TLA Sport

with Roger Jackson Please email full details to sport@thelocalanswer.co.uk

Gloucester City striker Matt McClure has been playing football at a very decent level for the past two decades, but despite his longevity in the game he’s enjoying it today as much as he’s ever done.

The former Crystal Palace Academy product, who played well over 100 Football League games for Wycombe Wanderers, has been among the goals this season which has made his smile just that bit wider, of course, but the game has always been fun for the soonto-be 31-year-old.

“I’ve always enjoyed it and I’m still enjoying it now,” he told The Local Answer. “The day I don’t enjoy it I will stop, it’s that simple for me.”

And Gloucester City fans can rest assured that he has no intention of packing up any time soon.

“I want to score as many goals as I can,” he said.

And in turn he hopes those goals will help the National League North club, who returned to their rebuilt Meadow Park towards the end of 2020 after more than 13 years on the road following the dreadful floods of 2007, achieve their ambition of reaching the National League, the top tier of non-League football.

McClure, who lives in Aylesbury, joined Gloucester from Maidstone in January 2020.

“I only had a contract with Maidstone until the January and I was sold the project at Gloucester – new ground, coming home, never played in the league above," he said.

“That appealed to me and I’ve loved my time at the club.

“Promotion is what we’re hoping for, we’ll have to see how it goes but we’ve got a

Matt McClure has been among the goals this season. Picture: Neil Phelps group of players who want to take the club where they’ve never been before.

“Gloucester are a good club and we get some good crowds. This is a big city and if we do the job on the pitch people will soon notice.”

McClure, who was born in Slough, knows what he’s talking about, of course, having been in and around football pretty much all his life.

He was spotted by Crystal Palace when he was playing Sunday League football for Beaconsfield at the age of 11 or 12 and was part of their academy until he was 16.

And it will come as no surprise that McClure really enjoyed his time at the South London club.

“Yes, I did,” he said. “If I’m honest, I didn’t realise at the time how much of a privilege it was. If I’d known then what I know now...

“When you get to 14 or 15 that’s the business end, but I didn’t really see it that way, I was just having a kickabout with my mates.”

And while McClure left to join Wycombe, some of his old Palace mates went on to become big stars in the Premier League.

“Wilf Zaha was the year below me and John Bostock, who went to Spurs, was the same age as me,” McClure said.

“Victor Moses and Nathaniel Clyne were both a year above so there were some very good players.”

And although McClure wasn’t given the opportunity to stay on at Palace, he was certainly grateful for everything they did for him.

“They schooled me really well,” he said. “They had a couple of great coaches and they stood me in good stead when I stepped down. They helped me establish myself at Wycombe.”

McClure, who was capped by Northern Ireland for the under19s and under-21s – his grandad was born in Belfast – played 20 games for Dagenham and Redbridge in League Two after leaving Wycombe in 2015, before joining Aldershot Town where he linked up again with ex-Wycombe boss Gary Waddock.

“I got on very well with him, he gave me my first pro contract and my first-team debut,” he said. “Even now he’ll ring me and touch base to see how things are going.”

Richard Dobson, who was assistant manager at Wycombe, is another who has been a big supporter of McClure.

“He helped me as a person as well as a player,” said McClure, who adds, “I’ve never fallen out with any of my managers.”

McClure is very easy to interview, but suggest to him that he sounds like a manager’s dream and he laughs before saying: “Say that to our previous manager Lee Mansell when I was out with a back injury last season!”