9 minute read
Connor Kirby Interview
PLAYER IN FOCUS
Connor Kirby
A YORKSHIRE LAD WITH A LOVE FOR FOOTBALL, CONNOR KIRBY FITS THE BILL. ONLY RECENTLY TURNING 22 YEARS OLD, THE BARNSLEY BORN MAN HAS ALREADY HAD AN EVENTFUL CAREER. FROM TRAINING WITH SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY’S PROMOTION CHALLENGING TEAM TO WITNESSING THE FINANCIAL DEMISE OF MACCLESFIELD TOWN, KIRBY HAS HAD TO GROW UP QUICKLY IN A VERY SHORT SPACE OF TIME.... By Henry Whitaker
CONNOR KIRBY
AGE: 22 DATE OF BIRTH: 10.09.1998 BIRTHPLACE: BARNSLEY SIGNED FROM: SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (AUGUST 2020) 2020/21 LEAGUE TWO APPEARANCES: 16
CONNOR KIRBY
THE YOUNGSTER’S first memory of football is when he was five years old, a game in which he scored his first-ever goal, albeit in the wrong net. Although a comical moment, it showed a trait in Kirby from the start. A desire to kick a football.
“I loved football as a kid, it was what I was thinking and doing every day,” Kirby says with a passion. “Phones still weren’t a big thing when I was a kid so I’d go out with my dad and just start passing it around, doing tackles etc.”
Kirby looked at the likes of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard for inspiration, seeing them as the midfielders who could “do it all”.
Like many professional footballers, Kirby went through the academy process at a young age. He was scouted by Sheffield United at the age of eight and spent five years with the Blades before being released. However, there was no time for the youngster to get down as he was very quickly snapped by The Blades local rivals, Sheffield Wednesday. It was at Wednesday where Kirby settled and stayed for nine years. Kirby admits that although he had done well in his academy days, there were times where he didn’t have the confidence to match his technical ability.
“There were times I didn’t really believe in myself, especially at Sheffield United. That’s probably been one of my biggest downfalls. When I was released I had to rediscover my confidence in my ability to get a contract elsewhere. I had some really good coaches at Wednesday. Kevin Fogg coached me at United and Wednesday and he’s really close to my family and still rings me now. He’s been massive in my development.”
At 16, Kirby signed a two-year scholarship with Sheffield Wednesday but it only took a couple of months for the midfielder to show he was worth more. After playing a few games for Wednesday’s u21 side, Kirby had won himself his first professional deal at the age of just 17, in what came as a “surprise” to The Owls new addition. At the time, Carlos Carvalhal was the manager and he led Wednesday to the playoffs in back to back seasons between 2015 and 2017. Kirby was occasionally involved with the first team, training with the likes of Gary Hooper, Steven Fletcher and Barry Bannan to name a few. It was a big step up for the Barnsley lad who was almost in awe of those around him.
“For a 17-year-old to go into training with players like that, it was nerve-wracking,” he confesses. “I had to grow up fast being in that first-team environment. When you make a mistake, they’re on to you. It’s not like in the under 18s where you go and try again. You had to be brave and show what you had about you. I did score a half volley right into the top corner which was a standout moment in training but I don’t think it went down too well as they just played on.”
As well as mixing with the first team, Kirby was a prominent figure in both the under 18s and 21s set up, captaining both sides. Although still far away from his senior years, Kirby already has aspirations of one day becoming a first-team captain and looks forward to one day being able to help develop the next generation of talent.
“I see myself as a leader and although I’m not the most vocal, I feel like I lead by example in other ways such as hard work and energy. When I’m older, I want younger players to be able to learn that from me.”
At Harrogate, he has the perfect role model to look up to in Josh Falkingham. Kirby explains how he’s already benefiting from playing alongside the Town skipper.
“When you’re the captain of a team everyone looks up to you. With Falkingham, he’s helped me a lot already. He puts his arm around me and tells me what I should be doing in certain situations and what he’d do.”
