But I don’t forget where and how I started either. Like everybody else in our neighbourhood in Dakar where I grew up, I played lots of football. I grew up in Essex and I was always seen as odd because I support Newcastle United and have done, since I was around 10. Reason being is because as a kid I was a big fan of Shearer and started following him as he transferred to Newcastle many moons ago and I supported them ever since. Matt, who began his professional career across the West Midlands at Kidderminster Harriers after coming through at Sutton Coldfield Town, also admitted that it is a return to his boyhood roots.

Whether it's a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game – I play the same. I'm always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win." Although the 23-year-old made an impressive start to his Marseille career with an assist on his Ligue 1 debut, he had to wait until last Saturday’s 3-2 defeat by Monaco to score his first goal after a tumultuous few weeks. The manager Marcelino resigned in response to what he called “intimidation, threats and slander” from supporters in the wake of a 4-0 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain. Such is life under the spotlight in the south of France. I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year. It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success."I think she is going to be a real inspiration to the current pupils and further fuel and ignite the passions for women’s football. Our #WomenInSport teammates share the amazing benefits of joining a local sports team and their tried-and-tested tips to get started I had a very fruitful spell alongside him - and Wayne Hatswell as well - when we worked together at Newport." In truth, the very best players rarely stayed for long. They had been signed up by academies (usually Sunderland or Middlesbrough) or were instead focused on 11-a-side but it was my mini field of dreams made up of bruising wooden floors, rope netting, angry parents, a welcome poster that read “Shearer, Beardsley, Bruce… all Wallsend Boys Club” and a TV upstairs on which Newcastle’s finest seasons in decades were being played out. Many years ago when I first started my career Maradona told me "to enjoy and play as you know", and that's stayed with me ever since and is the best advice I've been given."

Every time I start a year, I start with the objective of trying to achieve everything, without comparing it to how I've done in other seasons." I made sacrifices leaving Argentina, leaving my family to begin a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for soccer, to achieve my dream."However, Brentford FC went on an unbelievable run of eight consecutive wins, eventually, inexorably, whittling the gap between them in third, and us in second place, to one miserable point. So, in the 46th and final game of this 11-month season, we had to better Brentford’s score. We were playing QPR; Brentford were playing Barnsley. Darren Randall, who coached Kirby at Caversham United, said: “We had a team of all girls playing in an all-boys’ league and we finished second. Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. But Ndiaye, who moved to London when he was 14 and played for Boreham Wood’s youth teams before joining Sheffield United in 2019, appears to be taking it all in his stride. “At every match the supporters are behind us no matter what the score is,” he said diplomatically, although he has yet to live the experience of scoring a goal in front of them at the Stade Vélodrome. “It made me happy to do it against Monaco – I had been waiting for this moment for a long time.” As the game became more popular among the working classes, local teams began to form. At one point, there were six major clubs in Sheffield alone (Sheffield, Sheffield Wednesday, United, Hallam, Heeley and Providence). As people tended to not move around very much in their lifetime, there was much more inclination to support the team that represented your area and was made up of people you went to work with or lived among.