Hooper Follows Right Road To Barca

GARY HOOPER’S dad used to drive the coach that took his son to matches away from the New Rec.

On Tuesday night, Gary Snr will have climbed aboard a plane, hopefully not taking control in the cockpit, to see the 24-year-old striker walk out at the Nou Camp.

When Celtic take on the mighty Barcelona in the Champions League, it will be the highlight of a career, so far, that started at 15 in Maldon Town reserves and will hopefully take in an England cap in the not-too-distant future.

With 60 goals in 94 starts for the Bhoys, the Essex boy has improved a record that was astonishing at Scunthorpe United (50 in 88 starts) and impressive on loan at (11 in 19) in 2008.

The nay-sayers will shout that the Scottish Premier isn’t much of a step up, but Hooper is now in a different stratosphere to when he was an unused substitute in Grays’ 2006 final win over .

He had played in the previous season’s win over Hucknall, when his old man drove the team to Villa Park in a coach bought by ex-chairman Mick Woodward.

But his voyage from being understudy to room-mate Michael Kightly, whose Wolves Premier League shirt is framed on the wall of his Glasgow home, to looking to add to his two Champions League goals already this season is one to encourage every player out there.

Cliff Mitchell, the former Watford and scout who took Hooper and his Maldon Under-16s team to become Grays’ youth set-up in 2004, travels to every game with Gary Snr.

The 52-year-old will be in Spain on Tuesday, “bawling my eyes out”?, he admits. “The tears will flow more when he wins his first England cap at Wembley though, because I’ve watched him since he was eight years old.

“I kept telling the Maldon manager to put him in the first team at 15, but he wouldn’t. The reserves manager listened and Gary learned about men’s , but it was when Mark Stimson got him at Grays that he really served his apprenticeship with lads like Kightly and Aaron McLean.

“It’lll be a proud moment, but there are so many lads out there with the talent, but not the attitude that Gary’s shown.

“He’s still in bed by 10pm, and if you see him at the end of a night out, his tie is still as tight as it was when he went out. He always carries himself in the right manner. He’s a credit to Non-League football.”

That second Trophy final at Upton Park was Hooper’s last involvement with Stimson and Grays, the manager leaving for Stevenage and player for Southend immediately after.

“I tried to take him with me, but he wanted to go higher than the Conference,” says Stimson. “Gary had a great first touch, his attitude was fantastic for one so young and he had natural ability.

“Not like a Craig Dobson, a Mitchell Cole or a Dennis Oli, who would dribble past people on mazy runs, but he’d do it in other ways. His touch was so sound he’d see something and do it with great execution. He was so calm, as his record in front of goal is now showing.”

As was the case when he went to Southend under Stimson’s old team-mate, Steve Tilson, he didn’t always play at Grays.

But Stimson, now manager of Ryman Premier strugglers Thurrock, isn’t surprised by his rise. “It’s incredible, but he always had it in him,” says the ex-Barnet boss.

“Playing in the Nou Camp is what dreams are made of, but you have to make the dreams come true. There are loads of lads in Non-League with the ability, but it’s about having the right attitude as well, and Gary had that.”

Hoops of the mighty Hoops will fulfil every lower level footballer’s dream this week, and good luck to him for having the drive, not to mention the driver, to help him arrive there.

Modern Rituals Take The Biscuit

TUESDAY night was a wash-out for international football at both Non-League and full international level, with the torrential rain rinsing out England games in Albania and Poland.

With any good scrub-off you need some ‘flannel’, to borrow Adrian Chiles’ own description.

And I’ve got to admit that I actually learnt something from the 90 minutes the ITV presenters Gareth Southgate, Lee Dixon and Roy Keane spent ad-libbing on topics including roofs, clown referees and garden forks.

I knew dressing room refreshments had moved on from half-time oranges and treacle-like tea, but when asked what the England players would be doing in the dressing room during the delay, I didn’t expect Keane to reply: “Eating biscuits.”

It reminded me of when I was the old man in a very youthful dressing room. While all the other boys had their bottled water or energy drinks, I was the only one who liked a cuppa.

We came in at half-time of one Ryman North game and assistant-manager Barry Mason was waiting with the finest boardroom china and a couple of chocolate digestives for me.

At 29, I’d already become the butt of the youngsters’ jokes, but Barry’s a man who’d do anything for the boys, including making breakfast before home games, he took the biscuit!

Your Time To Shine

IT’S that time of year again when the real love for the shows through in lads who have never reached the competition proper before.

Met Police goalkeeper Steve Sutherland’s words ahead of the Ryman Premier side’s fourth qualifying round tie with sum it all up for me.

“I’ve won a league and a cup,? the 30-year-old said, but never got to the first round and that was always the target this season.

“When you’ve got a small family you want them to grow up and be able to see what you achieved. It would be absolutely fantastic to get on TV if we get a good tie, because it gives your children something to aspire to.”

Well done to everyone who is through. Now get your hair cut because TV might come calling!

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