Waneroo teenager Clint Davies (born 24th April 1983) has been in England with Birmingham City for the past 18 months where he's making a name for himself playing in the club's youth ranks. Enjoying his time with the club, Clint took advantage of the Christmas/New Year break in the English season to return home to relax, soak up Perth's summer sunshine and catch up with family and friends. Brett Klucznik spoke to him shortly before he returned to England to start preparing for Birmingham's derby clash with Aston Villa on 13th January 2001.

Could you give us a bit of a run-down on your career to date?
I started off as a junior with Whitfords, I was there until I was 13 or 14. We had a really good year but after that everyone went everywhere and I went to the Hammers Academy ...

When they were at Kingsway?
Yeah, at Kingsway. I stayed with the Hammers when they went to Inglewood and through that I went over to England for trials with Southampton. I headed over there about August last year so I've been there a year and a half so far. I also played Under-15's and 16's for the State, we went to Singapore for the Lion City Cup where we came second twice, we got beaten by the Indians both times.

So you went to Southampton early in 1999?
I was there for a long time, maybe 10 weeks or so with the Saints. After that I went up to Birmingham and I played two games for them and they got me in on the next Monday after the second game and said "We want to sign you ..."

How did you find it settling in at Birmingham, being so far away from family and friends? And how did the set-up compare with what you'd become used to at Southampton?
At the start I thought Southampton was better because they have this hotel where everyone stays and they've got a pool table and Sky TV and everything like that to make life a bit easier for you. At Birmingham we don't have that, but the lads at Birmingham are much better, everyone's friendlier and there's more of a team feel ... overall things were a bit of a culture shock but you tend to get used to that with time.

What is the typical daily routine for a player in your position at Birmingham?
Normally we get to the training ground about 9.30 but we don't actually start until 10.30 because we have to collect balls and bibs and cones and get them all ready. We go up to the training pitch about 10.00 and mess about kicking the ball around, have little juggling games and so on. The coaches come up - Bob Latchford and Stu normally take us for the warm-up before Brian Eastick, the main coach, does positional play and stuff like that with us. Then we have small games and that's when it starts proper, before finishing off with maybe some shooting. All up that usually lasts about an hour and a half and we then go for lunch between 12.30 and 1.00. But sometimes we have really long mornings if the weather's been really bad - our pitch is just mud so it's hard on your legs and we just train from 10.30 until 1.00 or 1.30, then it's lunch and the day's finished. But normally we'll have lunch and go to the gym and do a bit extra.

So you are training full-time, pretty much every day of the week?
Yeah, the goalkeepers, we normally train more than the outfield players because on Thursdays they have a psychologist come in and take the players. But the three of us goalkeepers go off with Nigel Spinks, our goalkeeping coach, and he takes us by ourselves. On a Tuesday he takes us in the morning but Brian will usually want us to play in a game or join in with the rest of the squad so we might be halfway through something and we have to go over. On Thursday we can do whatever we want, improve our technique and the like.

And then you play on the Saturday?
On Friday we have like a half day off - we train until about 1.00ish then go home and have pasta and that for dinner. Normally on away games you have to get up early to catch a coach to the game, we travel on the day of the game. But for home games you get up about 9.30 to get down there for 10.30, play the game and you're on a break for the rest of the weekend … unless you played badly and then you're back in on the Sunday. We think we work hard but really we only work for about an hour and a half each day, there's a lot of sitting around, and I mean a lot of sitting around.

I believe you've also made the travelling party for the reserves?
I've been on the bench a few times, the reserve team goalie is quite good. His name is Kevin Poole, he's getting on - he's 37 - but he's still a good 'keeper ... I'd love the chance to get on and play but we'll just have to wait and see ...

You combine football with studying at College. How often do you go there and what are you studying?
Monday mornings we start about 9.00 and finish around 12.00, we have lunch and then it's off to training. We go to Sollyhill (sp?) College which is about 35/40 minutes away so we have to catch two buses. Then on Wednesday we have College all day starting at 9.00 and finishing up around 4.00. It's alright, I do sports psychology and sports studies, how the body works and that sort of thing.

Do you feel that you have had to give much up by pursuing your career overseas, leaving behind your family and friends at such a young age?
Yeah, but you have to move out of home sometime so why not now. I've settled in now so it's alright but when I first went over it was a bit hard. I've been there a while now so I know what to expect.

