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Kevin Ellison on making his 1,000th career appearance, proving doubters wrong and future plans

Kevin Ellison opened up on making his 1,000th career appearance last weekend, proving doubters wrong and future plans.

The 46 year-old reached the milestone and scored for Vauxhall Motors in a 3-1 defeat to Runcorn Linnets on the 10th of January.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside, he reflected on that special day and how it was celebrated.

He also spoke on fitness and longevity, knowing when to retire, how he wants to be remembered, and so much more.

Interviewer: “Congratulations on 1,000 senior appearances. One of only 55 players to do such a thing. When did the scale of this achievement sink in for you?”

Kevin Ellison: “Saturday, I think, to be honest. I got a text, obviously I spoke to Peter Clarke, who’s now playing for Prescott Cables, in October. I’d seen he’d made 1,000 appearances, I congratulated him on that, and then it was only a couple of hours later, I got a text off one of our coaches at Vauxhall Motors, saying about, obviously, Clarke, he’d reached 1,000, he said, how many are you? I was like, I honestly didn’t know. He’s like, I’ll chase it up for you, I’ll have a little look, and then text me back within about half an hour, an hour’s time, and said, you’re on, I think it was 900-odd, you’ll make that this season. And I said, I hope so, because I was only like, I think it was eight games away or something like that, and I thought, at best I’ll make it in this season, if it’s only that. But as I say, it didn’t really kick in until Saturday, and the more that people speak about it, as you say, there’s only 55 people that have actually done it. I’m quite thrown back, to be honest.”

Interviewer: “You’re alongside, as you mentioned, Peter Clarke, which I’m sure you made up about, but also Ronaldo and Messi in that club. What does it mean to be mentioned in such company?”

Kevin Ellison: “No, I just think, for me, as a footballer, you want to play as long as you can. I’m 46 and I love the game, and that’s why I’m still playing. But for me, there’s all little things that lead to that. I think when I was 15, 16, and you’ve got a nice Liverpool centre of excellence, back then telling them you’re not good enough, you’re not going to make a pro footballer. And for a thousand appearances, I think there was a majority 700, maybe 750 plus in the Football League. So for me, my message is that don’t let anybody tell you you can’t reach it. If you want it, it’s there for you. You’ve got to roll your sleeves up and work hard.”

Interviewer: “If someone says to you at 15 or 16 that you’re not good enough, though, it must make the moment a little bit sweeter when you get to a thousand games, mustn’t it?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, when I look at it now, obviously I’m sitting back and I like to thank them, coaches really, the ones who told me I wouldn’t make it, I wouldn’t make a pro footballer, because they’re the ones who just added fuel to the fire, do you know what I mean? And for me, it wasn’t an I’m going to go out and prove you wrong type thing, it was I’m going to go out and prove myself right, because I know there were lads who were getting YTSs back at the time, at Liverpool, Everton, Tranmere, and I know I was as good if not better than them.”

Interviewer: “What did Vauxhall Motors do to mark the milestone at the weekend?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, to be fair, they set up a little, a big day, I say a little, but it was a big day for obviously for what the occasion was, inviting my family over, put food on for them, got a card of honour, a shirt, I actually played 90 minutes, but I’m thinking did he do that because obviously I’m worthy of a shirt or is it just because of the occasion, do you know what I mean? So, they were brilliant with me, to be honest, and I haven’t thanked them enough yet, because obviously I’ve been so busy social media lately, obviously speaking to people and people congratulate me on getting back to them, but I’m glad I’ve done it there and they’ve done a lot for me and my family.”

Interviewer: “Now, these are the important questions now, Kev, I’m 49, so I’m three years older than you, so you’re 46 and you’re still playing, what do you do to keep the body going, because you must have had to make adjustments down the years to your regimes and your fitness and things like that?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, I don’t road run as such and stuff like that no more, I try and do less impact stuff on my joints, because as you say, as you’re getting older, people say you can start getting dodgy hips and that, a couple of years ago I felt my hip in full-time football, but I was told I might need a hip replacement in five years, and here I am ten years on and I’m still going alright, so I just try and do yoga, dancing, swimming, I just try and do kettlebell sessions, I do all of the CB stuff, but not on the Tuesday earlier on in the week, I try to tone back and look after myself a little bit, especially if I’ve played on a Saturday.”

Interviewer: “Do you think looking back, if you knew what you know now all those years ago, could your career have gone in a different direction, because I think I’ve read you actually saying you’re almost fitter now than you were when you were a pro back in your 20s?”

