Graham Roberts – A Journey Man

When you have been a UEFA cup winning captain and double FA cup winner, you would expect a lot of the gratitude and praise to be reserved for your past coaches, team mates and your family, but for former Tottenham Hotspur captain Graham Roberts, he owes most of his medals to a stranger on a railway platform.

The Tottenham veteran was then mere non-league midfielder for Weymouth preparing himself for a move to West Brom. That is until Tottenham scout Bill Nicholson stepped in to intervene after a bizarre meeting with a fan at a train station.

“A person at a train station got talking to Bill Nicholson, he was planning to go and watch a player at Swindon but their game was called off. Bill was getting back on the train but the bloke said to him ‘what are you doing here?’ Bill said ‘I’ve been looking for a midfielder.’ The fan then told Bill: ‘get yourself down to Weymouth; they have the best midfielder Non-league football.’

As Graham performed on the pitch that afternoon he had little idea that one of the most successful managers in the history of the game was on the sidelines solely to watch him.

“Bill came down, watched me that afternoon – I didn’t even know he was there. I was supposed to be signing for West Brom on that Tuesday, Bill got to hear about that, he told Keith Burkinshaw (then Tottenham manager) and Keith made an offer on the Tuesday whilst I was at West Brom and I changed my mind and went to Tottenham and signed for them.”

This sudden twist in fate prompted potentially drastic changes in Graham and his wives future. With his wives heart set on the midlands, the decision to sign at Spurs was fraught with risk. Despite this it was a gamble Roberts was prepared to take, Burkinsaw had got his man and Mrs Roberts was required to cancel her preparations for a move up north!

“It wasn’t an easy decision, West Brom did everything they could to keep me signing for them but I just made up my mind that I wanted to stay down South. It was just a bigger club, bigger players and more of a chance to go on and win things,” he admitted.

“Everything in life is a gamble, I had to make a decision there and then – my wife wanted to go up to West Brom but I changed my mind and changed her mind and moved to London.”

To know more about the now 54-year-old, you would have to go back to his teenage years where Roberts was brought up in the South of the UK and worked on local markets in the city of Southampton. Even then, the passion which Roberts was renowned for as a professional footballer was there as a kid as he recalls a meeting with his careers teacher to discuss his future.

“[She] said to me: ‘what happens if you don’t make it?’ I said ‘I will make it.’ I always had that something inside me which believed I could do it and achieve my overall goal of making it professionally.”

Prior to that, Roberts owes a lot of his achievements to his late mother, who not only brought Graham up but was also the manager of the local football team. Graham wasn’t his mothers only success story as the team produced not just one professional footballer, but four.

“My mum was the manager of the Sunday league team – she just loved football and in the end there were four players from that side who made it as professional footballers – Graham Baker, Steve Chalk, Alan King and myself.” Roberts’ most defining moment in a Lilywhite shirt came on a Wednesday evening in Tottenham back in 1984 as he captained his side in the second leg of the UEFA cup final against Anderlecht. Tottenham trailed 2-1 on aggregate with just six minutes remaining in the game when Roberts popped up with a late equaliser. It was a moment that hasn’t been forgotten and one he fondly recalls.

“I remember the goal well – when I’m with Ossie (Ardiles) I’ll always thank him for missing from six yards”, he laughed.

“He missed, everybody relaxed but the ball was with Micky (Hazard) and I knew what he was going to do. Mark Falco was in-front of me and he pushed the big blonde lad out of the way, I took it on my chest, rode a tackle and then slid it in to the net. With that it was ecstasy that came in – just a massive relief to get back into the tie really.”

As the match went to what most within the game describe as the ‘dreaded’ penalty shoot-out, Roberts was surprisingly confident of the outcome and recalls a conversation he had with manager Keith Burkinshaw just prior to the penalties.

“I’ve never hidden away from a penalty – I spoke to Keith about the pens and said ‘if we win the toss, I’ll take the first one and then they’ll be catching up on us.’ He agreed and said ‘yeah, whatever you wanna do’. Me scoring the first one and then them missing it meant that the pressure was on them all the time.”