You went to the U.K. quite young which a lot of players seem to be doing these days. It used to be more common for players to make their name in the N.S.L. and with the national youth sides, then using that as a springboard for an overseas career. What can you see as the benefits of they way you have gone about things?
Well, it's so much of a change ... I think it's better to go over there early because then you can work your way up the levels of football over there. It's so much quicker and it's much more physical - I could get a bad tackle or an elbow over there because the players really want to succeed, their hunger is much greater. Whereas over here players might want to do it but not as much, they really wait for things to happen rather than attack the ball. And in England you're doing things full-time so you get more of a chance to work on things than over here.

You've been playing in the Birmingham youth team for the past 18 months?
Last year I played Under-17's and this year I'm playing Under-19's under Bob. You work your way up which is good because it helps you get used to the game, the weather and whatever.

With your family still in Perth, where do you live?
We used to all live together - 12 of us in one place with a guy looking after us - but now we're all moving in to digs with a family. Two of the lads are a few doors down from me so we're all still together. This is happening when I go back, I'll be in a nice area with a good family.

Is this because you've moved up the scale or have the club done away completely with the existing set-up?
It was costing too much for the club keep running it and house us together so they've done away with it.

But you'll still be close to the training ground?
It's close to the College so it's about 35/40 minutes away from the ground. One of the other lads nearby has a car so I'll be able to go with him to training ... I might have to pay him off to get a lift!

There are quite a few players from Perth that have gone to England in the past couple of years and are currently in the youth system at a variety of clubs. I think quite a few of you played together at State level, do you have much time to catch up with any of them?
When we play each other normally we see each other after the game like, when I played Coventry and I was speaking with Sean (Cooney). And I was speaking to Darren (Broxton) the week before at another game but we don't really have a lot of time to see each other and chat. Although Sean is nearby with Coventry you just don't get the time to do that sort of thing.

You were recently a guest at the Perth Glory-Marconi Stallions game at Perth Oval. How did that game shape up against where you are playing in England?
A good Under-19's game would be about the standard of that game, but it's a lot quicker and everyone moves a lot more. Over here teams seem to take two or three touches whereas in our team it's one touch-one touch all the time. It's definitely quicker than the first team over here but it's quite hard to judge as I've never played in the N.S.L.

What have been the highlights during your time with the club to date?
We went to Germany in the pre-season to play in Dusseldorf, we didn't win anything but that was a really good experience. It was a youth tournament where we played other big youth teams like 1860 Munich and Real Madrid. It was a really enjoyable time. I was also loaned out to Bromsgrove Rovers about half way through this season and that was also enjoyable. They play below the Conference League, maybe one or two leagues below, and asked Birmingham for the loan of one of our goalies when theirs was suspended. I went over and played a couple of games, won a man-of-the-match award then the manager changed and I had to go. And I trialled for the Northern Ireland Under-18's - I've got a double passport so I can play for them. They said they'd call me in the summer but the summer's gone and I'm still waiting!

This season you've seen a couple of players from the youth ranks join the senior side. It's obviously very competitive in England and it must be inspiring when these sorts of things happen. It must make you want to work that little bit harder to be the next?
Absolutely. Recently AJ (Andrew Johnson), one of the youth players, was promoted to the first team and to see that sort of thing happen makes you realise that you really can do it. Everyone's striving to do their best but whether you get signed or not is up to you. You've got to keep going, keep doing you best. Our coach says "If you get released at the end of it make sure you've put everything in so you can't say well if I did this or I did that ... make sure it's I gave it my best shot and didn't make it, but I did my best." So you've got to work really hard and do all that you can. They tell you what you have to do but you're the one that's got to do it.

So it's completely self-motivated at Birmingham?
It is. We have a psychologist come in to help us deal with things and keep your mind on what you need to do. I would say everything they do for us is really good ... I mean we don't have to do jobs or anything whereas at Southampton we had to scrub boots and all that before training. But with Birmingham we get to go out and practice instead, it's something little but it's for our benefit.

You are obviously enjoying playing with Birmingham and doing well, working hard to pick up a full-time contract ...
Yeah. It's a great life if you can make it. It's not often that you get money to do what you love.

Thanks for your time Clint and all the best with breaking into the Birmingham reserves, hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later and one day we'll see you amongst the club's senior ranks.
Fingers crossed. Thanks a lot.

Copyright Brett Klucznik, 2001. No part of this article may be reproduced without the prior content of it's author, Brett Klucznik (bklucznik@iprimus.com.au). Doing so would be a violation of copyright laws and regulations.