Kevin Ellison: “I reckon I’d be a World Cup winner, mate! It’s one of those things, in hindsight, you learn with experience as you get older, and there is definite things, because I speak to people now, and when I first started professional at Leicester, we were in the Premier League, I went in the first team squad, I’d be coming home on a Saturday after watching them, I’d be going out with my friends on a Saturday night, I’d see my girlfriend, the kid’s mum at the time, on a Sunday, eating rubbish, and then I’d have our reserve games, back then it was on a Monday night. Now, for me, if I’ve got a game mid-week, I definitely wouldn’t touch a drink on a Saturday, I eat better, I used to eat rubbish foods, I mean fatty, greasy, horrible foods, but now I look after myself a bit better, and as I say, I was speaking to one of the lads in football, they were asking me the other day, how do you do it? I’ve actually played more games and more minutes as I’ve got older, than when I first turned professional.”

Interviewer: “Wow, that is amazing. Is there an injury you look back on and think, oh that was a close thing? I know you had a bad knee injury, didn’t you?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, I had a knee injury at Altrincham, when apparently there was a lot of clubs, your West Hams, your Leeds at the time, along with all the other ones that were looking at me, and they came to watch me one game and I ended up getting injured early on at Doylsden, and then I was out for a good few months, and to be fair to them, Leicester at the time was always keeping in touch with Altrincham, I didn’t know at the time, asking when I’m going to be back fit and that, because they wanted to take me, obviously because I had a knee injury, on a trial basis then when I was back fit.”

Interviewer: “When you, you know, you look at your age, and I don’t want to harp on about it too much because it is just a number, but you do get a bit of stick for being as old as you are from opposition fans, don’t you, but do you use that as a kind of fuel for yourself, really?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, I laugh at it, it’s inspirational and it inspires me in a way, because I’ve been to football clubs where they’re giving you loads, and then all of a sudden it’s like, yeah, keep saying it, and then all of a sudden I pop up and score. It’s like, I get, as well as fans, I get opposition players now saying me, ah, grandad, you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be here, and I was like, yeah, but I’m still playing your best level. Do you know what I mean? So I have a little laugh and a joke with them, because I do find it funny and if they want to have a go at me for being 46, playing against them, well, they need to look at themselves and not me, really.”

Interviewer: “When you look back on your career, as you’ve mentioned there, you were at Leicester, you’ve played everywhere from non-league to Premier League, you made that one appearance for Leicester away at Old Trafford, how much does that single appearance, you know, sit in your memories now?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, it means an awful lot to me, because, as I say, it was only like five or six years before that, people were telling me I’d never make a footballer, I’m not good enough, and yeah, obviously I wasn’t good enough for the Premier League, but I’ve still got that appearance and nobody can take that away from me. People say, oh, well, it was only for six minutes plus injury time, et cetera, and that, yeah, but I’m not, I’m humbled a bit, because people do give me a bit of stick, and I go, yeah, but you made your, no disrespect, but you made your league debut against Frickley away on a Tuesday night, I played at Old Trafford. And that’s what I say to the lads now, it’s Man United lads, like some of the younger lads, obviously, who are in our team, who are younger than me son, they’re laughing at a joke, and I’m like, yeah, but Man United back then were the world’s best team, you’re forgetting they were actually the world’s best team.”

Interviewer: “You have played a lot of non-league, and you’re at Vauxhall at the moment, as we’ve said, how much do you think non-league football has changed down the years?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, it’s come on an awful lot. I come back, not like thinking I’m going to steamroll it and roll it, because I know when I’ve come back, and managers have told me that, I’ve been targeted a little bit because obviously I played in the Football League, and I’m meant to be this and that, so I do maybe get doubled up sometimes on markings and such, which obviously frees space for other players, but if you look at the standards now, you look at Macclesfield on Saturday against Crystal Palace and stuff like that, it’s like, there’s a lot of non-league teams who have got really, really good players who could probably, well, would play in the league, only that some of them have jobs, and they get better money because they get paid part-time and they’ve got a job, so why are you going to leave it when they’re obviously not, obviously I think then, well, if you don’t want to leave it, you’re not really wanting to be a pro footballer, but at the same time, I can see where they’re coming from, because you could go into pro football and a manager says, I’ll give him six months, he could say he doesn’t want you, or a new manager comes in.”

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Interviewer: “In terms of the future, I’ve got a lovely quote from you here, which you say you won’t drag the backside out of it, as in your career, how will you know when to stop?”

Kevin Ellison: “I’ll know when I’m not getting, for me, it’s like when I start feeling my legs going a little bit, because I still do the running pre-seasons, I’m still fairly up near the front running, so I know that’s like that, but when the ball, for me playing up front now, when the ball starts coming across and I’m a yard away from it, or I’m a yard nearly there, I’ll know that’s time, my body will tell me that, you know what I mean, I’m not just going to drag it out just because I love football, because then it’s not fair on other people, and I’m letting people down.”