Even when ‘little Danny Thomas’ – as he was so famously known – missed the teams fifth and final penalty, the skipper was still confident of success and paid tribute to the supporters who were there on that famous night in the history of the club.

“I hear people say there were 47 or 48 thousand there that night but I reckon there was more than that. The way they cheered and sang Danny’s name after he missed gave Parksy (Tony Parks) the confidence and belief to save the penalty to win us the cup.”

Three years earlier the Tottenham man had achieved every Englishman’s dream and worked his way up in the game to win the FA cup at Wembley.

“To win the FA cup was a massive honour – exactly a year before 81 I was a non league player, so to go from that to an FA cup winner was a huge achievement.”

The club great admitted that on a personal level the European night at White Hart Lane remains his proudest moment.

“That UEFA cup night will always be my best moment – it doesn’t get any better than to lift a European trophy on your own ground, but of course the FA cup day is up there with one of the greatest days of my life.”

Despite Tottenham sometimes having the reputation as the ‘Southern softies’, Roberts was definitely the exception to this rule and remembers being every club doctors worst nightmare.

“I just had my teeth knocked out , stitches in my head and the doctor unsurprisingly told me to come off but there was simply no chance of that – ‘sorry Doc, I’m not coming off – patch me up because I’m going back on’, he remembers saying, not asking.

That passion and pride for a trophy is something that many past players and greats of the game are often left somewhat upset about as they look at the current crop of professional footballers – particularly those at the top level.

Graham was no different and has a strong view on modern players, issuing a stark warning for those who choose financial gains over potential cup glory.

“Winning cups is what counts – just look how much Arsenal is going out to win the FA cup this season – none of their players have medals so it would mean the world to them. Yeah you can have as much money as you want but when these players finish their careers, how many of them can say I have two FA cups and one European cup?”

Roberts and other club legends are regularly hosting after dinner events and question and answers sessions (Q&A’s) but the former cup winning captain questions what some of the modern players are going to do once they finish the game.

“Yeah alright they might have millions in their bank but they can’t buy the history and memories that we’ve got. I feel sorry for them – we do after dinners and Q&A’s but what would they say? ‘Well we finished fourth then and 5^th then.’ That’s all they have – no medals, just money.”

The Tottenham man left the club in 1986 and played for another six clubs following his Tottenham exit – most notably Rangers and Chelsea, but after retiring from the game he swiftly turned his attention to management.

In 2005, the former Rangers man was the manager of Clyde and took his side to Rangers for a cup game. Roberts was a league and cup double winner with Rangers but recalls the day as one which so nearly didn’t go as expected.

“I remember the Rangers game well – getting a fantastic reception from the supporters, but it didn’t go to plan for them as we (Clyde) were 2-1 up with 12 minutes to go and then the supporters started to get angry. Eventually they scored and we lost 5-2 in extra time.”

Shortly after his Clyde side were at it again, but this time it was a game that Roberts could not only enjoy but one he was determined to win. It was his old rivals. The arch enemy. Celtic.

“The Celtic game was one I was desperate to win and I mean desperate – I didn’t get a good reception from them then but I didn’t really listen too much or care .I was too busy with the game and with that got a plan together and it worked and we won 2-1. It flattered them to be honest; it should have been 5 or 6. It meant so much to beat them as they could have got the treble that year so that was extremely pleasing to put a stop to that.”

Graham’s adventure didn’t stop there as he became the coach of Pakistan’s national team but left a few months in as he became increasingly concerned about his own safety.

“An agent rung me up and said ‘I’ve got a job for you,’ I said ‘where?’ he said: ‘Pakistan’.” I started laughing as I thought it was some prank call! I went there and it was an experience. It lasted three months – they wanted me to stay on for another two years but I said no because I valued my life too much. There were bombs going off everywhere – it just wasn’t a good situation to be in.”

