Father Nigel’s boNd is so special
‘well, he’s not going to talk to me for a couple of hours, until he gets this out of his system’.
“He’d say ‘Dad, don’t make excuses, just shut up and leave me alone, all right?’ He’d curl up on the back seat and go to sleep.”
Nigel has no doubt football has brought him and his son even closer.
He added: “People have said ‘Nige, you’ve made a lot of sacrifices for Lee’. I haven’t.
“I’ve never made a single sacrifice for Lee. I did it because I wanted to.
“To me, it was a joy and a pleasure, as it was for his mum. We were proud of him.
“We’ve had one hell of a close relationship as father and son, since he was nine, 10.
“Football’s brought us even closer. It must have done.
“We’ve spent so many hours, months, it probably runs into a couple of years, on the road.
“It was time we spent together and because mostly he had good games, he would talk to me on the way home!
“The football’s done me a power of good because I lost Lee’s mum a few years ago, so it’s kept up my interest, it gives me quality time to get over and see Lee.
“Quite often I’ll turn up for a midweek match, we’ll go out, shop around, have a meal, people-watch from pavement cafes and I love it.”
Lee, originally an outfield player, remembers going to the park almost every night with his dad in the early days as they worked on his goalkeeping skills.
As well as Wimbledon, there were spells at Wycombe, Rushden and Cardiff before dropping into non-league.
Lee said: “My dad is my hero, just because of the time devoted.
“I wasn’t the easiest to deal with sometimes if things weren’t going my way but he just swallowed that and got on with it.
“Sometimes you sit back and think I wouldn’t be where I was or where I am now if it wasn’t for the time he put in.
“He’s probably the first person I speak to after the game. Some away games this season he hasn’t been to, because of the distance or if it’s a night game in Basingstoke or wherever, but we always speak after.
“And before every single game I think for the last 10 years he says ‘go and enjoy it, enjoy playing football, have fun’ and I tend to try and keep that mindset. “I can usually pinpoint where he is in the crowd and when we’re walking out I’ll give him a wave. It’s nice to know he’s there.” In all their years together in football, the Worgans have never been happier than at Maidstone. Nigel said: “The Maidstone fans are marvellous. “They’re all so friendly to me and I often think it’s nice of them but don’t put me on a pedestal, I’m not your goalkeeper, Lee is. “On one hand I like