WHEN I was growing up I would play three games a weekend. I lived for it.

I was even banned by the Nottinghamshire FA once for not turning up to a schools game because I had been told I was not playing and I went off to play for Attenborough, my club side.

Terry Annable, who ran the Notts FA, banned me from all games for six weeks, even though I knew I was not required to play for the county! But that was how committed I was to playing football as a kid.

So when Villa came calling, my parents were brilliant about the whole thing. They knew it was all I wanted to do. It was in my blood.

My folks could easily have insisted I remained at school.

Education seemed far more highly valued then than it is now and becoming a professional footballer was a pipe-dream of so many kids who never made it beyond their first pair of screw-in studs and under-10s.

Fortunately, mum and dad were right behind me and I packed my bags for a month in digs in Birmingham.

I spent every day at Bodymoor Heath, Villa's training ground, as a left-winger. That was my position as a kid. I bust a gut to get that big break and at the end of it, all I received was the 'thanks, but no thanks' routine from Villa. It is hard to describe the sense of utter desolation when you hear those words.

My whole world caved in. I thought that was it for me. Within days I was at Beeston's Job Centre.

After suffering at the hands of Aston Villa, I was fortunate to make one of the best decisions of my young life in leaving Attenborough to join Clifton All Whites at the age of 18.

It was then I first encountered coach John Raynor, who became my mentor and one of my closest friends.

John was an absolutely fantastic bloke and had all the best players in Nottingham at his club. He had a reputation for being able to spot talent and it was a compliment when he asked me to join Clifton, even if it was a wrench to leave Attenborough.

It was the only team in the league that had ever been able to give John's sides any kind of genuine game and it was a logical progression for me to follow him to Long Eaton United where I could combine floor laying during the week and earn beer money in the Midland League.

If it had not been for John, I might not have ended up at Nottingham Forest at all and I would have signed for Peterborough United instead!

I quickly gained a reputation as a striker with some promise for Long Eaton and several clubs were rumoured to be sniffing around, including Manchester City and Burnley, but it was Peterborough manager Noel Cantwell who made the effort to come and see me and sound me out about the step up into the pro ranks.

Cantwell and his assistant John Barnwell, who I had watched from the terraces when he was a Forest player, braved the rain to watch me train at Carlton Forum.

They wanted me to go to London Road and they had a professional contract for me to sign. Cantwell was so keen, he even set me up with a house to move into as well. It was flattering and I was looking around for a pen.

Even though Peterborough were in the old Third Division at the time, it was professional football, getting paid to do something I would have done for nothing.

My head was racing and all I had to do was say yes. No-brainer really. So I said no!

My heart was screaming yes, but John Raynor told me to have the evening to think about it.

As far as he was concerned, it was the wrong choice for me and he told me to be patient.

What I did not know at the time was the plan he was hatching and the phone call he was about to make that would change my life.

Many people have tried to take the credit for bringing me to the attention of the Gaffer, but it was John's phone call, direct to Clough, that set the wheels in motion for my move to Forest