Andy Parkinson was one of Gary Brabin's first signings for Cambridge United this summer and the winger made his mark in pre-season with some sparkling displays and two excellent goals against Everton.
Having set up the season's first goal in our opening game at Northwich, Andy unfortunately suffered a knee injury in training two days later and could miss the rest of this season with a ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligament. This interview was carried out three days before the game at Northwich.
Born and raised in Childwall, Liverpool, 29-year-old 'Parky' realised a childhood dream when he joined his favourite club Liverpool as a schoolboy at the age of 13 and earned a two-year YTS after leaving school. In his first year as a trainee he was part of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 1996, playing alongside Michael Owen, Stephen Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.
"Michael is a year younger than me so he was playing a year above his age group, he was that good," he recalls. "David Thompson was in that side and went on to play for the first team too, so it was a pretty successful group of players and a lot of them have gone on to play Football League games with other clubs.
"I'm still in touch with a few of the lads but none of the most famous ones," he adds.
Released at the end of his second YTS year, Andy made the short move over the river to Championship side Tranmere Rovers in 1997, where he spent seven mainly successful years and featured in their FA Cup and League Cup runs of 2000 and 2001.
"I went there at 17 and got into the first team after a couple of months, and that's where everything started for me really - I had some fantastic times there," he says.
"The club was going through a bit of a transition when I first went there. John Aldridge was turning from player-manager to manager and a lot of the senior pros were coming to the latter stages of their careers so they were on their way out. They started blooding a few youngsters and I was one of the youngsters to come through and we were really successful.
"We had some good cups runs and got to the quarter-final of the FA Cup twice and played in the League Cup final at Wembley along the way, and we managed to beat a lot of really good Premier League opposition, which got us a lot of attention too."
Andy himself scored a memorable solo goal in the League Cup quarter-final against Middlesbrough in 1999. After whipping over a low cross for David Kelly to put the underdogs ahead, he then added the second goal himself. Picking up his goalkeeper's long throw near the halfway line, he ran almost 50 yards and eluded two defenders before placing the ball past Mark Schwarzer and into the corner, and his side held on to win 2-1 and reach the semi-final.
"Yeah, that was a decent goal," he grins, adding, "It was all good times really, and especially for such a young lad. I think I was still only 21 when I played at Wembley so for me it was fantastic."
His time at Tranmere came to an end in 2003 when he joined Sheffield United. Injury problems over an 18 month period, during which time there were two changes of managers after John Aldridge left, meant he and the club agreed it was time for him to move on and he was given a free transfer. By then Tranmere were in League One and when Neil Warnock offered him the chance to return to the Championship with Sheffield United it was an "easy decision".
He signed a two-year contract and things went well initially, with Andy being in the squad and playing games at first, but he ended the season with a couple of loan spells at Notts County. After his first month on loan he was recalled by Warnock and started the next five games - "and one of those was an FA Cup quarter-final against Sunderland, so that was pretty good!" - but that turned out to be his last appearance because he finished the season back on loan at Notts County.
Warnock told Andy he thought his opportunities would be limited so they agreed a settlement on the second year of his contract and he moved on to League Two side Grimsby Town in the summer of 2004.
He was a regular for two seasons, making 85 league appearances, scoring 12 times and reaching the play-off final in the second season.
"Unfortunately we lost to Cheltenham in that but I had two good years there. In the first year I played more in my favoured attacking position, and in the second year I played more as an out-and-out midfielder and I was slightly restricted so I didn't enjoy it as much, but it was slightly more successful."
At the end of his two years at Grimsby, and with a young family to think about now, it was time to move on again and he returned to Notts County under former U's boss Steve Thompson.
Speaking matter-of-factly about the often nomadic life of a modern footballer, Andy shrugs, "Your football career is only short so you have to make sacrifices. I've got a wife and two children and they appreciate that, and there's no problem with moving about with the job. The average football career only last eight years and I've been a professional now for eleven years and I'm 29 now, so you've got to move about and take the jobs where they come up.
"I spoke to Steve Thompson and I was impressed by what he had to say, but to be honest the time I spent at Notts County was a bit of a disappointment," he admits. "We flattered to deceive and we didn't achieve what we should have done with the players we had at the club, then unfortunately Steve got the sack during the second season.
"A new manager came in with his own ideas and wanted to bring his own players in, and he didn't feel I was a part of the way he wanted to go forward with the club. I've been around the game a long time and I know it's all about opinions, so that was fine by me and it was time to move on."
Which brings us up to date with Andy's move to Cambridge this summer. How did it come about?
"I hadn't spoken to Cambridge until right at the death, when Paul Carden got in touch. I'd spoken to a League One club, a couple of League Two clubs and I'd had offers from numerous clubs in the Conference, but then Paul Carden rang me and said he'd been given the job as assistant manager here.
"I knew Paul from playing youth team football with him when we were kids, and although I didn't know Gary Brabin personally I knew of him, with us being Liverpool lads. You all know each other or know of each other, and the people I spoke to about him have only got good things to say about him.
"So as soon as I knew that, and I knew about the other Scouse lads at the club, I decided to speak to them. I had other offers on the table I could have signed but this was more appealing to me because of the connections and the people I knew at the club.
