Freddie Potts: I felt like a fan during West Ham trophy win!
Freddie Potts was just a 19-year-old when West Ham reached the final of the Europa Conference League in 2023.
As an academy graduate and a lifelong fan, to be in the matchday squad and have a front-row seat on the bench meant everything.
“I’ve got the medal and the shirt still from that night,” the midfielder who is currently excelling on loan at Portsmouth says. “I’m never going to put those anywhere I won’t remember because it was one of the best nights I’ve had in football.
“It was hard to actually believe I was in the squad. We had the whole half of the stadium as West Ham fans and I felt like I was there watching it with them. I wanted us to win so badly I didn’t even really think about being involved in the squad.
“And then when Bowen scored the winner I just celebrated like a fan and ran onto the pitch and over to the other corner flag to celebrate with the team and the fans. It was just the inner fan in me coming out.”
Elias Kachunga on challenges of Huddersfield’s unlikely rise
When Elias Kachunga joined Huddersfield on loan for the 2016/17 season, I imagine he doubted he would be a Premier League player within a year.
Tipped by some for the drop that season, the Terriers under David Wagner defied the odds to go up through the play-offs. Perhaps an even greater success, however, was staying in the Premier League the following year with a tiny budget and a squad stretched to the limit.
“I remember it was around the New Year and I think I was going to rest because I’d played a game about two days before,” Kachunga, now at Cambridge, remembers.
“But the gaffer came to me and said, ‘I think we need you to play because we don’t have anyone else. So let’s see how long you can play.’ I think in the end it was for the full 90 minutes!
“Over the years to have played in the Premier League, and to see how it’s been in League One, has been really important for me. I did it in Germany as well. It’s really nice being able to look back at my career and I say I played in the biggest leagues in Germany and England.”
Miles Leaburn: Marvel movies and anime kept me going through recovery
Miles Leaburn is back playing and getting near to his top level for Charlton, having faced nearly a year out with a hamstring injury.
Away from the physical recovery, Leaburn also rediscovered his love of movies during his long break.
“A lot of the time my rehab was so tiring I’d just come home and sleep!” the striker, who has been backing playing since October, says. “But I watched a lot of movies and stuff.
“Especially in that first month when I was bed-ridden and couldn’t move, I watched a lot of the Marvel movies again up to Endgame, as well as a lot of anime.
“It was a massive challenge coming back from it physically and mentally. Once you think you’re not hitting the right markers at the right times, you just need that reassurance from people around you, and they really helped me with the mental side of it and keeping my motivation and my positivity in coming back.”
Mark Howard: My dream podcast guest is Van der Sar!
Wrexham goalkeeper Mark Howard is also a successful podcaster, with his ‘Yours, Mine, Away!’ channel attracting some of the biggest names between the sticks.
“I’ve had David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale on,” says Howard, who has also had Wrexham co-owner and Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds on his show.
“I’ve loved interviewing the YouTubers and the content creators as well. Someone like Angry Ginge, who’s doing what he’s done at his age is just ridiculous. To film a podcast and a ‘Goalie Wars’ session with him was amazing.”
But who would Howard’s dream booking be?
“That’s easy! Edwin van der Sar,” he says. “Hands down he’s probably the best goalkeeper I’ve ever witnessed. He had everything I’d look for in a goalkeeper and everything I’d try to be in one.
“He won everything there was in the game and he always came across as the calmest, nicest person. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him. I’d love to sit across a table from him and ask him questions and pick his brain.”
Lyle Taylor on the goal that meant the most to him
Lyle Taylor has scored a lot of goals in his career, and a lot of important ones at that.
But there is one that probably ranks as the highlight, and it came a year ago for Cambridge in a home win against Fleetwood.
“I’d been in the wilderness for about two years at that point,” Taylor – now at Colchester in League Two – reflects. “There was a period where I was taken out of the squad at Forest and made to train on my own. I wasn’t even allowed in the first-team building until after 2.30pm, and was made to train with the U21s.
“Then I broke my leg in a training session I shouldn’t have been in. So in that short period before I got the results of the scan I thought it could potentially be the end of my career.
“To then be given a chance at Wycombe to get fit to play and then going to Cambridge to score that goal, it was so important. It was a complete release of emotion from where I didn’t even know if I’d ever play again, or score my last goal.”
Bradley Dack reflects on injury struggles
For Bradley Dack the injuries came at the worst time. He was in the form of his life, on an upward trajectory with Blackburn, scoring goals and attracting interest from the Premier League.
Then, the derailing. Two cruciate injuries, virtually one after the other, saw him miss years of his career right when he was about to reach his peak.
“It was tough to take at the time,” Dack – now rebuilding at Gillingham in League Two – admits. “You never think it will happen to you, but unfortunately for me it happened twice.
“But injuries are part of football and I was just unlucky to get them when I did, at a point where I felt like I was close to getting to the next level of the Premier League. That’s where I always wanted to be.
“It takes a while to feel yourself again after these serious knocks. I felt like I did get to a place in my last season at Blackburn but I just didn’t fit into Jon Dahl Tomasson’s plans. I played a large chunk in the middle then picked up an injury and couldn’t get back in the team.
“I also felt like a made a good start with Sunderland last year, but then Tony [Mowbray] lost his job and it was a bit of a struggle there. It’s been a tough few years but I feel like I’ve still got a lot left to give.”
EFL fixtures on Sky Sports+ on Tuesday night
All 7.45pm kick-off unless stated