The English football culture was a different beast back in the eighties when I was growing up and even in the early nineties when I made my debut. It was rife with hooliganism and racism, the latter largely responsible for the decline of my football career.
I grew up initially in London, and I remember playing football in the streets. After a while, we moved to a different location in the upmarket area of Surrey, where I learnt to play on grass and got accustomed to 11-a-side football. Surrey was a big part of my childhood – I used to represent them at the schoolboy level until the age of 14 and was playing alongside a group of kids who were all really good for their age. Soon I started playing for Dorking Wanderers, a club affiliated with the Surrey County Football Association. It was there that I got spotted by a scout from Burnley, who were in the fourth tier of English football at that time. He wanted me to appear for a trial.
The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the equivalent of a football academy in England in those days. I went for the trial, thinking it was the only first hurdle because you usually had to go through three or four trials to be selected. The first trial was it – they saw enough in me to make an offer. It was a big deal. Being Asian and of colour, you had to be way better than the average white players in the peer group to make it. The younger generation of fans might be familiar with Burnley because of their recent spell in the Premier League, but they have a massive history. They were one of the twelve founder members of the Football League – they were founded in the 1800s.
Burnley's chief scout was Brian Miller, who previously managed them and had also represented England at the international level. He drove over 300 miles to visit our house and speak with my parents. It initially didn't go according to plan, as you might expect from Asian parents in the nineties. I was sixteen and about to leave school to do my A Levels. To make things worse, football and racism went hand in hand back then, and they were fearful of how that would affect me. Eventually, I got my way, though. Miller convinced my parents that the club would look after me and would have access to the best facilities to turn my dream of becoming a professional football into a reality.
The beginning was wonderful. I was having the time of my life. The first six months were amazing, but things took a turn quickly. Even at sixteen, I was playing for the men's reserve team at Burnley. There were players older than me that could not get into the reserves; I got in before they did. It led to a lot of resentment towards those in my peer group. The competition was fierce; everyone was fighting for their own position. I made it to the reserves within a few months, and I could tell that many did not like it. During training there were dirty tackles flying in and unpleasant things had been said behind my back.