Today, Roberts couldn’t be further from a country torn apart by war, but his commitment to help others less fortunate has never been too far away.

“I try to do lots of charity wok – there’s a little girl called Stacey who we’re trying to get to America to receive life saving treatment. We’re all working very hard to get her there as it’s a heart breaking story. My mum died of cancer so I’ve always tried to help this particular cause.”

Robert’s career was given a lift off and helping hand by a stranger at a train station and it’s clear that this former footballing great will now do anything he can to help a person in need as he donates his time and money to charity causes up and down the United Kingdom documenting and speaking about his past action packed career at the top of the game.

 

Micky Hazard’s life merry go round

A man born in the North East but now so in love with a team from North London

As the sat-nav informed me that this quiet rural road was the destination of one of the greatest midfielders England have ever produced, it was hard to imagine that this was the home of a twice FA Cup and once UEFA Cup winner. Micky Hazard is a man remembered incredibly fondly in the blue and white side of North London.

In his 17 years as a professional footballer, Hazard made 312 first team appearances. 103 of those games were for “his” club, Tottenham Hotspur, during his two spells there. Yet it all could have been so different if Tottenham had given up on Hazard on one of the many occasions he escaped the team hotel and ran back to the North East.

Hazard explained that during the early stages of his Spurs youth development he found it incredibly difficult to settle in and get used to being away from home.

“It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done; I spent the first six months running off home. I used to get up at night, crawl down the drain pipe, run to the bus stop, catch a tube at Seven Sisters to Kings Cross and off I went back to the North. I’d refuse to come back [to London], I just missed my family,” he admitted.

“I stormed out of the ground and drove home, absolutely fuc*ing fuming – swearing my head off in the car”

It was hard to comprehend that this confident, open speaker used to be a shy, strictly family orientated individual. Hazard was full of praise for his old club, particularly over the way he was treated whilst going through the difficult moving stages and recalls a defining day in both his and the club’s history after he was called into the manager Keith Burkinshaw’s office one afternoon.It was hard to comprehend that this confident, open speaker used to be a shy, strictly family orientated individual. Hazard was full of praise for his old club, particularly over the way he was treated whilst going through the difficult moving stages and recalls a defining day in both his and the club’s history after he was called into the manager Keith Burkinshaw’s office one afternoon.

“The club were amazing. Absolutely amazing. I used to go home once every six weeks and they would pay my train fare, give me expenses to have food on the train and give me money for whilst I was back home and then one day they called me into the office. They brought my Dad down and said: ‘We’ll do you a deal. We’re prepared to send you home every tenth day.’ I’d go home on the Saturday and have the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday at home and then come back to London on the Wednesday and the club were prepared to pay for this for two years. ”

The gesture from Tottenham left Micky stunned and he admitted that it gave him a tremendous amount of self-belief and showed him how much they thought of him. The faith they showed in him demonstrated that this was the right place for him. This is where his Lilywhite love affair began.

“The way they were prepared to help and fund me showed how much they cared and believed in me. They were amazing and when I look at my love for the club today, this has a big bearing on it – the fact that they weren’t just looking at Micky Hazard the footballer, but Micky Hazard as a person who, at the time, was very, very homesick. If it wasn’t for the faith Bill (Nicholson –ex player and manager) and Keith (Burkinshaw) showed in me, then I’d probably have been working on a building site.

It was clear how passionate he was about Spurs. This wasn’t someone who kissed a badge on the shirt to win over the supporters – this was love like a hardcore fan would demonstrate and show, this was precisely what Hazard was and still is – a fan.

“There will never ever be another club – this is my club, simple as that. My grandchildren are Spurs supporters, my son is a Spurs supporter and it will keep going down generations more because my love for Spurs is instilled into my children, their love for Spurs is installed into their children. It will keep going on and on until even after I’m gone.”

The passion of Hazard was clear, and it was genuine passion. Therefore it seems odd that he transferred to bitter rivals Chelsea in 1985. It was clearly a sore subject but he remembered the events like they were yesterday.

