ELLIOTT DURRELL had got used to his football money supplementing a well-paid job selling mobile phones, with goal bonuses from the 23 he’s already registered for Hednesford this term amply filling a piggy bank for his first child.
But last Sunday – a day off from the “long hours in the office” inbusiness-to-business sales – came the call the 24-year-old had been waiting for since he was a young boy.
Andy Morrell, the player-manager of Wrexham who was on the other end of the phone, had been in a similar position 16 years ago, only he’d been banging the goals in for Newcastle Blue Star and working in a gym when the north Wales club came calling when he was 23.
Durrell, formerly at AFC Telford and a Hednesford player for five-and-a-half years bar a loan spell at Evesham United as he battled back from missing a season through injury, was being offered the chance of full-time football.
FC Halifax Town had been the first Skrill Premier side to make a bid to sign the attacking midfielder, who scored 58 times in his last 95 games for the Keys Park outfit, with a video of the last – a 94th-minute solo effort against Bradford Park Avenue a fortnight ago – going viral.
Although Durrell expresses disappointment at not getting to speak to the Shaymen’s boss Neil Aspin, he admits that as soon as he heard from Morrell, the Racecourse was the only place to be.
“It all happened very quickly, but as soon as I knew Wrexham were interested, the fact that it’s such a big club with a massive history, I knew that it was the right move for me,” says Durrell.
“Full-time was the main factor, because I think it’ll help me progress onto bigger and better things. My next move had to be to a pro club.
“Hednesford are one of the better part-time teams outside the Football League, so it would have been a sideways step to go to another part-time Non-League team.
“I’ve worked in sales for a few years. I had a good job, and it paid well. But every young lad aspires to play football full-time and Wrexham have given me the chance to do that. It was a no-brainer.
“When I first met the gaffer I could relate to him quite a lot, because he didn’t turn pro himself until he was about my age. He said he was in a job that, at the end of the day, was a job. But if you aspire to be a footballer, you don’t want a job – you want to play full-time football.
“I can see myself in Andy and he said he could see himself in me. It’s good to have somebody who’s been in my shoes and can see where I’m looking at it from, because at times, you wonder if it is ever going to happen.”
Not having to go to the office in the morning is taking some getting used to. He met his boss on Tuesday, when he was told he would not have to work the usual month’s notice, and Wednesday – the day we chat on the phone – was the traditional footballer’s day off.
Jeremy Kyle in the morning is not good. “I’m rigged into it already,” he laughs. “The last couple of days have been strange. It’s nice not to have to get up and go to work, but it’ll take a bit of getting used to.”
Being around for girlfriend Charlotte is very much a positive, however.
“We’ve got our first baby on the way in May, and I live in Shrewsbury, so the fact that it was local was the icing on the cake,” says Durrell. “It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Wrexham, which is closer than Hednesford.”
As much as he wants to progress, Durrell admits to being disappointed to leave Hednesford when they are in such a good position near the top of Skrill North in their first season up after his 35 goals inspired them to Evo-Stik Northern Premier play-off success.
Manager Rob Smith had told him that 15 at the higher level would be a big achievement. “I think I’d got that by December,” he says, though it will be his very last touch in a Town shirt that leaves a fitting legacy in Cannock.
With the Pitmen having conceded a 93rd-minute equaliser, Durrell receives the ball from the kick-off, dribbles past no fewer than six Bradford PA players and fires left-footed into the bottom corner for a 94th-minute winner.
Smith says that only a player as “stubborn” and “arrogant” – in a positive footballing sense – could have scored a goal like that in such circumstances.
“A few seconds before, if the camera had been on me, you’d have seen me smacking and kicking the ground,” he says. “I knew there was probably no longer than a minute or so left, so thought ‘Let’s have a go, see what it brings’.
“I was more trying to keep the ball away from our goal than anything, but once I’d ridden the challenges of two or three that were on the edge of the centre-circle, I just saw it keep opening up and thankfully the ball decided to follow me and before you knew it, it was in the bottom corner.
“The shirt was off in celebration, but it was just one of those spontaneous things. As soon as I took the shirt off I knew I was going to get booked, but I thought ‘You know what, sod it, it’s worth it’. I’ll take the fine for that one.”
The 36,000 people who’ve viewed it on YouTube would doubtless agree. Wrexham fans will be looking forward to the sequel!
