RUSS PENN TALKS TO MANNY SMITH MANNY’S GOT IT MADE IN FRANCE
THIS week I got in touch with Manny Smith to see how he has been doing since hanging up his boots in January following a very successful career.
Manny was the first player I interviewed when I started working for The Non-League
Paper back in 2017. He is a former teammate of mine at Gateshead, a local friend and we also share the same birthday.
I touched base with Manny back in November when, as Kidderminster Harriers assistant manager, I asked him if he needed any games on his comeback from injury. Deep down, though, I think he was done with football. Manny pulled his MCL (medial collateral ligament) back at the start of the 2018/19 season leaving him out of action for four months.
He returned for one game but was still feeling some pain in his knee. It turns out that there was loose bone that needed trimming down.
Manny had the operation to flush the excess bone away in the following January but what he and Wrexham thought would be a standard procedure under the knife turned out to be a life-changing scenario.
At home recovering, the pain and swelling was still there and there didn’t seem to be any progress in the operation. One night, his wife had to call 999 after Manny fainted at his home in Birmingham due to the pain. It resulted in there being more to the pain than first thought.
An infection had occurred during the process and three operations later, Manny was fighting a losing battle with football.
He had a lot of time to reflect on things during the rehab stage. Being on your own in the gym and physio room are places you can think hard.
When it came to January this year, Manny, 31, and Wrexham agreed to mutually end his contract and go their separate ways. Boss Dean Keates was great with it all, as disappointing as it was for all parties. It’s just one of those things in football.
With football done after 16 seasons in the game what next? How about France? Pays de la Loire to be precise – a lovely little quaint village just outside Nantes, in the north-west of the country.
Why France, though, you might ask? Well, after plenty of time to think it through with his family and the opportunity to be mortgage-free, why not? Brexit was happening and not knowing the future of the country, it seemed like the right time. So, Manny, his wife
Stacey and their two daughters Lexy and Laya packed their bags and everything around them to start a whole new life.
Three months on, the Smiths have adapted to life in their rural area and the kids have jumped into school straightaway. They will be fluent in French in a couple of years having already made friends.
Stacey runs a very successful wholesale business from home and Manny is just a proud house husband at the moment.
Proud
He is looking to the future, however, and in 2021 Manny is hoping to set up a coaching school or perhaps undertake some renovation projects.
They are an hour-and-a-half away from Paris to fly home or via Euro Tunnel but, as the kids love it so much, they will most probably drive to Calais to get the ferry back.
Manny and Stacey have always been open-minded about moving abroad and their two young girls have jumped on board, too – something the average Joe wouldn’t even think about. I take my hat off to them. It’s a very brave move to even think about moving house in your early 30s, never mind emigrating.
For Manny, football has served its purpose, a glittering career at the likes of Walsall, Notts County, Gateshead and Wrexham racking up nearly 400 games but now it’s all about the future. Looking after his wife and two girls is all that matters now and the future is exciting.