Interviewer: “So really, you have to end the football before the football ends you, really, is that about right?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yes, definitely, yeah.”

Interviewer: “And what about coaching then, is that something you genuinely see yourself doing?”

Kevin Ellison: “I want to, currently I work in a school, I’m a head of a year in a school in Liverpool, I love it, I love my job, and it was a bit emotional on Saturday because I didn’t know teachers, a couple of teachers behind me back, ends up bringing like 30-odd school kids from my year group and the years below, I’m ahead of the year, so I hear someone shout me when I turn around, and to be fair, the teacher and all the kids were there, I was buzzing because in our school, we’re in Kensington, it’s quite a deprived area but the kids are brilliant and I love going to work there, but when I look at it, it’s like I’ve paid to do my coaching badges, I’ve got my A-licence badge, for me, I would love to stay in football and give something back because it’s given me so much, it’s given my family so much, so for me, I’ve got badges there and yeah, I’m looking at it and thinking when I do finish it, I would love to get back in full-time.”

Interviewer: “Surely you’ve been the talk of the school this week, haven’t you?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, well, as they say, the keeper made a great save, I’ll be honest, the keeper made a great save early on, which would have made it 1-0, before it did actually score to make it 1-0, and they told me I missed the sitter, so they’re just keeping me feet on the ground in the school.”

Interviewer: “I suppose when you score that goal in your thousandth game, there must be people who’ve had a big influence on you going through your mind, who would you say is the biggest influence on your career?”

Kevin Ellison: “I’d say my mum and dad, because they’re the ones who, realistically, my friends and my cousins who grew up with me at Anfield, who were going out on a Friday night and a Saturday night, and there’s my mum and dad going, you need to stay in lads, you’ve got a game tomorrow or you need to go and do the gym or go this before you go out and see your friends, so I think behind the scenes, I know as most parents do, they believed in me and pushed me. So, yeah, I think it’s them, and then obviously I’ve got my kids who, for the last, well, I spoke out about mental health a good few years ago, in 2016 maybe, for them, since then, obviously I’m out the other side a bit better, and they’re my motivation, it’s them who keep me going, and me lads, I always say to them every year, it might be time now, and he’s like, no, dad, I still believe in you a bit more, you’ve got another year to give, he’s playing, you’re better than them, they’re playing, you’re better than them, so for that, I’d say definitely my close family.”

Interviewer: “And mental health is so important in life, never mind in sport, isn’t it? Do you think now finally we are taking it seriously, particularly in an environment like football, where an injury can have such an impact on your mental health, can’t it, for example?”

Kevin Ellison: “Yeah, definitely, I think it is a big thing, and there was a taboo about it, where me, at the time, I didn’t speak out about it for years, I let it fester away, and he was managing as you told me, when I was injured, and I mean only for weeks injuries, that I’m dead wood, I’m no good to them, I’m paying you, you’re dead wood, and I’m like, there’s you, you want to be out there with the lads, and you’ve got a manager who you think is meant to believe in you, who signed you, and he’s saying stuff like that to you, so yeah, it is a very lonely place when you’re injured being a footballer, and everyone goes, oh yeah, but you get X, Y and Z, but it’s not about the money, and that’s probably why I’m still playing, because it’s not about money, I love it, and we play football because we love it, but at the end of the day, we’re not robots, we’re still human beings.”

Interviewer: “When you said there before about being told certain things at the age of 15, 16, to any youngster now listening, if they’re told they’re not good enough, what advice would you give to them?”

Kevin Ellison: “My advice would, continue to work on your strengths, what you know you’ve got, because we all believe in ourselves, and we think we’re better at doing this than we are with someone else, and work hard, roll your sleeves up, and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t reach it, because if you want your dream, you work hard, you can get it.”

Interviewer: “And finally, and it’s very much 1,000 not out, we could be sitting here and you’ve chalked up another 100 games when I interview you next time, but how would you want to be remembered as a footballer?”

Kevin Ellison: “Just someone who gives their all for the shirt, someone who wore the hat on the sleeve, and I think, I got asked this question the other day, and I think that is me, people go, oh you’ve done really well, you can do this, you’ve scored well, you’ve scored goals, you’ve scored goals. I want to, wherever club I’ve been in, I want to leave the shirt in a better place than I found it, and I think in the majority of the clubs, the shirt that I was given, and then I’ve left it in a better place than when I came.”

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