How It Began

I was born in Bournemouth to a Welsh mother and an English father. Starting out as an apprentice for AFC Bournemouth in 1999, aged 16, I was making regular appearances for the reserves. By 2002, on New Years Day, I was handed my first, first team, appearance. By April of the same year, I began playing regularly. Playing as a natural right winger, my fast goal-line crosses were starting to take teams apart as the tall Steve Fletcher was able to power in headers from them. However, it was all too late for my beloved hometown as they were sadly relegated to Division Three. Bournemouth needed money fast to pay for their debts and their new stadium. A few transfer rumors came about as Stockport Country and Preston North End took an interest in me, but I signed a new contract as the club wanted to keep its young team together.

This worked in my favour as I gained more-and-more first team appearances due to the small squad. Several key performances came and scouts began taking note. 2002-03 was a successful season overall for Bournemouth, coming 4th in the league and beating Lincoln City 5-2 in the Play-Off final meant we were back in Division Two.

In 2003, Harry Redknapp, the manager of Portsmouth Football Club, put an undisclosed offer in for me. AFC Bournemouth’s manager, Sean O'Driscoll, accepted this offer as per an agreement between the two clubs. I, still young, was suggested to play for the Welsh U-21 side by Harry. This was how my international career began. While staying at Portsmouth, I began to learnt a lot under the tutorship of Harry and Matthew Taylor and just over a week after my 21st Birthday I was handed my first Premiership start as a present from Harry - 14/08/04 [Portsmouth 1 - 1 Birmingham City]

2004-05 started brightly, but it soon became difficult when Harry resigned as manager out of the blue due to a Boardroom feud with Milan Mandaric. Alan Perrin replaced him and brought in his own players and ideas. Disappointingly, I found opportunities hard and was spending more time on the bench and in the reserves. John Toshack, the Wales manager, was still eager to bring through young players to give Welsh football hope for the future. Although I was struggling to make appearances for Portsmouth, John was giving me regular games for Wales.

This all changed when Mark Hughes, and Blackburn Rovers, offered an escape. Mark and I had known each other through the Welsh team and Blackburn was in need of a skillful player. Mark had built a real bone-crunching centeral midfield, but needed a creative spark. I quickly took up the offer, leaving Portsmouth on a free when my contract expired and joined up with Mark. Mark also brought in Craig Bellamy for the 2005-06 season. With a real ‘dragon’ feel to the side, Blackburn made a surprise lead and achieved 6th in the Premiership to earn a UEFA Cup spot. 2006-07 was another good year for myself and Blackburn as we achieved 10th and entered the UEFA Intertoto cup. The 2007-08 season was, again, positive for us all as we improved and ended the year 7th, however this time we missed out on European football.

In 2008, Mark Hughes was offered the role as Manchester City manager and signed a 3 year contract with them. Mark was keen on bringing me over to Man City to play under him. However, during pre-season training, a routine tackle by the trainee center back went array and he went over the ball giving the full brunt of his tackle into my lower right leg. With my foot firmly in the pitch, I twisted over – little is remembered from this point. However, it was a bad double break and it seemed I would be out for the season. Intense physiotherapy followed, and progress was slowly made. In 2009 I was able to walk without a crutch but unable to play football any more. Not everything was bad though, during my time in the treatment room, Mark kept in touch with me and helped me get my UEFA A & B coaching badges. Working part time with Mark Hughes at Manchester City, I decided to follow in his path and take up management.

This is where my story begins.