Before his move to Town this summer, Kirby was still working his way through The Owls’ set up. The midfielder was continuing to impress the right people at Wednesday and after making the first team bench for several fixtures, he made his firstteam debut in April 2018. It was at Hillsborough in front of 25,000 fans in what was a “shiver up my spine” moment.
Kirby would go on to make three more appearances before an agreement was made between himself and the coaching staff for the youngster to go out on loan to gain Football League experience. The midfielder went to Macclesfield Town for the 2019/20 season but as the season progressed, financial difficulties mounted for the club and it made for a tough season for all involved.
Making over 30 appearances for his loan club, Kirby had become a popular figure with the fans with his passionate performances standing out. However, many of his teammates faced an uncertain future with Macclesfield unable to pay wages during parts of the season. With an unhappy dressing room, it put Kirby in a difficult position.
“It’s not something I’d want to experience being on contract with a club in that position,” he says. “It took its toll on the changing room. The lads knew the money would come but it was a matter of when. It was hard. It got to the stage where lads didn’t want to train, which affected me and lads didn’t want to play which cost us points. What went through my head at times was ‘What am I doing here?’. I wanted to be in a team where all the lads were up for it and in fairness, they were up until it got really bad. You never knew what you were going to get from the team with their minds potentially elsewhere.”
It got so bad for Macclesfield that at one point, the club named a side with five loanee players and six from their college set up for an FA Cup tie against non-league outfit, Kingstonian. Kirby captained the financially stricken club in what was a miserable day as The Silkmen lost 4-0.
At the end of the curtailed season, a point deduction saw Macclesfield drop into the relegation zone and they were relegated to the National League. The bad news kept coming as by September 2020, Macclesfield had been expelled from the National League and was wound up by the High Court. When Kirby heard the news that his former club was to dissolve, he was devastated.
“I was gutted when they folded. It was a proper community club which the fans got behind. It was heartbreaking to see the supporters lose their club.”
For Kirby, when the 2019/20 season ended he
headed back to Sheffield Wednesday, although he had no idea what was next for him. Kirby explains how he was invited to a Zoom call, where he was told the news that he was set to be released from the club he had spent almost a decade with. Understandably so, it hard Kirby hard.
“It sent my head all over the place. It was the middle of the pandemic and I didn’t have a club. I thought I’d done enough on loan to get a decent move so was in contact with alot of teams. However, they’d say they were interested but then it would just go silent. Mentally for me, it was quite tough as I started questioning whether I was good enough.”
Fortunately for Kirby, the offer from Harrogate was one he liked the look of and he “snapped up” the opportunity to join Simon Weaver’s side. Kirby had seen Town play so well in the National League Play-Offs and he was keen to be part of the club’s next chapter.
A gruelling first training session was made harder for Kirby as he hadn’t played football for over five months but once up to speed, he was able to compete with his new teammates.
As a new signing, Kirby wasn’t expecting to go straight into the starting XI, especially since the squad had done so well. But in recent weeks, however, Kirby has started to get more game time and began to nail down a spot in Weaver’s line-up, something the midfielder is wanting press on with.
“It’s tough to break into the squad straight away. I just wanted to play games and it was tough not playing as much as I’d have liked at the start. I’ve been patient, kept my head down and carried on smiling which has got me a run in the team now.”
As one of the few Town players with Football League experience, Kirby knows how competitive this division is and he believes the realistic goal for the club should be to retain status in League Two.
“The league can go any way,” Kirby explains. “It’s a very competitive league and more so than it was last year. It was spread quite quickly last campaign but this season, one win or loss can move you quite far in the table at the moment. Because of that, we need to be at it every game.”
Football is an unpredictable sport and results across all the divisions have shown that yet again this season. However, for Kirby, he can give one certainty to Town fans.
“I’ll work hard every time I put the Harrogate shirt on. It’s a club on the rise and I want to have the success the lads have had in the last few years. I want to move up the divisions and I think it’s definitely doable with Harrogate. If you look at the table, we’re not too many points off the playoffs now. A good run with back to back wins can make a huge difference and we should be aiming high.”