“We played Newcastle on the Saturday and I didn’t have an inkling that something was in the air, no inkling whatsoever. A lot of clubs had tried to sign me in the past and I had been tapped up before – including by Arsenal. I’d just won the UEFA cup, was picked by England and signed a new four year contract – everything was hunky dory.”

The club had just beaten Newcastle 5-1 and Micky himself had scored during the game, but after he arrived in the players’ lounge, he got the shock of his life when Peter Shreeves (then manager) asked to ‘have a word.’

“I was told they had accepted a club record fee for me from Chelsea (£350,000) and they wanted to meet with me on Monday,” he added.

” I had gone from Swindon to a massive club like Spurs and all I got out of it was a club car, but I loved it”

It was clear that the move still annoyed Hazard and the hurt he felt over it still lingered in his eyes.

“I was shocked and left speechless. As I look back, I think to myself ‘Why didn’t I just turn around and say no, I’m not going?’ I just can’t believe I didn’t, but I know why I didn’t – I got angry, you fuc*ing what? I’ve been here since I was 12, I’m now fuc*ing 25, just picked for England and signed a four-year contract and you’re going to fuc*ing sell me? I’m the best fuc*ing player in the country, other than Glenn Hoddle, I’m his perfect replacement – we’re both so gifted and naturally talented.”

It was clear that the anger over the move is still there. He continued: “I stormed out of the ground and drove home, absolutely fuc*ing fuming – swearing my head off in the car. I was just in shock; I’ve won two FA Cups and one UEFA Cup.”

As Micky then referred to his beloved club as ‘fuc*ing bas*ards’, he admitted that his rage started to cloud his judgement.

“I decided that I would meet Chelsea on the Monday. I sat down with their manager John Hollins and he made me an incredible offer financially and I signed for them that afternoon.”

It wasn’t until Hazard’s first training session that the consequences of what he had done sank in.

“As you know, your heart sometimes rules your head, but it subsides. I got into the Chelsea car park and I thought ‘shi*, what have I done? It’s actually happened’.”

His eyes then lit up as he spoke about his transfer back to Tottenham in 1993 – he recalls the moment he ran down the High Road to sign the deal.

“It was the quickest contract signing ever. I didn’t even negotiate a pay rise – not even 1%. I had gone from Swindon to a massive club like Spurs and all I got out of it was a club car, but I loved it,” said Hazard with a huge smile on his face.

The record book shows that Hazard has won three main major trophies, but in the mind of the now 53-year-old, he won many more as a youth team player in an indoor training centre all on his own.

He joked: “I don’t know whether you know this, but I’m the most decorated player in the history of the game because in that gym I played in 360 World Cup finals, 485 FA Cup finals and won 365 League titles – and in all of them I got the winning goal.”

The solo hours Hazard put in clearly paid dividends as he became one of the most technically gifted players around. However he fondly, but somewhat embarrassingly, remembers a certain afternoon in that gym when a solo ‘competitive’ game suddenly had a spectator.

“I was running crazy, playing fantastically and had just won a World Cup, but as I looked up at the gallery whilst in mid celebration, who’s sitting watching? My then assistant manager, Peter Shreeves. It embarrassed me so much that I had to stop for a while.”

In the world away from Hazards active imagination, his crowning achievement came on the 23rd of May 1984, as Tottenham took on Anderlecht in the second leg of the UEFA Cup final. Anderlecht – who were the defending Champions at the time – were leading with five minutes to go before Hazard’s cross was eventually turned home by his good friend, Graham Roberts.

The tie was drawn 2-2 – Hazard with the assists for both goals – and the game went to a penalty shootout. The ex English international recalls the moment he was close to stepping up to take the defining penalty only to have to stand down from the potentially glorious moment.

“I was actually supposed to take Danny Thomas’ penalty but I had been suffering from cramp so Danny took his one ahead of me.”

