A-Z of Football with Ryan Manning

A is for… Atmosphere

Best atmosphere you’ve played in?

The second leg of the play-offs, at home against West Brom. That was top. The best bit was when we got the bus from the Harbour Hotel down to the stadium, it was unbelievable. I think it set the tone for what happened that night.

Celebrating with Adam Armstrong on a famous night at St Mary's

B is for… Banter

Funniest player you’ve shared a dressing room with?

Joe Lumley. I don’t like to give him credit, but now that he’s gone I can say it! He’s good got banter. I first met him when I was at QPR, so I’ve known him since I was 18. We spent five seasons there together and another two here. So I’ve had enough of him in my career!

C is for… Celebration

Favourite goal celebration in football history?

There was one that went viral a few years ago where a fella scored a goal and ran and headbutted the dugout. He went straight through it and got sent off! That was a good one. Remember when Wayne Rooney got knocked out after a night out by Phil Bardsley, and then he pretended to get knocked out after he scored? That was a good bit of banter.

D is for… Dream

What would be your ultimate football dream?

Promotion this season – from where we were at the beginning of the season, or even a quarter of the way through it. I think you can see how tough the season has been for other teams, so to go on this run and to finish it off by getting promoted, I think that would be up there as a sporting achievement for a football club.

E is for… Embarrassed

Most humiliating moment?

One that comes to mind is when I was playing for QPR. I came off the bench in the 57th minute, or something like that, and it was a goal kick when I came on. Someone was down injured, so there was about a minute for the injury. The goal kick got taken, I’ve tackled someone from that goal kick and got sent off, so it was about 10 seconds of actual playing time! I didn’t even touch the ball. And it happened right in front of the dugout, so I just ended up going straight back down the tunnel. So that’s up there for me. But we won the game in the end, so I think I got helped out a bit.

F is for… Friend

Best mate in football?

Joe [Lumley] is probably up there, long term. When I first came to England, me and him got on really well and we’re still friends now, 10 or 11 years later, so he’s getting two mentions in this. I’m just hoping he won’t see it so he won’t get too excited!

Celebrating play-off glory alongside Joe Lumley (right)

G is for… Goal

Best goal you have ever scored?

Probably the free-kick against Wrexham – for the timing, the distance and because we ended up winning the game.

H is for… Hardman

Toughest player you have come across?

Flynn [Downes] is up there. I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of Flynn. I trained with Joey Barton at QPR when I was there – he left a few on me when I was a kid trying to get into the first team.

I is for… Idol

Player you looked up to as a boy?

It used to be Ryan Giggs, but my next-door neighbour Greg Cunningham was a footballer – he went to Man City. We used to go to school together – he’s a few years older than me but we played football in the garden all day long, so probably him. He went to City when he was 16, so he gave me a bit of an idea of what going over to England would be like, and trying to make it.

Irish international and former Preston and Bristol City defender Greg Cunningham – also a left-back – in action for Manchester City

J is for… Job

What would you do if you weren’t a footballer?

I was supposed to study physiotherapy at university, but seeing how Neil [Simms] operates around here, I’m glad I didn’t do that! Probably something in sport.

K is for… Kit

Favourite ever football shirt?

I’m a Man United fan and there was a yellow and green Sharp kit that I used to have as a kid, I remember that was one I enjoyed wearing when I was young. Or else I used to have a luminous yellow Ronaldinho kit for Barca that my mum and dad used to put on me on holidays so when I ran off they could spot me easily!

Eric Cantona in Man United's 1993-95 third shirt (left); Ronaldinho dazzles in 2006

L is for… Losing

What’s been the toughest loss of your career?

I lost the play-off final for Swansea against Brentford. That’s up there. Having also been on the other side when we (Saints) won, it can either be an unbelievable day or a terrible day. Losing at Wembley is tough.

M is for… Match

Best match you’ve played in?

Winning the play-off final at Wembley. To see it packed out, with the colours separated right down the middle, it’s an unbelievable feeling celebrating with your fans when you win. That’s probably the best, and losing the one with Swansea just made it even better.

The red half of Wembley ahead of kick-off in the play-off final

N is for… Notable

Football memento you will never give away?

