Nostalgia: Teenage soccer starlet gets his big break in English league

Falkirk skipper Gary Gillespie, the youngster who thought he would struggle to get into the first team at Brockville, will officially become a Coventry City player this weekend.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Mar 2018, 17:45 BST
Updated 2nd Mar 2018, 18:47 BST

Seventeen-year-old sweeper Gillespie was flying down to Coventry to have his medical and complete the deal which is worth £75,000 to the Bairns.

But, before leaving his home in Brightons, he said: ‘‘Although I’m naturally delighted about getting my chance in English football, I’m very sorry about leaving Falkirk.

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“I feel as though I’m leaving them in the lurch at a time when they are going for promotion. However, there was nothing I could do about it.

“I asked Coventry manager Gordon Milne if I could agree verbally to sign for them after finishing this season with Falkirk. However, they wanted me to sign right away and more or less said it was now or never.”

For Gillespie, it’s a soccer dream come true. Only last season he was playing in the juvenile grade with Gairdoch United.

Manager Billy Little, who had Gillespie as a pupil at Graeme High School, called him up last summer and put him in the team at sweeper for the second match of this season.

Related topics:FalkirkNostalgiaCoventry CityBairns