After Thomas missed his penalty, Hazard believes that it was the home fans that got the team the victory. He insists that – to this day – he has never heard an atmosphere like it and believes the supporters spurred them on to victory on that famous evening at White Hart Lane.

“It was just amazing, nothing will ever get close to that night and I genuinely believe the fans won us the cup that night. We had the cup won when little Danny Thomas stepped up to take the penalty – all he had to do was score and the cup was ours – but he missed. In the terraces it could have gone either way, but they sang his name like he was the hero and I truly believe that inspired Tony Parks to make the match winning save.”

The Sunderland born star then criticised UEFA for somewhat devaluing the UEFA Cup and Hazard believes that the Champions League has made “great clubs and great players become losers.”

He added: “If you want glory, then it’s not how much is in your wage packet every week, it’s what happens on the pitch and, believe me, when you walk up those steps to pick up a trophy for the first time, that replaces any amount of money you have. You cannot buy the feeling that you get when lifting a trophy.”

The ex pro believes that the modern day footballer’s stance towards cups – in particular the FA Cup – has changed far too much and is disrespectful to those in the past.

He added: “Modern day footballers are more than happy to finish fourth at the expense of an FA Cup and it drives me mad. In the past just look at some of the players who have played and won the competition – some of the greatest footballers that ever lived.”

He questioned how UEFA can call the competition “The Champions League” when teams who have finished third and fourth were competing with teams who had won trophies during the course of the season.

Nowadays, Hazard’s main focus is his role with Sevenoaks Town where he coaches every weekend. Hazard had experience coaching at Tottenham, but is now enjoying his role working with younger players. He managed the Sevenoaks under 18’s to victory in the Ryman Youth League for the first time in the club’s history.

Hazard, now the first team coach, believes that it’s vital to get younger players in and around the first team at that age, rather than go with older players like most teams at that level.

“I wanted to get a balance, so we kept all the under 18’s as a first team and blended in five or six older players to get the mix right.”

He also stressed how important it is to be patient with the younger players: “With kids you can be a very good side and still lose, but the important thing is how you respond to that. The aim and goal is long-term and we’re already building a team for next season.”

Hazard’s other main responsibility and role at the moment is nothing short of exceptional, it is heart-warming but also heart-breaking at the same time. Micky regularly attends charity functions to help others – in particular children’s charities, a cause particularly close to his heart.

The ex-footballer, who is often referred to as a “legend” and “hero”, insisted that footballers aren’t heroes and it was the men and women who do hours upon hours of unpaid, and also un-noticed, charity work who are the real inspirations and heroes.

“You talk about sporting people being “heroes”, but they’re not – there are people out there who do far, far more than any of these people.”

Micky then spoke about a function he attended the previous day which would bring tears to the eyes of even the hard men of the modern game.

“There’s a charity called Starlight who aim to grant terminally ill children one wish. One of the girls wish was ‘Can you name three stars after me and my two brothers, so when I’m in heaven I’ll be able to see them?’ Her words will stay with me for ever.”

The look in his eyes showed how much this meant to him and how much the boy who used to climb down a drain pipe to run home to his family, had changed and would do anything in his powers to help others have the family love he enjoyed whilst growing up.

From the invincible to the invisible

Many people often question what ex footballers do after leaving the game; I came to central London to find out.

 I walked into the unremarkable central London Recruitment companies head office, where I had arranged to meet ex Arsenal and QPR defender Matthew Hislop. It’s hard to imagine that this typically well dressed city worker had just five years ago been rubbing shoulders with World Cup, European Championship and Champion’s league winners and competing for a left back spot with a man who has twice featured in the UEFA team of the year.

Matthew Hislop, now 25, currently works in the city as a teaching recruitment consultant, but as a 16 year old he was the kid everyone wanted to be like. He went to school like a normal 16 year old, but come the evenings, he was playing out every teenager’s dream. Hislop was training with some of the greatest players in the world, just three years before the globally recognised “Invincibles” era began, Hislop trained with world renowned stars such as Thierry Henry and Ashley Cole. However, despite all of this, Hislop seemed happier with his current life than his past footballing days.

