Mings: We need to get our house in order to defy Wembley odds
Mortgage adviser turned England defender relishes chance to tackle City on big stage, writes John Percy
From those formative days as a mortgage adviser at London and Country, to becoming a regular in the England national team, Tyrone Mings knows all about defying the odds. He is also acutely aware of the importance of preparation, so last weekend’s abysmal team performance at Southampton was hardly the best build-up to a cup final in which Aston Villa are huge underdogs.
“Last Saturday was about as bad as I’ve ever been involved in, and I’ve been in some bad games,” Mings says. “Was it the worst of my career? Yes, just in terms of how disappointing the performance was.
“We know we have to bring our A-game [today] and anything less could lead to an embarrassment.”
That 2-0 defeat at St Mary’s sparked the hairdryer treatment from manager Dean Smith and Mings will head into the first League Cup final of his career hoping that post-match inquest helps drive Villa towards a major upset.
Mings, 26, was part of the shellshocked defence when Manchester City hammered Villa 6-1 in January and Smith’s team must somehow succeed where the might of Real
Madrid failed earlier this week. Mings, however, senses an opportunity. “These days don’t come around very often, especially with Villa’s recent history. Hopefully we’ll bring something back for the fans that will put a smile on their face.
“It will be a welcome distraction from the league. We are massive underdogs, so it’s a challenge for us to prove we can mix it with the big teams and give a good account of ourselves. You never know what can happen.”
Today’s final will only continue the upward trajectory of Mings’s career path, and it has been some journey since that time when he was seriously considering a job in financial services.
He was released by Southampton for being too small (he now stands 6ft 5in), and was rejected by a number of clubs until the afternoon which changed his life in December 2012.
Playing part-time for Chippenham, he was invited to play in a trial for Ipswich Town by Mick McCarthy. Towards the end of the game he was taken off, with McCarthy stunned when the young defender confronted him over the substitution.
“I wasn’t happy one bit. I was a mortgage adviser getting up to play in a trial game, I didn’t want to come off,” says Mings, smiling.
“I played for Chippenham on the Saturday and then that trial game on the Monday and I got a bit of a knock on my knee, so I was probably hobbling around a bit. It appears that by that point Mick had already made up his mind he was going to sign me, but I didn’t know that when he was taking me off.”
Eight years later, he is a £21million joint record signing for Villa and has two caps for the England team.