The football you get for making your Premier League debut. You get it in a little glass box and I think that’s one you cherish, with the date and the fixture written on it. That’s quite a nice thing to have on the mantelpiece. Mine was Arsenal away last season.

O is for… Opponent

Best player you’ve faced?

I played against Ronaldo for Portugal, he’s obviously up there. He’s won a few awards! He couldn’t score past Lummers (Joe Lumley) though. He used to have a WhatsApp picture of him celebrating what looks like him saving a Ronaldo penalty, but Ronaldo actually missed. And then in the penalty shoot-out they (Middlesbrough) beat United and he didn’t save one penalty, but he ran off like he saved them all. That sums him up.

P is for… Pride

Proudest football achievement?

Either my international debut or my debut for QPR. It was against Wolves away. After all the years in academies, growing up and trying to get there, I think when you do get there it’s quite a good achievement that you can look back on.

Manning after making his EFL debut for QPR at Wolves in 2016

Q is for… Quote

Something someone said that always stuck with you?

My mum always says, ‘what’s for you won’t pass you’, so probably something along those lines.

R is for… Routine

What does pre-match look like for you?

The little one gets me up bright and early, so I’ll have breakfast with her at home. Then I’ll drive into the stadium and have pre-match with the lads – a rice and chicken dish, and then a bowl of cereal and a carb shot. Then I’ll have a coffee, do a bit of pre-activation and then I like to get my back cracked just before we go out for the warm-up. I’ve tried to reduce all the superstitions over the years – you realise that when you do them you still lose, so you eventually just give up on them!

S is for… Support

Which team did you follow as a boy?

Man United.

T is for… Teammate

Best player you’ve played with?

That’s a tough one. I didn’t play in the first team with him, but one I trained with a lot at QPR was Adel Taarabt. I was with the Under-21s and we used to train with the lads who were not involved with the first team on a Saturday. He used to do mental stuff – just an unbelievable dribbler of a football. When he was on it, you just thought, ‘how is he training with us?’ He was incredible.

The elusive Adel Taarabt evades a challenge from Morgan Schneiderlin

U is for… Unbelievable

Something about you we wouldn’t expect?

I was quite good at school. In Ireland, for your A-Levels it’s called a Leaving Cert – you do seven subjects, count your best six and you get 100 points for getting above 90 per cent, 90 points for getting between 85 and 90, and so on. The maximum you can get is 625 and I got 565, which is enough to do pretty much every college course, so I was quite educated up to a certain level. And then I got corrupted hanging around with Stevo (Jack Stephens), Tay (Taylor Harwood-Bellis), Flynn [Downes] and Breezy (James Bree), so now I’m nowhere near it, it’s all gone!

V is for… Visitor

Favourite away ground?

I always like the five minutes before kick-off at Sheffield Wednesday, or any stadium with a song that they sing before the game. Leeds is another good one, obviously Liverpool sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. Newcastle is good too.

Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday's famous old home

W is for… Worst

Worst thing about being a footballer?

There’s not much that’s bad about it! The schedule can be a bit brutal, and Christmas is probably the worst. When you’ve got family over and they’re all enjoying themselves, but you’ve got so many games and you’re keeping an eye on the fixtures, training and everything like that. My missus’ family come over usually, and then mine come over for New Year’s, so that whole period that everyone else has off, you’re battling through playing four games in 10 days. So Christmas is probably the worst part.

X is for… X-ray

Worst injury you have suffered?

Touchwood I’ve actually been alright so far, but when I was younger I broke my ankle – I tore ligaments in one of my ankles when I was about 15, so that’s probably the worst. That was about two months out – six weeks on crutches – but thankfully I haven’t had any problems with it since.

Y is for… Youngsters

What piece of advice would you give an aspiring footballer?

You have to be resilient, have a tough skin and be able to take setbacks in your stride. You can’t dwell on things that go right or wrong – just keep ploughing on and showing up every day.

Z is for… Zzzzzz

Whose banter could send you to sleep?

Taylor Harwood-Bellis (below). A few stories off him and you get 12 hours!

This interview was originally published inside SAINTS, the club’s matchday programme, for the recent home game against Ipswich. Each edition of the programme contains a feature interview with a current player or the head coach.

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