Hislop reflected on his time at Arsenal and despite being around superstars stars such as Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas, it was a less glamorous player that Hislop paid closer attention to: “As a full back myself; it was Ashley Cole who I took particular notice of. For me he’s the best left back this country has seen and he was definitely someone I aspired to be like. The coaches always tried to model myself like him from a young age as our styles were very similar in the way we both attack and having him so close to me definitely helped me improve my game.”

 Hislop, however, wasn’t the only young footballer from his school – Jermaine Pennant, now with Stoke City and Jamie O’Hara, now at Wolverhampton Wanders, were both in similar positions with Arsenal. It was at the age of 14 when Hislop was in year 10 that Arsenal stepped in and started to change things.

“Arsenal ran a scheme that when you got to year 10, you dropped a subject from your GCSE’s and you trained instead. It was a sort of transition between training three times a week, which you do as an academy player, to going full time after you turn 16.  At times it was difficult when we couldn’t go out and experience things such as drinking with friends as we were either training or had a match, but in the end it was just became a way of life because I started playing so young and as time went on it was just something I got used to and accepted”, Hislop explained.

A year later, at the age of just 17, Hislop moved on from the North London side and made the switch across to West London to Queens Park Rangers. The 25 year old puts a lot of the reasoning behind the move down to their manager at the time, Ian Holloway.

“It was Ian who wanted to sign me and he assured me that I’d be straight into the first team and would have opportunities to sit on the bench and make appearances, so at the time it made more career sense from a personal point of view.”

Sitting in the small, compact office, it was a far cry from Hislop’s previous working environment – “In regards to facilities it was a massive step to go from Shenley, Arsenal’s multi-million pound training ground, to sharing a training ground with rugby union side Wasps. It was a quite big step down and obviously the standard of football was lower, but at least I was playing first team football and still had the chance to play alongside great pros like – Danny Shittu and Dean Sturridge so it was still a great experience for me”, admitted Hislop.

Unfortunately for Hislop, injuries started to get in the way of making first team appearances at a vital stage, so much so that it cruelly ended his professional career as a senior footballer.

Hislop recalls the time his career came to an end: “I had a year or so when I was fit and made my first team debut against Leicester and also had the chance to play in a few FA cup and League cup games, but then the injuries really started to take toll in the end and I came to the end of my contract at the age of 20 and I had to move on away from football.”

Having come so close, yet so far, many outsiders looking in may have believed that such a cruel blow would be something he would struggle to recover from. However, despite his initial reaction naturally being one of disappointment, Hislop refused to sit around and think “why me?”, instead he started to think of his future career plans outside of football.

Footballers who have been in a similar situation to Hislop often find themselves with a lack of options away from the game, however from an early age, Hislop’s father was determined that if the worst did happen to his son, then he was armed with the qualifications to succeed in another industry.

 An eternally grateful Hislop reflected on the influence of those who knew him best: “Luckily for me my Dad had always been pretty hard on me in terms of my education and made sure I was on form and on point with that. When I started to realise that football wasn’t going to work out, I didn’t muck about or feel too sorry for myself and I knuckled down and decided that I wanted to get into business and eventually ended up in recruitment. At the time it was very difficult but it was a transition that my family and close friends played a huge role in and helped me out throughout.”

Going from a professional footballer to a business recruitment worker is a drastic change and one in which many would struggle to cope with, but Hislop remains defiant and admits he regrets nothing and “thanks god and his lucky stars” that he was given the chance to play professional football, despite being the first to admit that he was devastated to have such a promising career taken from him he can look back with fondness on his time in the game and his memories are something that he cherishes.   

“I’m just lucky that I had the chance to do so many amazing things as a young person – to play in a stadium in front of so many people. I don’t want to look back on it with any regret, I had an amazing opportunity to do some amazing things and I have some amazing experiences and stories which nobody can ever take away from me, but obviously going from being a professional footballer to someone who works in an office is very different. However, I will always try not to fixate on the past too much and just try to move forward and, if I’m honest, I don’t think about my football career too much until people ask me about it or someone mentions something about the game”, he smiled.

