How to Be a Footballer by Peter Crouch EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Peter Crouch
- Publish Date: November 27, 2018
- Language: English
- Genre: Boxing Biographies
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.1 MB
- Pages: 320
- Price: Free
- ISBN: 1785039768
DRESSING-ROOMS
Come with me inside football. Come with me into the inner sanctum, and to
all the other secret places in football too.
The dressing-room. Sixteen players, the manager, all the assistants, the
medical staff. And yet the man who has all the power is the kitman.
Once the kitman has chosen a peg for you, that’s it. Every home match you
will be given the same spot. In every away dressing-room the order of players
will be the same. Try and sit in a different place and there will be uproar: why
are you doing this, and why are you doing this now, just before kick-off in a
game we have to win?
There will be method behind his system. You might be put in a little row of
mates, or grouped together by position. Striker with strike partner, central
defender with central defender, goalkeeper on the end by himself. At home
your locker will be numbered, with a framed photo of you in action by your
spot. Ideally with you looking dominant, or scoring a goal, or generally
looking heroic. A little glance at it just before you head out onto the pitch, like
a visual pat on the back, a fist-pump, a ‘you’ve got this, big man’.
The dressing-room at the stadium is a different place to the training ground.
They might serve the same purpose but the vibe is far more serious. You meet
before matches at the training ground, take the coach to the stadium, and the
fun stops. You walk into the dressing-room and think, this is what it’s all
about, all the hard work in the rain and cold all week, all the hours of practice
in the park after school as a kid, all the good eating and stretching and gymwork and early nights. Early-ish nights. On weekdays.
You arrive at 1.30pm for a 3pm kick-off. Some of the lads will be having a
last massage, some listening to their music. I’ll read the programme from
cover to cover and try to find something amusing from within its pages to
read to the lads. ‘Hey, fellas, listen to what the captain’s written in his column
this week! Oh – you’re getting a massage. And I forgot – no one talks to each
other in here any more.’ There are tables of drinks, water, caffeine shots,
energy gels, cans of Red Bull, packs of chewing gum. Jelly Babies get shared
out. Get your hands off the black ones, you know they’re my favourite.
The best dressing-room in the old days was at Highbury. The famous
marble halls amazed. Then you walked into the away dressing-room for your
first ever experience of underfloor heating. When you’ve never tried it before
it blows your mind. ‘Oh my God! Lads! The floor is actually hot!’ We’d be
tossing our club-issue flip-flops to one side and strolling about in bare feet
with wonder on our faces. Now, of course, it’s standard issue in most
footballers’ bathrooms. It’s just how you heat rooms. Back then it was the
eighth wonder of professional football. ‘So this is Arsenal …’
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