The Big Interview: Chris Smalling's schooldays

He’d likely be in suit and shoes every day, not tracksuit and boots. He’d certainly be enjoying his football – and doubtless standing out head-and-shoulders at whatever level he settled into playing at in his spare time – but you wouldn’t know him as Chris Smalling of Manchester United and England. 

Chris’s educational path differs to many young players in that he didn’t join a club Academy at a young age (though he was with Millwall for a spell). Therefore instead of taking up a football scholarship after GCSE-level education, as an Academy youngster would at that age, he remained at his school – Chatham Grammar in Kent – for two more years to study A levels in the sixth form. The decisive fork in the road came for Chris in the summer between finishing his A levels and going to university. He’d had two firm offers of university places, and that was the plan. 

Before he committed to that, however, the talented England Schoolboys international and youth player for non-league Maidstone United had a number of trials set up with football clubs. He wasn’t sure anything would come of them, but he didn’t have anything to lose. He impressed the Fulham scouts enough to be offered the chance to join the club. Chris passed up his university place, took the plunge with Fulham and the rest of the story we’re all familiar with. 

But as Chris explains in an insightful discussion of his school days, the time he spent in education stood him in good stead and provided a fall-back option if a career in football – the dream of so many, but the reality for only a few – didn’t materialise...

Was your school life different to players who come through football club Academies?
Yeah, obviously secondary school was a lot different to the majority of the Academies [at football clubs]. After taking their GCSEs, they go on to their scholarships for two years but I stayed in the sixth form and did my A levels. I had two more years at my secondary school because we all did the A levels at the same school, so I spent nearly seven years at Chatham Grammar.

Was it a big decision for you to stay on at 16 when there are a lot of options?
There are. Obviously, I was with a club [Millwall] until 15 and then in and out, and it was just a case of concentrating on doing my A levels whilst playing for England Schoolboys and my local club [Maidstone] as well. It wasn’t as serious as a scholarship at, say, United, but I was happy juggling both at that time.

Was that a difficult juggling act, between your schoolwork and football?
It was. I didn’t get as much training as the scholarships but tried to fit in as much as I could. I enjoyed it but it was a stretch at times, having a lot of schoolwork while trying to do as well as I could in football. It set me up to go either way, whichever path I chose.

Was university ever an option for you?
I applied for university, coming towards the summer when I was finishing off my A levels. I already had my offers – either Leicester or Loughborough. I had three months until I was going to start in that summer, so I went on some trials – Fulham, Middlesbrough and a few others. If those trials didn’t work out, I had university already lined up. So it was just those couple of months that changed it, really. I decided to go to Fulham.

Leicester and Loughborough are both sports-oriented universities. Some of the United staff have been to Loughborough…
Yeah, they have. It’s a great facility. I went around to view a lot of universities and I liked Leicester and Loughborough. They were both very good for the courses I wanted to do, and very sport-related. Even if I didn’t get a professional contract, I still would have liked to carry on in some aspect because sport is what I enjoy.

Which subjects were your favourites at school?
At school, mine were business studies and economics. They were the ones. It would have been financial economics at university. My brother is doing it at the minute and we were both led into the same subjects, with a bit of maths involved. My brother is very clever, he’s doing really well. We could have been doing the same job.

What did you least enjoy at school?
Languages were something I didn’t really enjoy too much, although now, meeting so many different nationalities here, I would have liked to have spent more time concentrating on Spanish. You can relate to a lot of different players and, when you travel the world, there are a lot of Spanish-speaking countries. So I’d like to have pressed a little bit harder on languages when I was younger.

It’s easy to feel like that, as speaking a foreign language is such an advantage…
Definitely, it would certainly help. When I go on holiday, too, someone is always speaking Spanish and, if I was able to reverse the years, I’d definitely take Spanish up.

Everybody says they have a favourite teacher. Did you?
A favourite teacher? Well, in primary school, I had a memorable year six teacher. He was the one who put me on my path with county trials and that’s where it spiralled from in terms of the football. He was also very committed in terms of all my other subjects, he gave full commitment to both of those aspects. He is the one I really remember from when I was younger.

Did you play for your school team and do any memories stick out?
In secondary school, we didn’t really have a football team. It was more of a rugby school so I did a lot of rugby, cricket and athletics. I played football outside of school. But then we had a team in the sixth form, a very good team as we won the cup and the league. It was good to be part of that, playing among all your friends who you play with each day, so it was really good.

Is that something to be grateful for, as it’s sometimes said the fun element of football can be forgotten at Academies…
There is something to be said about it. Nothing is ever guaranteed and you see a lot of statistics about scholarships and how the vast majority don’t make it at the club they are at. It’s important to keep up with that academic side, as you always need a fall-back option. Up until the last couple of months, I was all set on going to university. I went on the trials not necessarily expecting to get anything but just hoping – if I got a chance, there was nothing to lose. You always need that back-up option so you’re really fully committed and it’s not left to the last minute, and you’re stuck with what to do.

Do you think you are a good example to youngsters facing similar dilemmas?
I had disappointments when I was growing up. I didn’t get the scholarship I was after but, if you are fully committed to your A levels and don’t get the scholarship, you can always play football in your spare time. I played for England Schoolboys and there is always that chance, but you need to make sure you have that other element alongside it.

MEANWHILE, ON TWITTER...

iPhone X?
Wireless charging?
Facial recognition?
Got nothing on this! #ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/FLXQyKH634

— Chris Smalling (@ChrisSmalling) September 14, 2017

Speaking of Smalling at school, we love the recent #TBT image that Chris posted on Twitter! It was a classic of the genre, showing him as a fresh-faced youngster with the world at his talented feet. 

The interview above first appeared in Inside United magazine.