7 Moving Away
Lynn: It was very very hard for us as parents to let go. Especially with Graeme going away too, it was very very hard. I never totally let them know how I feeling. But they knew how I was feeling in a sense.
Vince: Can you visualise this, we’re at Lilleshall. And we had Michael’s bags in our car. A person came up from West Ham in another car to pick Michael up after England trials to take him to London to start full time at West Ham. And they transferred his bags into that car. And Michael goes down to London after telling us he didn’t want to go and we go back home!
Lynn: He turned round as he was going and he said, ‘You’re making me go where I don’t want to go.’ that was in the car park at Lilleshall. And I cried all the way home. And I said to Vince, ‘What have we done!?’ you didn’t have mobile phones in those days. His girlfriend was actually in the car, who he’s married to now, Lisa. And Graeme. And I was trying not to get too upset because they were in the car.
And we get home and the phone rings and it’s Michael, ‘Hi mum! It’s great here. I love it!’ You know, large as life. And I said, ‘Michael, you don’t know what you’ve done to me son.’ He said, ‘this is where I want to be mum. Just having to leave you was absolutely horrible.’ And it was the worst journey of my life. And that was the only time really. And it was hard. Them both wanting to do something like that.
Vince: Our relationships never suffered because of it. But it has been dominated by football. It was bad enough when Graeme left but at least we knew that Graeme was going to be looked after. That was our experience through Michael. It was hard letting Graeme go, but what do you do?
Lynn: Graeme was 20 when he came back home. Because he’d had injury problems. Now he came back home. And there could’ve been a bit of jealousy ‘Michael’s made it’ or whatever.
But no, they’ve always had a very close relationship. And it was one of those times where Graeme had to find himself again.
Vince: One minute you’re out with Teddy Sheringham, Bobby Zamora, Don Hutchison whatever. And next thing you’re back home with your friends.
Lynn: It shows the character that Graeme has become. To deal with that. If we hadn’t let Graeme think for himself he wouldn’t be the person that he is.
And we do know of people who’ve had money and ‘my son’s gonna be such and such’ and they’re boasting and bragging and we say just let them go and enjoy it and see where it takes them. Which is what we tried to do. And we’re so quiet. Michael’s where he is. But we’re a family first and foremost.
Michael: It was hard though the pressure of the actual decision, the final decision between when I was leaving school what club I went to. Anything from Newcastle or Middlesbrough staying at home, or moving to London, it was hard.
Graeme: To go to West Ham or to go somewhere else for a longer contract.
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