and staff as well. The gaffer, the experience he has got is good and he is a young man who is good to learn from.”
There is mutual appreciation with manager Ian Cathro, pictured, confident that the player possesses the kind of promise that would have elevated him out of the capital club’s financial reach if they had left making a move much longer.
“Ireaduponthatand,asa footballer, that is the kind of thing that spurs you on,” said Stockton. “But I am just here to play football and enjoy it.” l Hearts have recruited former West Ham coach Tom Taylor as their head of fitness, replacing John Hill, who left Tynecastle for MK Dons along with ex-head coach Robbie Neilson last season.