Aaron Lennon happy at Spurs

[BoringOldFan]

as he bloody well should be!

Interview in The Star.

Aaron Lennon revealed he was “devastated” at being forced to join Tottenham – but now admits he is loving every second of life in the fast lane.

The England winger was destined for the top from the moment he made his Premier League debut as a 16-year-old substitute for Leeds against Spurs in 2003.

But within two years he was turfed out of his hometown club after they cashed in on Tottenham’s £1m offer to help ease their financial woes.

The homesick teenager says he struggled to adjust to his new life in north London and yearned for the friends and family he had left behind.

“When I heard I was being sold, I was devastated,” he said. “I wanted to stay at Leeds as I’d just started playing regularly and still had a couple of years on my contract.

“But because of the money issues I was told that if any club came in for me with a reasonable bid I had no option but to leave.

“Obviously I was flattered to be going to a club like Tottenham but you have to remember that I’d only turned 18 a couple of months earlier and was still a boy really.

“It was a massive step to leave my family and friends behind and come to a city as big as London. It seemed like another world at the time.

“But, because you are a footballer, people think you are immune to such things. The upheaval of moving really did affect me at the start.”

In fact he was so badly affected that Lennon kept on hot-footing it back to Yorkshire at every possible opportunity.

“While I was enjoying my football, it was the free time that I struggled with the most – I had nothing to do,” said Lennon.

“People like Robbo (Paul Robinson) and Robbie (Keane), who knew me from Leeds, helped as much as they could but they still had their own lives to lead.

“So if there was any chance of a day off, I was straight in the car and back up the motorway to Leeds. But the 200 miles there and back became too much in the end and I was coming back tired.

“It was not the best way to be preparing for training and matches and I wasn’t getting the best out of myself.

“I was unhappy and there were days when I just wanted to be back home. It took a good six months before things got better.

“My mate Joe came down to live in my pad for a while and that really helped. I had someone to get out and about with and once I’d got used to London I didn’t look back.

“Being happy off the pitch also helped me on it. Now, I love my life here. I couldn’t be happier.”

Life is certainly sweet for Lennon right now after scoring against bitter rivals Arsenal in midweek to help Spurs reach the Carling Cup Final – and with an FA Cup fourth round tie against Manchester United to look forward to on Sunday.

But for a 20-year-old who has already played in a World Cup, it is all a far cry from his tough upbringing on the inner city streets of Chapeltown.

“The area was rough and there was some bad stuff going on,” he said.

“You go either two ways: knuckle down, get an education and hopefully a career will follow, or you end up doing crime and drugs.

“It’s difficult because you see so many of your friends caught up with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong type of stuff, so when I look back I’m lucky that I had football to fall back on.”

Good lad. Now go tear Manure a new one tomorrow.

 

[41john]

an interesting read and sometimes you forgot the pressure on some younger lads and how it must be hard to settle to a new lifestyle away from everyone you know. must affect the performances on the pitch too

 

[donny1013]

Good read yeah. The outside of the foot through ball for Keano's goal against Woolwich was world class, and sort of went unmentioned, had it been Fibreglass the media would have been wanking over it for days. Glad to see he is getting back to his best and is happy at the Lane

 

[Legacy]

Good read yeah. The outside of the foot through ball for Keano's goal against Woolwich was world class, and sort of went unmentioned, had it been Fibreglass the media would have been wanking over it for days. Glad to see he is getting back to his best and is happy at the Lane

Agreed. Even the Sky Sports commentator was fawning over Berbatov's "sublime" 10 yard chip to Lennon, yet as an after thought, added that Lennon's 30 yard, outside of the boot through ball which cut straight through the Ar5ena1 defence and straight into Keane's path as "Lennon did well."

 

[bubble07]

Full credit needs to go to Jol for helping him settle in. I remember he gave special allowances for him to miss training to spend a few days in leeds when he was feeling home sick from time to time. I wondre how many other managers would have done that

 

[tartanspur100]

Taken straight from this months Hotspur magazine.

Lazy lazy journalism.

 

[Kendall]

Spurs has now become a good place for kids like Lennon because there is so many of them in the same boat now.

This has echoes of the Hutton situation, although Hutton has a young family to think about aswell. it can't be easy getting turfed out of your boyhood club. Can you guys imagine playing for Spurs & then being told they're selling you to say, Aberdeen?

 

[PYiddy]

anyone else notice the suprise on various oponents faces when teeny tiny Aaron clatters 'em? He gets so underestimated for his strength and grit. A hell of a lot tougher than he is given credit for

 

[speccy_spur]

anyone else notice the suprise on various oponents faces when teeny tiny Aaron clatters 'em? He gets so underestimated for his strength and grit. A hell of a lot tougher than he is given credit for

As I watched the highlights of the Arse massacre for the fifth time, I noticed how Lennon seemed to just bounce off the attempted tackle in midfield as he played the ball out to Chimbs before running forwards for his goal. Reminded me of the way Gazza used to just ricochet his way through players, and I cannot make higher praise than that.

 

[truespur]

Full credit needs to go to Jol for helping him settle in. I remember he gave special allowances for him to miss training to spend a few days in leeds when he was feeling home sick from time to time. I wondre how many other managers would have done that

anyone would, if it meant their young star will settle easier. wenger has done it with fran merida at arsenal

 

[Yid-ol]

“So if there was any chance of a day off, I was straight in the car and back up the motorway to Leeds. But the 200 miles there and back became too much in the end and I was coming back tired.

“It was not the best way to be preparing for training and matches and I wasn’t getting the best out of myself.

explains alot about Lennons dip in form, seems to be getting back to his best and its good to see him say he is finaly settled in and enjoying it down here!

 

[eViL]

His distribution has improved ten-fold this year.

 

[milkman]

he is a legend, he never was really unhappy at spurs anyway. He's just spreading the love!

 

[PT]

The likes of Kaboul and KPB have also moved to the City and crossed the North Sea at the same time. They've been pressed in to action probably earlier than they would have appreciated, taking on the pressures of a team under duress.

They would have been involved with training then given the same free time in a new city, a new country, on a par with Lennon, and expected to turn on the style by 36000 WHL die-hards every other week.

Good article and it reminds us of the human nature aspect to a career in football that is sometimes forgotten.

 

[chinaman]

He's not making as many macy runs per game as last year, but his runs are much more meaningful this year. Starting to mature as a footballer.

 

[Pedders18]

Great to see that he is happy, i remember reading lots of rumours about him when he was goin through his tough patch, glad he just got his head down and worked very hard. Great credit to the lad.

 

[JoeT]

This article is worth reflecting on by those who so often regard players as well-paid 'pieces of meat'; he's not playing like he used to so get rid of ; or if a player says or does this or that they can f**k off / good riddance etc. They arn't any different than you and me guys.