Sky Sports exclusive: Luke McCormick discusses his loan spell at Bristol Rovers from Chelsea and how he is learning from Frank Lampard, Mason Mount and Tore Andre Flo as he forges a reputation in Sky Bet League One
Monday 8 March 2021 17:29, UK
As one player by the name of Luke McCormick enters the twilight of his career at Plymouth, his younger namesake is forging a promising career of his own in the south west.
It has been during a spell with Bristol Rovers that the 22-year-old - one of Chelsea's large brood of loan players - has been entrusted with a regular starting spot in midfield, settled in League One and garnered attention from above, with recent reports suggesting a move to Championship club Millwall is in the offing this summer.
Having been on the Blues' books from the age of six, he couldn't have had much better preparation to make the step into the professional game.
"Everyone knows Chelsea - it's a massive football club globally," he says on a Zoom call with Sky Sports one afternoon in late February. "The feel of the club and the winning mentality is introduced to you from a very young age.
"When you are six, seven, eight and compete in tournaments, you'd want to win and, straight away, there was an onus on, 'Well, you're a Chelsea player, you should win.' That's something I've carried through all the way until now and something I'll carry on until the end of my career.
"As a youngster, I was a Newcastle fan, so Alan Shearer was my childhood hero and I played as a striker. As I grew older, my technical ability, my tenacity and my energy improved as I grew into the build I am now. When you are younger at Chelsea, you play in a lot of different positions and I think you could see straight away that I was always going to play in midfield.
"Frank Lampard was someone I really emulated. I tried to take things from his game and put them into mine. Being a midfielder, there's no one better to look at, in my eyes."
Throughout the conversation, it becomes apparent that McCormick is a player on a constant search for pearls of wisdom from those around him. In spite of his upbringing at one of Europe's elite clubs, there is no air of entitlement or arrogance.
Nor is there any jealousy.
While he encountered difficulties at Shrewsbury - where he made five league appearances before returning to Stamford Bridge last January, midway through a season-long loan - childhood friend and team-mate Mason Mount was, at the same time, enjoying his breakout season at Stamford Bridge and would go on to become a regular member of Gareth Southgate's England squad.
"There's always a roadmap, and like in everyday life, there's roadblocks, too," he says, beginning an eloquent analysis of the pair's contrasting journeys so far.
"Shrewsbury was an experience for me, in terms of the way I grew up; seeing the game and stepping into senior football for the first time was different to what I was used to at Chelsea. It was a negative experience but flipped positively for myself. I didn't get the game time that I wanted - and maybe deserved - at the time but it was a massive learning curve and I learned a lot from that six-month period.
"Mason's dad was my manager when we were five or six and went to Chelsea and then we've been there ever since. He's had a slightly different path to me but it's brilliant growing up around those players that are now breaking in. There used to be a bit of a saying that a Chelsea player can't break through and I think John Terry was the last before the current crop.
"Mason plays in a similar position to me, though we are slightly different players, but just seeing any young player break through at the club you've been at since you were a young age - especially a friend of mine - is lovely to see. That's somewhere I'd like to be in the future and that's what I'm striving towards."
To add to the sources of knowledge at McCormick's disposal, he is in regular contact with Chelsea cult hero Tore Andre Flo, who is employed by the club as a loan player technical coach.
The successful, trophy-laden years the Norwegian spent in south west London and north of the border with Rangers stick in the memory more so than those spent in League One with Leeds and MK Dons yet are valuable all the same.
"I had a good chat with him the other day about how it was with the changes that are going on at Bristol Rovers. They feed back on how they think you are doing and where you can improve and just keeping up to date with your wellbeing off the pitch - all areas are covered. It's nice to speak to the guys back at Chelsea from time to time.
"I speak to him a lot and he made a joke recently that the last time he played at the Mem [Memorial Stadium], it was in front of fans and I hadn't had that experience yet! There's a talented bunch at Chelsea from the top to the bottom, so it's always good to pick people's strengths and weaknesses and take them into my game."
On September 21 last year, McCormick signed a season-long loan deal with Rovers and played the full 90 minutes as they were thumped 4-1 by Doncaster at the Keepmoat on his debut. Results improved throughout the next month and three wins from four lifted them as high as 10th, but their form soon tailed off again, resulting in the sacking of manager Ben Garner.
The experienced Paul Tisdale was appointed as his successor, but he too struggled to get a tune out of the squad and left in February after less than three months in the job, with Rovers edging closer to the relegation zone they currently find themselves within.
The man now tasked with keeping the club in League One for the fifth season in succession is Joey Barton, who signed a deal with the club until 2023 on February 22, just under two months after his departure from Fleetwood. There would have been few more suitable candidates, judging by McCormick's initial assessment.
"The gaffer and his staff have been brilliant. They've come in with a real infectious energy, a real drive and an instant passion for the football club and the players.
"For me, to be coached and managed by a former England player with so many Premier League appearances, especially being a midfielder, I'll be looking to take every little ounce of information on and take that into my game.
"Everyone at the football club knows where this club should be. It's frustrating where we are at the moment but that's down to us as players; we're the only ones that can get us out of this situation.
"I've said many, many times that I believe there's more than enough in that dressing room to be climbing this table. Just as quickly as that can go against you, it can also go for you. If we can get on a run and win the next couple on the bounce, it will really give us some momentum."
As rocky as the journey has been so far, it's abundantly clear that McCormick is gladly absorbing every moment of the experience for future reference.
"I love it here and I love the feel that the city has. I knew it was a massive football club before joining but you don't quite understand until you live it. Even down to the social media side, which is massive these days. For me, personally, it's been a fantastic experience so far and one I'll look back fondly on.
"Sometimes it's difficult when you go out on loan as you aren't seen as one of their own but I feel that the best compliment I can give as a loan player is that from minute one up until the current day, I've felt like a Bristol Rovers player."
