The Times January 20, 2006
From primary school to the Premiership in six years
By Rick Broadbent
Our correspondent traces the path of Theo Walcott's astonishing rise as the player prepares to become football's most expensive 16-year-old
IT COULD have been Chelsea or Swansea City, but Theo Walcott will finally enter the big time this afternoon when a road that has taken in Bugsy Malone, George Weah and Jaffa Cake attacks ends with him being unveiled as Arsenal’s latest teen prodigy. The pace of change has matched his speed of foot and it is less than six years since Malcolm Elias, the head of recruitment at Southampton, stood on a bumpy pitch in Newbury and said to himself: “Jeepers creepers.”
Walcott picked Southampton over Chelsea then, but is heading for London now after passing a medical last night.
He is only 16, but his family tree includes Sir Clyde Walcott, the legendary West Indies batsman, and his parents and peers have tethered him to reality. Coming back from Hull City in November, he woke on the coach to find his face covered in Jaffa Cakes and he has been living in a converted hotel near the demolished Dell with Southampton’s other youngsters, honing his pool and ten-pin bowling skills with Nathan Dyer. “They’ ll be lost without each other,” Elias said. Walcott’s departure means that he will miss his scheduled cookery lessons.
The making of a £12 million man-child began when he started playing as a 10-year-old at Compton Primary School, near Newbury, where his painting of St Mary’s Church hangs in reception. “Not because he did it, but because he was an outstanding artist,” Pete Fry, a learning support assistant, said.
Walcott tried football when a friend said that his side were short of numbers. “Soon we were going to games and deciding whether to play him in the first half or the second,” Fry said. “Just to make it fair. It was like playing your joker.”
A trial for Newbury Schools followed, where David Gent, a selector, also recognised his ability. The only problem was teaching him the offside rule. “He had no concept of it at all,” Gent recalled. “He’d walk up and down the sidelines trying to work it out.” Gent had seen a 10-year-old Michael Owen play and felt that Walcott was better. “He won’ t be swayed by the money,” he said. “He’s not big-headed at all.”
Put that down to Team Walcott. His father, Don, is a former British Gas employee who drives him, literally but not metaphorically. His mother, Lynn, is a midwife, his sister, Hollie, a former county netball player. He is close to his brother, Ashley, and has a girlfriend, Melanie. “He’s loved up,” the Southampton gatekeeper said in forlorn hope that it might derail the move.
He joined AFC Newbury and scored at a rate that staggered his strike partner, Scott Doe. “We won our league and Theo scored 100-odd goals,” Doe said. “I got about half that.”
The pair joined Swindon Town and went to a tournament in Cardiff where the pitch was plastic and Walcott played in his shoes. Then Doe was converted into a centre half and had the misfortune to play against his friend. “People couldn’t kick him because they couldn’t get near him,” he said. “I never once saw him lose his temper, he was so calm, and, yes, he did score against me.”
Doe remained at Swindon when Walcott went to Southampton and now says he is an inspiration, the same billing he enjoys at The Downs School in Compton. Andy Colling, head of PE, said: “Because of his manner, the other children revered him rather than envied him.”
He ran 11.5sec for 100 metres, was fifth in the county cross country and scored three and made three in the 6-0 win that took The Downs to the district play-offs. “Others would plod through the mud, but Theo would glide over the surface,” Colling said.
Walcott signed a £90-a-week scholarship deal at Southampton last summer and broke Danny Wallace’s 25-year record to become the club’s youngest player a month later. “I went down there and met him when he got my record,” Wallace said. “A nice lad. I watched some youth-team games on television and he was unbelievable.” The next day Walcott turned up to watch a practice session at Compton FC. He had an agent and a boot deal with Nike, but he respected his roots and listened to the caveats. “He is only a kid, so there might be days when games pass him by,” Harry Redknapp, his first manager, said. Dave Bassett, briefly his successor, added: “There was one game away at Wolves where I felt he looked like a young boy playing a man’s game.” Arsène Wenger himself says Walcott represents a “massive gamble”.
Simon Clifford, Southampton’s former head of sports science, believes that Don Walcott is central to realising his son’s potential. “I’ve seen parents start talking to their kids about England and stuff, but Don will not get excited by all this,” he said. When Chelsea were ready to spend £2 million on Walcott a year ago, his father said: “You get a lot of interest from agents but there are so many stories where it has gone wrong because of the social background or attitude problems.”
He had snubbed Chelsea before. A few weeks after being spotted by Elias in April 2000, Walcott left home in Compton and travelled to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had expressed their interest in the turbocharged waif and star of his school’s recent production of Bugsy Malone. Walcott was given a tracksuit and watched the game with his beloved Liverpool as a ballboy. A second-minute goal from George Weah dampened his spirits, but he gazed at Owen and began to dream. “Chelsea made him ballboy and they thought that was that,” Elias said. “But Theo and his Dad, Don, came to the old Dell, with all its appeal, and the personal touch worked. He’s a free spirit. There is no greater sight than watching Theo run at defenders. That’s not taught, you’re born with it. He was my first signing for Saints and I’ll be devastated when he goes.”
Go he must, but Elias knows it could have been different. “I’d just left Swansea when I signed Theo,” he said. “Now, when Lee Trundle scores, Don will text me to say that they could have been a dream partnership.” Last October, Elias turned down a job as head of recruitment at Chelsea. Had he gone there it might have been different again.
TEENAGE KICKS
Wayne Rooney was signed for the world’s biggest transfer fee for a teenager when Manchester United paid Everton an initial £20 million in 2004, beating the £19 million that AS Roma gave Bari for Antonio Cassano three years earlier. United are also responsible for the second-highest outlay for a teenager by a British club, having prised Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon for £12.24 million in 2003.
BILL EDGAR
