Jonjo Shelvey recalls the start of his career with Charlton in an interesting in depth interview with Four Four Two.
The interviewer noted that he became Charlton's youngest player when he made his debut at 16. How did he handle the pressure? (Question from Sophie Scott from Greenwich)
Shelvey responded: 'I played in the game on the Saturday, we lost 3-0 away to Barnsley, then on the Monday I was walking around school very proud, giving it big licks! Charlton had just been relegated a week beforehand, so they were giving youth a chance, and it was a great experience, I wasn't overawed - I felt comfortable as I'd been training with the first team squad since I wss 14.'
'Funnily enough, after the game, I had to ask the manager Alan Pardew if I could still take a girl to that summer's school prom as I needed to let her know. He just laughed and said, "Tell the girl you can't make it sadly as you'll be on Charlton's pre-season tour."'
Samuel Henderson from Erith asked. 'How did you fit into the dressing room at Charlton and how did the older professionals react to you?'
Shelvey replied: 'There were some good pros in there who treated me well - guys like Matt Holland, Ben Thatcher, Christian Dailly, and Chris Iwelumo. I didn't drive at the time so some of them gave me lifts to training. I was OK as I always had a lot of confidence. In the dressing room, I remember Dean Burton saying to me, "Young lad, get up and make the teas." I just shot straight back, "I'll make the teas when you're better than me." He just laughed and said "Yeah, that's fair." I played up front with Dean, so I could get away with it.'
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