Despite being out of the world of football for over five years now, Hislop remains fixated with the game from a spectators point of the view and, despite his Arsenal connections, admits he’s a “massive Spurs fan”.

“Even though I did play for Arsenal, I am a massive Spurs fan and I have to admit that from about the age of 16 I got a little de-attached from being a Tottenham fan as part of being an Arsenal player we had to attend every senior Arsenal home game. I was big friends with Cesc Fabregas, Johan Djourou and Antony Stokes, so watching them do well and me cheering them was a little bit difficult.” He explained.

However, Hislop admits that despite the move to QPR being a tough one, it did help him fall back in love with his favourite side:

“Literally as soon as I made the switch to QPR I was back to being an avid Spurs fan again and finally got back in touch with my feelings! I continue to follow football down to a tee and consider myself to be a big, big Spurs fan”, said Hislop with pride.

If the Tottenham Hotspur fan Hislop does have one regret, it is, unsurprisingly, going to be the fact that he never had the chance to play for the blue and white half of North London rather than Spurs’ arch enemies Arsenal.

Hislop, regrettably, recalls his scouting process: “When I was 11 we had a really good football team and I got scouted by lots of teams– Arsenal, Wimbledon, West Ham – literally nearly every team in London, except for Spurs. They were the only team who never scouted me or wanted me to come down to the training ground to have trials with them. So, I never had the choice about choosing Arsenal or Tottenham and, if I’m honest, I would have been extremely tempted to choose Arsenal – purely because their academy at the time was one of the best in the world by far and it was quite well known at the time that Arsenal were the academy to go to.”

However, a few seconds later, Hislop changed his mind:

“Actually, I’m going to change my mind! For any Spurs fans reading and as a Spurs fan – I would have picked Spurs; I’m going to say that”, said a laughing Hislop.

His injury and fitness concerns now in the past, Hislop was free to continue playing football. However with work commitments, he was only able to do so at a part time level.

“Shortly after I started work, I signed for Hayes & Yeading part time in the conference south and in that particular season we did really well and got promoted, however the problem was playing part time was completely different to playing every day and financially I’d have rather focused on getting involved in business and get to 30 or 31 and, hopefully, be in a managerial position within the company. So for those reasons and the fact I started moving up in my job, it really was only a one season thing as I didn’t want to give up my weekends as when you work five days a week in the office your weekends are quite big and your Friday nights are quite important, so I decided for life satisfaction, that I would stop playing part time”, he revealed.

It was clear that despite being out of the game for a while, Hislop’s desire to win and sporting competitiveness hadn’t gone anywhere:

“The only time I play now is down the power league with my mates, which, by the way, we’re winning, but apart from that I don’t play professionally anymore.”

It was clear that Hislop was happy in his current role despite the fact it couldn’t be further from a football pitch and was more than happy to talk with pride and conviction about his new job:

“I work for a recruitment firm in terms of education and we (Protocol Education – the company Hislop works for) are.”) Are currently the leading firm for London and large parts of the UK. We provide teachers for schools, whether it would be to cover for a teacher during a training course or just a general sickness, schools would call us to cover that position and we’d supply them a teacher.”

Hislop confirmed that despite being just 25, he would not be renewing his passion for the game in the future and is 100% committed to the company and his business prospects.

The ex-Arsenal player revealed he had a chance to return to the game: “I’ve had opportunities, one of the ex QPR coaches, Garry McCann, is now the manager at Hendon and he’s been calling me telling me to get fit ahead of next season and I’ve had a think about but I could only see myself playing at that type of low level. I’m getting on a bit now and maybe it’s not the right time to be getting back involved in the game. I’m happy and content with the way my life is right now and I want to move forward in the ranks here and I wouldn’t give that up to have a crack at football – this is me for now.”