MAD DOG AND BRENTFORD

I went to Brentford for the first three months of the 2004/05 season. It was initially a one-month loan but it got extended for a second and then a third, which was what I wanted at the time as I was just happy to be playing football. Then Martin ´Mad Dog´ Allen, the Brentford manager, said he wanted to sign me so he put in an offer which Charlton accepted and I felt it was the right time to move. A lot of people asked me whether I was taking a step down but I didn´t really see it as that, as I was moving from reserve team football at Charlton to first team football at Brentford which was a step up in my eyes.

I´d heard so much about Martin Allen and his days at Barnet and having all the lads stay round his house, doing the gardening and all sorts of other stories. I thought it could be a bit messy. I was lucky because in the pre-season the lads had been in painting the training ground but I arrived just after they finished and managed to duck out of that one.

Martin Allen was a great help to me, he really taught me the basics of being a footballer - just doing the simple things right. It was straightforward stuff like, if the ball´s there to be cleared just put it in the stands, it sounds silly but as a young player being told to keep things simple really helps. I had two really good years at Brentford and we had two decent Cup runs. Martin Allen and the rest of the team won a lot of people over; he always seemed to be on Sky Sports and he got a lot of people´s attention. After those two years I went back for my pre-season and was told that Hull had put in an offer for me. They said they didn´t want me to leave and they´d offer me a new contract but I was desperate to play in the Championship and there was only one move I was going to make and that was up to Hull.

I heard about the offer on Monday and I was in Sheffield on Wednesday having a medical. I had to drive up Tuesday night, never having been up north in my life, and I couldn´t find the hotel I was supposed to be staying in. I didn´t have a sat nav or anything and my fiancée Joanne was trying to direct me over the phone. In the end I just gave up and ended up staying in a different hotel. The team were going to Spain for a training camp on the Wednesday but the medical took ages and what with the traffic in Sheffield, I missed the plane. I had to drive all the way back to London, got a plane on the Thursday morning and met the lads out there. It was a pretty hectic period.

I´d never been to Hull before. It was a big decision me and for Joanne as well, she had to give up her job as an accountant in London and leave her friends and family. It was a massive step for her and one I´m really glad she took.