Personal information:

Club history:

Club	Years
Arsenal FC	youth – 2013
Brentford FC	2013 (on loan)
Nottingham Forest FC	2013 – 2016
Nuneaton Town FC	2015 (on loan)
Torquay United FC	2016 (on loan)
Braintree Town FC	2016
Chelmsford City FC	2016 – 2017
Bromley FC	2017 – 2018
Gillingham FC	2018 – 2019
Bromley FC	2019 – 2020
Aldershot Town FC	2020 – 2021
Boreham Wood FC	2021 – 2023
Dagenham & Redbridge FC	2023 –

Interview:

Introduce yourself…

I’m Josh Rees, 31 year old professional football player of 15 seasons now.

After leaving Arsenal’s academy, you made your senior debut with Nottingham Forest FC. What was it like transitioning from academy football to a first-team environment in the Championship?

First team football was definitely a step up in terms of the competitiveness of the games and training. It is a bit of a cliche but essentially points are on the line and the mentality is to win. Academy football is more about development and the pressure to perform is less demanding. Nottingham Forest I must say were a brilliant club for that transition. As a young player they managed to strike a balance between the development phase and the pressure of a first team environment. It is no surprise that many young players made the step up to the first team.

You had loan spells at Nuneaton Town FC and Torquay United FC. How did you experience your time there?

I really enjoyed both loan spells. Nuneaton was very short but I had a good manager in Liam Daish who I enjoyed playing under. Torquay was for half a season. Again under a top guy in Kevin Nicholson. They were 12 or so points from safety but he managed to get a group together and we stayed up with two games to spare. It was an amazing achievement and gave me that experience at a young age of a relegation battle and what it means to a club where jobs and livelihoods are at stake and the pressure is high.

During your time at Chelmsford, you played a key role in the team’s push for promotion. What did you take away from that experience, and how did it shape your career trajectory?

Chelmsford was a funny one because I ended up there by chance. I was meant to sign at a club in the football league but it didn’t materialise and then I was out in the cold without a club come the beginning of the season. Rod Stringer got me down at Chelmsford and I originally just wanted to play a couple of games to stay fit. In the end I stayed and was one of the most enjoyable seasons of my career football wise. Rod was a brilliant squad builder and we had a great team for the level with some real characters. We had a top coach on Nick Haycock who is now at Aston Villa. We were tactically so fluid despite being part time. The group was really together and we won the Essex Cup and just fell short in the playoff final to a well backed Ebbsfleet team. It was a tough one to take but I personally had a strong season playing 50 odd games which was probably my longest stint staying fully fit.