FINALLY... FENWICK GETS HIS BIG CHANCE

IF you were writing a soap opera about football, you would be hardpressed to find more true-to-life subject matter than Hartlepool forward Scott Fenwick.

The Gateshead-born striker spent his early years at some of the north-east’s top clubs, but was released by Sunderland at the age of 14 and went back to playing County football for Durham.

Aged 19, his boyhood dream of turning professional finally looked set to be coming true when Scottish Premier League side Gretna made their move.

Their own rapid rise had been something of a fairytale, as they went from playing on the village green to Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup final in four years.

But, following their relegation from the top flight in 2008, Gretna closed for business and Fenwick’s contract was torn up before he could sign on the dotted line.

“I was up there for a few practice games and the deal was virtually completed,” he recalls. “But then the club folded.

“I thought that was going to be it. I felt like that was my last chance in the game and maybe it wasn’t meant to be.”

Fenwick had wanted to become a professional footballer since signing for his beloved Newcastle United aged six, but now had come to terms with a life outside of the game.

Shattered

He began working as a civil engineer, completing a part-time degree while running out for local Non-League clubs such as Newcastle Benfield.

“I spent a day a week in the classroom and then doing the rest of the work for my civil engineering degree from home,” he added.“I’d do an eight-hour shift then go home and spend two hours with my head in a book.

“And I was still playing semipro football too, which meant a bit of travelling to games and training as well. I was shattered!”

While starring for Durham City in the ninth tier of English football last year, Carlisle United came calling, but Durham chairman and former Newcastle defender Olivier Bernard blocked the move, digging his heels in for compensation.

Fenwick was forced to seek help from the Football Association in order to walk away from his agreement with Durham, but the move to Brunton Park had collapsed in the interim.

“I was due to join Carlisle in March, but I was on a contract there and the chairman, Olivier Bernard, was demanding a big transfer fee,” said Fenwick. “He was a former Premier League player and always said that he would never stand in the way of someone getting a big move, but quite simply that was lies.”

Fenwick’s name, however, was now in the shop window. And, after hitting seven goals in 12 games for Dunston UTS at the beginning of this term, League Two strugglers Hartlepool United took a punt.

Aged 24, Fenwick made his first professional start last weekend against York and took just 24 minutes to find the net.

Hartlepool went on to lose the game and sit inside the relegation zone as the halfway point of the season approaches, but nothing can dampen Fenwick’s enthusiasm after so many years of struggle.

“That’s all behind me now,” he said. “Everything has gone at 100mph since I signed for Hartlepool. I’ve only been a professional footballer for two weeks and already I’ve done so much.

“I’m naturally quite a confident person and I believe if you keep working hard you can achieve your goals. I never got too down after my set-backs.

“Scoring last week was a great way to start and hopefully that was a stepping stone to score more. I really am living my dream now.”

So obsessed is Fenwick with football, he keeps his own personal records of how much match-time he gets, works out his goals-to-games ratio and trawls through videos to analyse his own performances, regardless of the level he’s playing at. He also hopes to perfect the art of his craft by studying the way boyhood heroes Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand used to go about their business for Newcastle United.

Fenwick is still a St James’ Park regular and admits really would be

it the perfect final chapter in an astonishing story if he could go full circle and one day wear the black and white stripes.

“Every young kid in the north east dreams of wearing the Newcastle No.9 shirt and it would be the best achievement of my life if I could one day,” he said.

Targets

“I try and model myself on oldfashioned strikers, powerful centre forwards like Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand.

“I grew up watching them for Newcastle and look back on the intricacies of their game now.

“I still have a season ticket, we have five in the family and my dad won’t let me give it up! I still go along when I can, if Newcastle are at home on a Sunday or in midweek.

“I always set myself personal targets and playing for Newcastle really would be a dream fulfilled.”