Tom Pett interview: Lincoln City midfielder on his alternative route
Pett was planning to be a PE teacher before his career blossomed
Tuesday 25 September 2018 10:21, UK
Lincoln City midfielder Tom Pett went to university but never an academy – now he is eyeing promotion to League One. Adam Bate caught up with the late bloomer to find out why life in the lower leagues helped prepare him for the Cowley brothers’ revolution.
"The amount of young people who think they are never going to be a professional just because they were never at an academy is mad," Tom Pett tells Sky Sports. "You don't need to be at Arsenal at 14 and it is not about turning pro at 16. In fact, it's not always the best way. You can learn in non-league and make it at any age. Clubs are realising that now."
English football is littered with poster boys for the non-league game but many such stories still involve a stint at an academy. Jamie Vardy, for example, was released by Sheffield Wednesday. Pett never even got that far. The Lincoln City midfielder's teenage years were spent with local club Potters Bar Town. He was playing in the eighth tier when he turned 20.
Now 26, Pett is part of the Lincoln success story. Having already taken the club back into the Football League, the Cowley brothers, Danny and Nicky, have now guided the Imps to the top of League Two. With the crowds pushing towards 10,000, nobody is in the mood for the journey to stop now. But some have come further than others.
"I remembering finishing college and wondering what I was going to do," says Pett of the days when all this was all just a distant dream. "I went to university and then got a job at a school as a PE technician. I was playing for my local club but at that stage, being a professional was not everything for me as I had never been at an academy anyway.
"Sometimes you would hear that scouts were there watching and you would want to play your best, but the amount of times that I was told I was too small or too lightweight. You end up thinking that maybe professional football isn't for you and you're just going to try to play as high as you can and enjoy it. That's the position that I was in."
I was skipper at 17 and I remember these guys who would come into the changing room on a Tuesday night and they had paint in their hair or they'd been tiling house. This was the real world.
He didn't realise it at the time, but Pett was getting the sort of apprenticeship that many academy players miss out on. "I would not be where I am now if it were not for that period," he explains. "I learnt so much at Potters Bar Town and I wouldn't change it for the world.
"You can't hide in those leagues, it was very physical. I was skipper at 17 and I remember these guys who would come into the changing room on a Tuesday night and they had paint in their hair or they'd been tiling a house. This was the real world.
"If I were in their position and there was this 17-year-old kid who thought he'd got it then I would be looking to kick lumps out of him too. Some players shy away from it and some dust themselves down and get on with it. So I took my kicks and I took my knocks. It was a massive learning curve but it has stood me in good stead."
Pett eventually moved to Wealdstone and scored 16 goals for the club in their 2013/14 title-winning season, earning promotion to the sixth tier. But Graham Westley gave him the chance to play League Two football with Stevenage instead and he got a belated taste of the professional game. Even so, by Pett's own admission, Lincoln was a step up again.
"I didn't realise how much it would affect me," he says of his January move. "Stevenage was all I knew as a professional footballer. I played under Graham Westley, Teddy Sheringham and then Darren Sarll but it was much the same. I had not thought about the fact that the training would be different and the fact that Danny's style was so high tempo."
Lincoln have a growing reputation for doing things differently. According to veteran midfielder Lee Frecklington, it is already a Championship setup at Sincil Bank. There is a vast support staff and a focus on sports science. The Cowley brothers set the tone. "The level of detail is amazing," says Pett. "It is not luck, it is the thought they put into things.
"The amount of work they do on the video side of the game, they are there until 5pm in the evening going through clips with you. It is a lot different from what I was used to. Every team does video analysis but there is so much thought that goes into the game plans. I am sure there is not another team that puts in that effort and it was something new for me."
As a result, Pett was eased into things. There were numerous meetings with management to ensure he was adapting to life in a new city, both on and off the field. "They were really understanding," he says. It helps that the Cowleys knew all about his talent having seen him up close during their time at Concord Rangers. They appreciated that Pett had the talent.
After a quiet start, he scored a crucial goal against Yeovil on the final day of last season to secure Lincoln's play-off spot. While promotion did not follow, the signs so far this season suggest that the delay was only temporary. Pett is now heavily involved, scoring the opener and picking up the man of the match award in the recent win over Macclesfield.
"It is just an amazing place to play your football when there's 10,000 in and the crowd are getting behind you," he adds. "I remember thinking that, even when I was an opposition player." Indeed, Pett got a glimpse of what to expect on Boxing Day when he went to Sincil Bank with Stevenage and his then team were beaten 3-0. He was impressed. Now he is part of it.
He and his girlfriend have settled down in nearby Burton Waters. Pett is even learning to get used to the attention that comes with being a footballer in a one-club city. "You can go out in Stevenage and maybe the odd person will recognise you," he says. "There are so many fans of clubs such as Arsenal, Watford and Luton that you don't get noticed much.
"But when the nearest league club is the best part of 50 miles away in Grimsby, there is only one club anyone supports and that's Lincoln. The more I have been playing the more I am being recognised. I go out for a meal with my girlfriend and I am getting tweets asking how many times I have been up to the Chinese buffet or how big my dessert was!"
Not that he is complaining. A boyhood Arsenal fan, he remembers the time when the boot was on the other foot. "Every day going into training I know that I could have been going up a ladder to tile their house instead," adds Pett. "This route has put me in the real world and I know how hard I have worked to be in the position that I am in now."
The plan is still to become a PE teacher one day. But not just yet. Under the Cowleys at Lincoln, Pett feels his best years are ahead of him. They are on record as saying he is a League One player. Lincoln could soon be a League One club. "We know we have the tools to do something this season and my plan is to help in any way I can. Now I want to push on."
