SUITS YOU, SIR
Matt taught United stars... but they just wanted to watch HIS goals on YouTube!
KO 1.30pm
MATT WARBURTON was a teacher of Manchester United starlets Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams, but he’d rather play at the Etihad than Old Trafford!
Warburton’s day job was to teach PE at Ashton-on-Mersey High School, near to United’s Carrington training ground, and where the Reds’ youngsters would combine their education with time at the club’s academy.
He was also a prolific goalscorer in non-league football for Stockport County, as they won promotion to the National League in 2019.
But he left that summer to try his luck in the pro ranks at Northampton.
Now on loan at Yeovil, he’s back at Stockport this afternoon for an all non-league FA Cup second round tie.
And the carrot is there of a potential third round tie against either Premier League giants City or United for the winners.
“I’m a City fan, so the dream draw would have to be City away,” he says. “I’m proud to say I went to my first City game when I was five, so don’t think I’m some kind of glory hunter!
“I used to teach lads like Mason and Brandon and James Garner, who’s on loan at Watford. It’s great to see them flourishing.
“I’d look after them in school and try to make sure they were up to date with their work.
“The United boys constantly took an interest in my own football.
“Sometimes it was hard to teach them PE because they’d be too busy watching clips of me on YouTube! Sometimes they would be complimentary about me and other times they weren’t!”
This afternoon is his first trip back to Edgeley Park since he helped Stockport win promotion 18 months ago.
Warburton scored 27 times that season and he admits giving up his job and leaving behind a successful team was not simple.
“It was a difficult decision,” says the 28-year-old. “It was a very happy and successful time in my career. Plus it was hard to give up a full- time career that I had worked hard at for a long time.
“I was teaching at the place where I had gone as a pupil, so there was a real connection for me.
“But the thing with teaching is you have a career for life and I can go back to it later on.
“I had a dream as a young boy to be a professional footballer. Others would have given everything for that chance and I would have wondered what if I didn’t give it a crack. I just thought if I went back to school in the September, I would regret it.”
Warburton’s current club, Yeovil, are bottom of the National League and their only wins this season have been in the Cup.
He knows that victory today could be a vital kickstart for the rest of the campaign.
“I wouldn’t say the cup is a distraction,” he admits. “We just need to get into that winning habit.
“The prospect of a place in the third round and playing one of the big boys is a big carrot, but Stockport will be difficult to beat.”
I used to teach lads
like Mason and Brandon... it’s great to see them flourish