ℹ️ PERS. INFORMATION

⚽️ CLUB HISTORY

Club	Years
Morecambe FC	Youth – 2016
Chorley FC	2014 – 2015 (on loan)
Chorley FC	2015 (on loan)
Southport FC	2016 – 2017
Marine AFC	2018 – 2019
FC United of Manchester	2019 – 2021
Southport FC	2021 – 2023
Marine AFC	2023 –

Interview:

Chris, what kind of football player are you ? 

I am an old school defender that loves to head and tackle anything that moves. Early on in my professional career I was a ball playing centre half with pace. As the years went on and a bad injury happened my body reigned in the pace and I adopted a more commanding leadership role.

How important is football for you?

Early in my Morecambe pro days football was all I knew, I left school and straight into the professional game. In my school days I always told my teachers I would be a professional footballer (only a few believed me and still to this day compliment me).

Since having a serious injury which set me back from football for 2 years I then learnt Football is not the be all as life is cruel at times and i realised my family is the most important part of my life.

Since leaving the pro game I have found having an Education or Trade is vital. I would always encourage the younger generation to work hard in school as football is not only a short career but it is really unpredictable.

During your youth, you spent time in the Everton Academy from the age of 10 to 14. How did you experience Everton’s youth training programme? 

Everton was brilliant in the sense of professionalism, my team was good and we had a good laugh. I still speak to the lads in that team to this day some have gone on to have really good careers high up the leagues.

On a personal level it possibly came at a wrong age for me or I wasn’t there long enough as the next 3/4 years after that period was when I really developed my skills.

After Everton FC you moved to Morecambe FC. Did you experience big differences between these clubs?

In a sense I was too young at both clubs to fully appreciate what I had around me. At Everton being a young kid I just wanted to play with my mates, have fun and be a kid.

At Morecambe I had just left school and within 12 months I was a Professional football which lasted 4 years. That time flew by and me being me I am always on the go so that time flew without me stopping to appreciate what I was doing and what I had achieved. Once I left the pro game and a serious injury followed I then learnt to appreciate what I had and the opportunities that I was given in life, ones I could only dream about as a kid.

In the 2012-13 season you signed your first professional contract at the age of 17. How important was that moment for you? 

Signing my contract for Morecambe was a dream come true, something I dreamt about as a kid and something as I previous said I told my teachers in school, family and friends. Since signing that contract I had many amazing memories from marking Carlos Tevez against Man City in a friendly to making 15+ football league appearances.

Chris you made your first team debut in the club’s 3-0 win against Rochdale AFC. How did you experience that match?  

Being told I was on the bench for the first team was my first goal and a great achievement for me, then I always aim high and my next goal was to get on the pitch. So when my named was called to come on against Rochdale whether it was the last 5 minutes or 90 minutes nothing was going to take that moment away from me. Also in the same game before I came on one of my mates Kevin Ellison scored possibly the best goal i’ve seen live.

In your time at Morecambe, you were on loan by Chorley FC, scoring five times in 26 appearances. How did you experience your time with Chorley? 

For any young pro coming through my advice would be to gain experience by going out on loan. As a player you need to be playing every week to establish yourself no matter what level. So for me being 18 going on loan to the Conference North for Chorley was brilliant. We had an amazing team and managed to reach the play offs. I always see myself as a goal scoring centre half and In the semi final I scored to make it 2-1 starting a comeback and in the dying seconds Adam Roscoe scored equally the best live goal with a overhead kick top corner, taking it to penalties which we won. Unfortunately losing in the final but nonetheless experiencing this at 18/19 was a huge experience in my career.

From 2019 until 2021 you played for FC United of Manchester and made 39 appearances. Why did you leave the reds after that season?

FC United was a great club to me, great fan base and again our squad was strong we were second in the league only behind South Sheilds. If this league carried on we probably would have got promoted via the playoffs but it was Covid time, that strange period when we went into lockdown and the league was null and void.

After a successful time at FC I decided to play higher in the football pyramid and signed for Southport FC again another club I loved my time and stayed here for 2 seasons.

You joined Marine in august 2023. Which game do you consider to be your best one at Marine FC?

There have been several good moments from the last season, on a personal note getting to the FA Cup first round again and scoring in front of my home fans and the goals being shown on the TV was another great moment for me and my family.

Nevertheless the final beating Macclesfield will be a moment I will tell my kids and grandkids about in the future. That is up there with the greatest day of my life along with my wedding (for the missus).

What are your personal goals this season? 

Personally as I say every season I want to play as many games and be injury free. Then I have my own personal clean sheet targets and goals target ultimately winning as many points for the football club as possible.

With Marine being by local club whom I have followed since I was a kid I know the struggles of Marine over the years and the highs that we all achieved last season gaining promotion, as a club hopefully we will establish ourselves in this league in time and prove we are capable to adapt.