Wright saved my life after five years in prison
Clifton swapped life of firearms and drugs for a dream of FA Cup glory
To say Adrian Clifton did all he could to avoid the move that changed his life would be something of an understatement.
He barricaded himself into his cell and sat tight until the prison officers drilled through the wall to remove the door, stormed in, cuffed him and escorted him to a van for the transfer to Portland prison, in Dorset.
‘To be fair, by the time they were in, I wasn’t putting up any resistance,’ admits Clifton with a wry smile. ‘When I saw them drill the door off, I thought, “Wow, oK, they’re coming in, there’s no point”. They came in like the riot squad with gas masks and stuff.
‘I’d been in Portland before. It was a rough prison. one of the worst. I didn’t want to go back, I tried my hardest not to go back and I’m glad it didn’t work. If I hadn’t gone back, would I be where I am today? The chances are no.’
Clifton is about to return to Dorset in very different circumstances, as a striker for Boreham Wood as the ambitious National League side go to Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round tomorrow.
His goals helped them reach this stage for the first time in their history and, at 33, he feels the time is right to share details of his remarkable journey, from five years in the prison system to a career in football with the help of Ian Wright, an idol turned mentor and friend.
‘There’s a lot I’d rather forget,’ says Clifton. ‘There’s trauma and embarrassment. There were times when I would not have been ready to have this conversation but all this with the FA Cup and the goals has made me reflect.
‘There are loads of young boys where I was, with more potential than I had, but they have to realise it and have confidence. I hope my story can open their eyes.’
Clifton’s script twisted at 15 when his release from Arsenal tipped him towards crime. There was interest from clubs, including Tottenham, West Ham and Chelsea. Norwich offered to relocate his family but nothing else appealed.
‘I couldn’t see past Arsenal, I didn’t want to play for anyone else,’ says Clifton, one of three children raised by his mother in Hackney, without a father or a strong male role model, at the mercy of criminal gangs on his estate.
‘It’s a tough place to live for a teenager. once the Arsenal thing happened it was like f*** it, this is who I am. I’m this guy, I want to do this and that. When, really, it wasn’t. Anger and rejection made me feel that way. It was something I fell into, and I ended up doing five years in prison.’
Clifton was jailed three times between the ages of 16 and 21 for possession of firearms and Class A drugs.
First time he was released, he was back within three months. The second time, within six.
But, soon after the prison transfer, he tried his utmost to resist, from Reading to Portland, former Arsenal and England striker Wright descended to make the Sky one documentary Football Behind Bars.
Inmates were selected on ability to form a football academy, training for three months with an aim to provide new skills and inspiration. There were coaching and classroom sessions from Wright, who shared the secret he had served a short sentence for driving offences as a teenager.
‘I walked into the gym one day and saw a poster about this programme,’ says Clifton. ‘I didn’t really believe it but I put my name down and went back to the wing thinking: “If that’s true, this could be a turning point”. I thought about it all week. I wasn’t certain it would happen, then one day, bam, and there’s Ian Wright coming through the prison.’
Wright instantly recognised Clifton’s natural talent as a footballer, a cheeky exuberance and a glint in his eye.
‘He went to prison for seven days and told me that was all he needed to know he was never going back,’ says Clifton. ‘Unfortunately, it took me a lot longer but he could see that I was at that same place. I was ready to change and wanted to change. Ian came into my life at the right time.’
Wright organised a trial at Wycombe with the help of then chairman Steve Hayesn so when Clifton was released on the eve of his 21st birthday, he did not return to Hackney but went into digs near the club and trained with Gary Waddock’s squad.
It was not followed by a contract offer but at least a new direction was set. Clifton acquired work and qualifications while climbing the non-league ladder from Romford to Waltham Forest to Maidenhead United and onto Havant and Waterlooville, where he signed his first contract. He trained as a gas engineer and the trade came in handy when injury curtailed his time at Havant.
Fit again, he returned to play part-time at Maidenhead before turning pro at Bromley, and won international honours with Montserrat, the tiny Caribbean island from where his family hail.
‘Did football save my life?’ he asks himself. ‘one hundred per cent. If I wasn’t good at football, I might not have been on that programme.’
Wright has been a source of strength and inspiration. ‘We met a lot when I came out,’ says Clifton. ‘He brought me to his house and introduced me to his family. He told me he believed in me. He has always been there on the end of the phone. He has been a massive influence on my life.’
Ultimately, however, the credit belongs to Clifton for turning his life around. ‘This is a journey you have to walk alone,’ he says. ‘It’s easier with the support of others — it doesn’t have to be someone like Ian Wright — but they cannot carry you there.
‘It’s a state of mind and if you’re not ready you will not get there. You have to make the choice and be serious and know it won’t be easy. It isn’t easy at all.’