Coulthirst aims to make up for lost time with help from above
Barnet forward can feel support of late mother as he puts career back on track, writes Jeremy Wilson
After scoring the goal that ensured Barnet were the one remaining nonLeague team in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Shaq Coulthirst posted a video and message of touching simplicity on Twitter: “Unbelievable result. Fans were ridiculous. That was for you mum.”
Coulthirst had dropped to his knees following the penalty against Sheffield United which set up tomorrow’s live television match against Brentford before slowly bowing his head to the floor. His team-mates, who checked their normal desire to celebrate by jumping on the goalscorer, understood the significance of this gesture.
Sonia died last September from cancer and, as Coulthirst sat down at the club’s Hive base on Friday and outlined his mother’s influence, two things became strikingly evident. First the inspiration that she will always provide, but also the danger in judging a young player’s career prematurely.
Coulthirst, 24, spent 11 years in the Tottenham Hotspur academy. He graduated through the various age groups with another striker – a certain Harry Kane – and was deemed promising enough to make a first-team appearance in the Europa League in 2013 under Andre Villas-Boas.
It is easy to superficially research what happened next. Kane, with his MBE and 180 goals for club and country, would become one of the most celebrated strikers in the world. Coulthirst left Spurs in 2014 in search of first-team experience and, after spells at Leyton Orient, Torquay United, Southend United, York City, Wigan Athletic and Peterborough, is now with Barnet in the fifth tier.
Rather less well known, however, is that he left Peterborough for Barnet in 2017 so that he could be near his mother after she fell ill. And that he also took time away from football last year as he dealt with her loss. The funeral did at least confirm how much pleasure Sonia had taken from his fledgling career. “I didn’t know half the family who came over from Jamaica and America, but they were like, ‘Oh yeah, your mum has told me all about you’. They said she was my biggest fan.
“She would message me after I scored goals and, after games, she would tell me what I was doing wrong – even if she wasn’t there. When I came home and I handn’t scored, she would be like, ‘Why? How come you got subbed?’ I used to hate talking to her about it because she was so harsh!
“When she fell sick, it became difficult for her to come to games and work. She was living by herself and I wanted to move closer to home.”
The pathway was rarely easy, even during Coulthirst’s early years growing up in Hackney, and he credits the family of his close friend, Adam, for helping him realise his professional dream. “My mum worked full-time and my dad wasn’t around, so I was by myself, there was no way of me getting around,” he says. “I had a mate in school with me and his mum used to take him on trials and to games. They are the reason I am here now.
“He was my best mate, so I went around with him. Then I got into Tottenham. I was nine or 10 when they came to my house and said, ‘We want to sign your kid. Can he do this, this and this? And here is where he is going to be in a few years’. As I grew up, I learnt how to take the train to training and stuff by myself.”
Coulthirst’s own experiences also prompted him to help fund the formation of the PASS Soccer School, which he hopes will provide children with a platform to express their talent.
The desire to get back into the higher tiers of professional football burns strongly. Kane, after all, went on loan himself. Rickie Lambert, Jamie Vardy and Callum Wilson are also wonderful examples of strikers who benefited from the opportunity of playing regularly down the divisions.
“It is a specialist role – there are only a few who can play in every club,” he says. “It’s not just a case of being at a better club, but whether you are playing. It is goals and consistency that will get you high up. I wanted to test myself and take my own route. It’s not seemed to go my way so far, but I’m sure with hard work you end up where you should be.
“Everybody’s path is different. Especially with H [Kane], he got a bit of luck, but he is a great player and now one of the best strikers in the world. He always trained hard and played like he wanted to be the best. That’s reflected in the chances he has been given and taken.”
Coulthirst now lives with girlfriend, Julia, and has a strong support network “that I hold close to me, that look after me now”, following such a traumatic past year. “And I have still got the support of my mum,” he says. “I know that. I feel that. That’s what I use to keep me going now.”