A brief interlude while we await the action
Monday 25 January 2010 12:30
With most of the Premier League having a weekend off, Rob Carey delves into his personal archive
My real footballing hero isn’t Pele, Kevin Keegan, or even Kenny Dalglish.
He wasn’t an explosive striker, or a playmaking midfielder, but a defender whose toughness would bring tears to the eyes of John Terry just by looking at him.
His commitment to keeping the ball away from his penalty area, and lack of fear when going into a tackle, caused team-mates to nickname him “Droid.”
Luckily for the opposition, he played for the local hospital football team.
My brother taught me how to tackle, how to head the ball, and how to shoot.
I also became a fairly useful dribbler because of him, mainly to keep my shins in one piece, which is more that I can say about my Subbuteo players after a rare victory.
It’s my big brother’s birthday today.
He didn’t score too many goals but this effort from the halfway line was his greatest ever and scored decades before Xabi Alonso, Maynor Figueroa and that bloke who plays part-time in between advertising underwear.
He tells me it was the game-decider after a shout of “Next goal’s the winner,” making sure everyone made it home for their tea, and the fact that we can both remember it, even though it was about 30 years ago, tells you how amazing it was.
Either that or we both need to get a life. But happy birthday, Rich.
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About Rob Carey
Behind Alan Shearer, Rob is hoping to become England’s second most famous son of a sheet metal worker. He spent most of his childhood worshipping Kenny Dalglish, running around muddy pitches, collecting Panini football stickers, and drawing the weekend’s football highlights in stickmen form.
Today he can be found in California worshipping the sun, hobbling through an over-30s’ match, collecting injuries, and drawing the weekend’s football highlights in stickmen form. He certainly wouldn’t say no to anyone offering him enormous sums of money to turn his blog
One Pound The Large Flag into a book.