"I'd spoken to League clubs, but they were keeping me waiting and I've got a six-week old baby and in my situation you don't really want to be hanging on. When someone definitely wants you, you tend to take the offers because they'll get snapped up otherwise, so in that respect it wasn't a hard decision," he explains.
"I thought if I was going to play in the Conference I wanted to play for a club that was going to be challenging, and obviously I'd like to think that Cambridge will be challenging again this season."
Andy and his wife and daughters - three-year-old Esmé and six-week-old Faye - will be moving into their new home just outside Ely in three weeks time and he is looking forward to ending his commute to their current home in Burton.
"The travelling and moving around is difficult, but if you want to stay in the game you've got to be willing to do it. Some of the lads put me up for a night or two during the week if I need it and it'll be much easier once we're moved in, but I'm preparing professionally and feeling fresh and fit and ready for the new season."
Parky announced himself to the home crowd with two well-taken goals against Everton in the first home pre-season game, and as a lifelong Liverpool fan he admits it was a little bit special.
"You always want to make a good first impression, and although it was non-competitive it was nice to show the fans on my home debut that I can score goals and that I'm fit and ready to do well for the football club. And it was nice to score against Everton even though the game didn't mean anything," he smiles.
With his pace and ball control, Andy has spent a lot of his career as a winger but he started out as a striker and can play in all the attacking positions: "I'm a striker by trade and I love playing up front, but I've also been used as wide left or wide right in a four man midfield or in a three man attack, or I can play through the middle in a two man attack or 'in the hole' as well, so I'm flexible but it's up to the manager.
"I told him when I was signing that I just want to play regular football and enjoy it, and I'll fill in wherever he needs me as long as I've got the freedom to go and attack and influence the matches.
"He wants to play good football and that suits me down to the ground because I'm only small and I like the ball played on the floor and I like to be involved regularly in the play."
Andy has not set himself a target for goals this season but would like to get into double figures with 'assists' for other players: "Obviously you'd like to score more goals than assists but it's about the team being successful and if you get into double figures with assists then you've been a big part of the season.
"So if the team is successful and I've been a part of that then that's fine by me. I've come here because the club's hopefully going to be challenging for promotion and I think the quality is definitely here to do that.
"I know a few players have gone from last season but the remaining ones are all quality players and a lot of them were a big part of the success here last season. I think the manager has added to that with the players he's brought in so there's a good blend of players and hopefully we'll be successful."
Andy believes his new manager, who is managing for the first time at this level, is well-equipped to do well at the club and he has been impressed during pre-season.
"Everyone has to start somewhere, and if he has the success he had as a player then it bodes well. He's got a great reputation in the game for being a winner so hopefully he can carry that on as a manager.
"He takes a very calculated approach to what he's doing; he seems to be a 'thinking man's manager' and that's the way he's going to go about it. I think he's finding his feet right now and I know he had a spell at Southport at the end of last season so he has it in his mind how he wants to go about things, and I'm sure he'll do a good job."
We closed with an assortment of questions from supporters, starting with "What do you think of the Newmarket Road End's flash new paint job?"
Andy: "I heard that the fans had done it themselves and I think it's a great idea. If it makes the fans feel happier and more comfortable in that end and if it helps to create the atmosphere then it's great."
Josh asks, "Who have you become friends with since joining the club and which players did you know already?"
Andy: "I knew Paul Carden and I knew of the Liverpool lads, although I didn't know them personally, and they're the ones I've become most friendly with. Lee McEvilly is a big character at the club and obviously being a Scouser we've got on really well, and Mark Beesley as well, although he thinks he's a Scouser but he's not because he's from Burscough, which isn't Liverpool but he tells everyone he's a Scouser!"
Oli asks: "What's it like having so many Scousers at the club and is there a 'them and us' attitude developing?"
Andy: "No, not at all. Scousers get on with everyone and integrate well and I think the other lads appreciate the Liverpool lads at the club and what they bring to the team and to the dressing room."
Oli also says: "Your second goal against Everton was excellent, the first wasn't bad either, do you specialise in scoring from long-range or were they just 'one-offs' if that's possible?"
Andy: "The majority of goals I've scored in my career have been 'above average' goals. I don't know why that is but I don't seem to score tap-ins. I wish I did score tap-ins because I'd score more goals, but for some reason they seem to be decent goals when I score them."
Next question: "Where do you like to go on your holidays?"
Andy: "I like to go to Spain normally but from now on it will be probably be Egypt because we've just bought a place out there."
Question: "What do you do in your spare time?"
Andy: "When I have time to fit it in I like to play golf."
Question: "Will you be watching the Olympics and if so what's your favourite event?"
Andy: "Probably the sprinting events. We've got a lot of games coming up so I don't know if I'll have much time to watch it in between games and moving house, but I like the athletics."
And finally, "Who's your favourite band?"
Andy: "It's probably between Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses."
Andrea Thrussell
web@cambridge-united.co.uk
*A shorter version of this interview was published in the programme for the match against Kidderminster Harriers on 19th August, 2008.
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