Darren Mansaram interview by Keith Wallace
August 25th 2009.
Darren Mansaram has revealed how he was close to quitting football at the age of 21, and he would have probably done so had it not been for the intervention of Sean Connor. After switching between four clubs over a four-season period, the Doncaster-born forward made a loan move to Worksop Town in the Conference North in 2006, a transfer which almost killed his career.
Connor call
“At the time, I was probably thinking about just quitting football, to be honest,” Mansaram told theDFC Magazine this week. “I couldn’t get myself motivated. It was part-time football at Worksop, we were training at night and my lifestyle probably wasn’t the best. I was going out every other day and I was probably thinking about quitting football at the time. I wasn’t really bothered about it.” However, a phone call from Connor was the beginning of a resurrection of Mansaram, though the striker can’t recall how the move to Ireland came about. “Everybody asks me that, but I don’t know,” he said. “I think I was watching Hollyoaks at the time and my phone rang, and he said ‘I’m the manager of Sligo Rovers in Ireland, do you fancy coming over on a trial?’. At the time, I felt I had nothing to lose, so I headed over there. It was one of those things – I had to do it if I wanted to keep playing football. I reckon if I had stayed at home I wouldn’t be playing football now, to be honest. I think I would have binned it altogether.”
Busy nomad
Mansaram began his professional career at Grimsby Town in 2002 where he was an ever-present in his first two years as he made 65 league appearances. However, after that, it all went downhill for the 6ft1 hitman as he made seven different moves between five clubs over just two seasons. “I was just playing in the local leagues in Doncaster and obviously there were a few scouts watching me,” Darren said when asked how he ended up at Blundell Park. “They offered me a scholarship when I was 16. I was in the Youth team at Grimsby and I signed a professional contract when I was 17. I had a good time there. It was my first time away from home. I was living in Grimsby, which is only an hour up the road, but it was good. I was staying in a digs with some of the other lads, so it was an enjoyable time for me. A new manager came in then and he said that I wasn’t going to be part of his plans and that it would probably be better if I moved on. Halifax were interested and I thought it was time to move on. Initially, I went to Halifax on loan just to get some games and playing time. I went back to Grimsby then but he basically said again that I wasn’t in his plans, so I went back to Halifax again.”
Turbulent time
He was soon on the move again as he left Halifax for a second time when he joined York City ahead of the 2005/06 season. However, it proved to be a turbulent year for Mansaram as he spent time at four different clubs during the campaign. “I picked up an injury at the start of the season with Halifax,” he explained. “I wasn’t really playing well and because of a lack of form and whatever, they said to go to York, basically to enjoy your football again and to get some games. I was only there for a month. Then I went back to Halifax, and again he wasn’t going to play me, so I moved on to Tamworth. When I was finished there, I went back to Halifax again. That time, I played a few games and scored something like four goals in six games, but I had a bit of fallout with the manager, so he said it was probably best if I went out on loan again, so I went to Worksop. They were in the division below the Conference at the time. Again, that was just to play games, but I was injured and I didn’t really play much – I think I only played something like two or three games, so it didn’t really work out.”
Sligo to Bohs
Then came the aforementioned contact from Connor as Mansaram landed in the League of Ireland in a bid to keep his footballing days alive, and that’s exactly what he did, as one season at Sligo led to a move to Bohemians. “It was a good move for me,” he said. “I enjoyed it a lot. There was a good set of lads there, I was playing football and I was enjoying it. The lads were all young and around my age. I think I was about the third or fourth oldest, and I was 21 at the time. It was a good year. Before the season ended at Sligo, the Gaffer said that he was getting a job at Bohemians in Dublin. My contract was ending and he said that he would like to take me there with him, and asked would I be interested. I went down to Dublin and I said ‘yeah’, and that was it really. I think I was his first signing. I didn’t really mind leaving Sligo. It was a good season, but obviously the Gaffer told me how big a club Bohemians was, so I thought it was a step in the right direction, career wise. Bohs was very good. There was a lot of pressure playing for a big club. At Sligo, it was the club’s first season back in the Premier Division and we weren’t expected to do as well as we did. But at Bohs, the fans expect you to win every game, which is a different type of pressure.”
