At so many points in Joel Nouble’s career it would have been easy for him to simply give up.
As a kid, he was pushed around by boys six years older than him playing cage football in south east London. Later, he faced the devastating blow of his release from Chelsea. And an injury at Dagenham and Redbridge, which put him out of the game for 19 months, was a huge test of his mental strength.
But maybe more than most, plying his trade in England’s non-league set-up took him to the brink. Driving for hours to away games for the likes of Thurrock, Haringey Borough and Concord Rangers. Having to get changed OUTSIDE in the cold and getting home in the early hours before starting a shift as a postman the next day. Anyone without a steely inner resilience would surely have left football behind to focus on another career outside the game.
