football firsts
Peter Clarke - The Oldham defender talks us through his football memories
First game you watched live? I’m not entirely sure but I would hazard a guess. My dad was involved at Chester City in the early 1980s. I imagine it was one of their games at the old Sealand Road. I grew up a Liverpool fan and my first game was Liverpool vs Sheffield Wednesday in 1989. I remember that it was the same day as the Grand National and Liverpool won 5-1. First football hero? Being a Liverpool fan, my hero was John Barnes. I loved the way that he played – he made goals, scored goals and he was just so skilful. In the days before you could get names and numbers on the back of shirts, my mum sewed a number 10 on the back of my Liverpool shirt. I met him a couple of years ago and I cannot speak highly enough of the guy. He was just brilliant and let my son and I have a photo with him. He was a proper gentleman. First football boots? They were a pair of Mitre Mustangs – they had a little red heel and a Mitre sign on either side. They were all black and not like the boots nowadays. Now they come in all sorts of different colours. First kit? The first kit I remember having was the Liverpool shirt that had Candy as the sponsor on the front of it. That was the one that my mum sewed the number into the back of and the one that Liverpool won the 1989 FA Cup final in. First professional game? My debut was in January 2001 for Everton against Coventry City at Highfield Road. I came off the bench very early on due to an injury and it was probably the quickest I ever moved to get down that touchline when the realisation was that it would be me coming on. I flew down the touchline and couldn’t wait to get on. We won the game 3-1. First professional goal? It was when I was on loan at Blackpool. I scored two in the same game against Luton Town on a Tuesday night in August 2002. We won the game 5-2 and I scored the first and second goals. They both came from set pieces. One was a right-footed shot and the other was a header. First red card? I was on loan at Coventry and I think I still hold the record for Coventry’s quickest sending off. The game was in March 2004 and it was after just three minutes when I went into a challenge with a Cardiff player and both of us went in with studs showing. I jumped up ready to look where the ball was and their player (John Robinson) stayed down. Maybe he was a bit clever and I was a little bit naïve.