Dalymount disaster
After five league goals in 29 appearances in his first year at Dalymount Park, which added to his seven goals in 25 outings at Sligo, things were beginning to look up for Mansaram. However, disaster struck when Connor was relieved of his duties by Bohs, leading to the arrival of Pat Fenlon. “I think I started one game (under Fenlon), and that was the second game of the season,” Darren recalled. “I started another League Cup game which was my last game, I think. At my age, I felt I needed to play football, and one start in the league wasn’t good enough for me. To be honest, I wasn’t really playing the best of football, so I think it was probably best for both parties that I left the club. At the time, to be honest, I was probably feeling a little bit down, and I wanted to go back home. It just a case of wanting to get out of Bohs, because I wasn’t playing games. There’s nothing worse than when you’re going to training and you’re working as hard as the other lads, but you know that you’re not going to be playing. I felt there was no point in me sitting in the stands when I could go back home and be with my family and my friends, so I thought I might as well go back home and play a bit of football.”
More movement
Upon his return to England, Mansaram signed for Leigh Genesis, a side based near Manchester, where he scored three goals in eight appearances before moving to Retford United. “Basically, I was just looking to get back playing,” Mansaram said as he explained his reasons for joining the Northern Premier League outfit. “But I felt I should have definitely been playing at a higher level than I was. I think it was the Unibond North, or something like that. I think it was three divisions below the Conference. But it was just a case of me desperately wanting to get back playing. I think I was at Leigh for two or three months. The chairman was paying quite a lot of money to players. He had big plans but, with the recession, he said he couldn’t really afford to pay the wages or fund the club, so I left there basically because they couldn’t pay the players’ wages. I was a bit in limbo then, because outside of the transfer window you can’t really sign for too many clubs, so Retford is just a club near me. It’s only 10-15 minutes down the road. They probably wouldn’t get much more than 200-300 fans at their games. I was hoping just to play there until January, until the window opened.”
Oriel arrival
It was a plan that worked as, by January, Connor had got back into football after taking the reigns at Oriel Park, and he made signing Mansaram one of his top priorities. “I always kept in touch with Sean,” the 25-year-old said. “He said that he was trying to get back in football, and he rang me at the end of December and said that he got the job here, and he asked me would I be interested in joining. Obviously, I was at Retford at the time, but this is a lot better standard than Retford, so I jumped at the chance. I didn’t know much about the club. I played against them at Bohs last season, I think the only goal I scored was against Dundalk in the League Cup when I came on, but that was about it really. The only thing I knew was that they had the astro pitch, but that was it.” Mansaram made his competitive debut in the loss at Galway United in the second game of the season before scoring on his full debut at home to Drogheda United a week later. He went on to net in wins over Sligo and Derry City in April, but that was his last goal, and the striker is very keen to get back on the score-sheet. “It has been good so far,” he said when asked how he was enjoying his time at the border venue. “We’ve picked up a few results recently, so it’s going well. The Scottish guys have come in now and there’s a breath of fresh air about the place, and there’s competition for places now. Hopefully I can just get my head down and try to get to the form where I was at the start of the season, where I was a threat. Hopefully, I can do that. Obviously, I know that I need to add goals to my game and get my form back.”
Connor compliment
Mansaram is now working under Connor for the third time and obviously likes his management methods, while he says that Joe Miller works well with the boss. “The Gaffer is very good,” Darren said. “I have been with him for three or four years now, so I’ve probably got a better understanding with him than most of the lads in the dressing room. I know how he works and I think he knows how I work. He’s a bit different to other managers, but because I’ve been with him for so long now, I know what to expect. Joe is a good coach and he gets on well with the lads. He works well with the Gaffer. You can talk to him as a player and as a coach, because he was a decent player in his time, so he’s very good in the dressing room. There’s a bit of banter in the club and everybody gets on well. It’s a tight unit. There’s no players that are outsiders, everyone does everything together. There’s eight or nine of us living in the town, so whether it’s going for something to eat in the Marshes after training or going to the cinema, we do it together. Everyone is quite close-knit, so there’s a good mood in the camp.” The striker is also impressed with the club’s support, and is hoping to give them something to shout about between now and the end of the season. “The crowd have been great,” he said. “I just hope that I can score a few more goals for them, as well as myself, because they have been good to me.”
