KYLE PERRY is roaring with laughter: “I’m not telling you what I was called!” says the Altrincham striker when asked the name he went by in his wrestling days.
That’s right; to say Perry isn’t your ordinary footballer is more than an understatement. Wrestler, co-pilot, graphic designer, rock star and music festival organiser – the list is a long, and entertaining, one.
“This is going back a few years, when I first went to Telford when I was 19,” he says. “Me and the synth player in our band Stubblemelt were tag-team champions for an independent wrestling division.
“He was into it and I went along. It started off just as mixed martial arts training but then it was like, ‘You can earn a few quid doing this if you want?’
“I wasn’t doing it long but I thought I might as well try it for a bit and it was a good craic. I can’t remember what we were called.
“But I was Brutus Lang and I wore a purple mask! We had a charity rumble and there was a guy in it called Sheamus. He’s gone onto wrestle in the WWE!”
Perry has Tamworth boss and cousin Dale Belford to thank for the line of enquiry after his many talents came up in a summer manager feature in The NLP.
Surreal
So what about being a pilot?
“Our mate wanted to be a commercial pilot and he needed to get his hours up,” says Perry, who went on this voyage with former Tamworth centre-half Tom Marshall.
“He said, ‘We need a long trip, do you have any ideas where we can go?’ Me and Mash piped up, ‘Let’s go to Ibiza!’
“So the three of us are in this single propeller plane. We flew from Burton to Perpignan in France and spent the night there.
“The next day we flew to Barcelona, we refuelled there and then we got to Ibiza early afternoon. We had a night out and then flew back. It was surreal.
“We had these massive head phones on because if you take them off it’s, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG CHUG, you can’t hear anything. But with the headphones on, flying over the sea was really peaceful.”
His graphic design skills see him work for former club Nuneaton Town on their website and programme and his band, Stubblemelt also featuring Marshall, is on the rise.
In the summer he organised his first festival in Lichfield which raised almost £3,000 for St Giles Hospice.
But Perry shouldn’t be confused with someone who doesn’t love his football. He passionately has ever since he was a youth at Walsall, but admits the last few years have been frustrating.
“I had Conference interest in the summer but now I’ve got to think of the little man – he’s fantastic,” says Perry, who has a one-year-old son Regan.
“I’ve come to a club where I know the manager really well. Lee Sinnott took me to Port Vale from Chasetown and he’s just a good, honest man.
“I haven’t enjoyed it for a number of years because of politics dictating the game. I’ve been put in situations where, not based on talent or skill, it’s been taken away from me.
“That was before I even went to Port Vale too. Before I got my big break I got released three times! Some people at Altrincham say, ‘Oh you’ve had a great career’.
“Well, no. I’ve played at nearly every level now. I’ve always been told I’ve been s**t. There’s no positivity, you’re always frowned upon.
“It’s like when I was at Walsall. I was in the second year of my scholarship and we lost 4-1 away at West Brom. The youth team manager called me in and said, ‘It’s not going to work’.
Release
“I said, ‘What do you mean it’s not going to work, this is all I’ve wanted’. He goes, ‘You’ve got an answer for everything, you’ll never play for Walsall ever again’.
“It was proper cut throat stuff to a young lad. Then I went to Telford and just kept scoring.
“Right before the end of the season Walsall rang me up and said they hadn’t terminated my contract and did I want come back to try and get a pro contract?
“I’ve gone back and at this point Paul Merson is the gaffer. He’s got rid of half the gym equipment to put a dart board and a table tennis table in there so it’s a completely different environment.
“I’m still scoring for Telford and playing for Walsall reserves trying to get a pro deal. But it just fizzled out. On the last day of my contract I say, ‘What’s going on?’
“He just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I don’t know how long I’m going to be here’. That was me getting released as a kid and joining the real world.”
Perry jokes he could write a book about all he’s experienced in the game at the likes of Chasetown, where he was part of their famous FA Cup run, Mansfield and Lincoln.
Now he’s enjoying his football again after scoring three goals in his first three Alty games.
“I went out and bought a pair of red boots just like the ones I had as a kid when I scored something like 160 goals in a season,” he says.
“I thought, ‘You know what I’m going to re-live the memories’ and now I can’t stop scoring!”
Off the pitch there’s Stubblemelt’s album release next March, they also supported JLS in the summer – something he describes as his perfect release.
“You watch Clarke Carlisle’s recent documentary on depression in the game and it rings a bell with so many players – you need an escape,” he says.
“That’s what I’ve always said with Stubblemelt, it’s about the escape. You need a release. I’m not getting p****d every night, it’s just a form to let go of tension.
“Anyone in the game will always have a story about me saying I’m a horrible b*****d or I’m a cheat, but I love the game.
“Whether it’s playing a massive song and the fans are going crazy, or scoring a goal for your team, there’s no better feeling.”
