Читать книгу Goals to Gold - Lee Sandford - Страница 25

AS I DROVE up the M6 to Staffordshire, I kept thinking about how far from home I was going to be. In my mind I had imagined Stoke being, at most, two hours drive from Portsmouth. I was 21. I had never driven myself such a long distance before. By the time I got to Birmingham, which had taken the full two hours, I was certain Stoke had to be just around the corner. When I was still driving 45 minutes later, I started to panic slightly.

Despite the fact that I knew I was going to be miles and miles from everyone and everywhere I knew, I felt sure I was doing the right thing. I was nervous but my loyalty to Alan was so strong I never questioned my decision. I hadn’t thought about what was best for my career, about whether it was wise to move down a division (at the time, Stoke were in Division Two, the second tier of the football league system) or whether any other club might be interested in me; I went with my heart. I didn’t want anyone else as my manager, I just wanted to play under Alan, my football dad.

It was an emotional decision and any good businessperson will tell you that you shouldn’t allow your emotions to dictate your business decisions. At that point I didn’t see myself as a business, which might have been my mistake. I absolutely loved every minute of my time at Stoke and I was never happier under any manager than I was under Alan Ball, but it’s possible that a different decision at this early stage in my career might have led to bigger and better things for me in the grand scheme. However, at the time, I never gave it a second thought. I was, literally, having a ball.

The Stoke fans were fantastic and couldn’t have been more welcoming to me. Also, it wasn’t long before the gaffer started to bring up other PFC players, so some of the old crowd were together again and we tried to recreate the atmosphere we’d had in Portsmouth. There was a sense of security in things staying the same.

But times were a-changing and the old “work hard so you can play hard” philosophy wasn’t quite producing the results anymore. Either that, or other clubs were doing away with it and getting more serious, leaving us in their wake as they moved up the league tables. Coaching tactics were being overhauled and modernised. While we were having fun, my old football dad was falling a little behind the times. At the end of my first season at Stoke, under Alan Ball’s management, we were relegated to the Third Division.

To be honest, at this time, I wasn’t too bothered about where we were in the league, I just wanted to play football every day and collect my weekly wages. I had other responsibilities to think about by then... it wasn’t just about me anymore.