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Meet the mortgage broker who became a professional footballer

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  • 25/07/2013
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Plenty of mortgage brokers will tell you that they could have made it as a professional footballer. But only one adviser has gone out and done it. Adam Williams meets the broker-turned-footballer.

It was a cold December day when London & Country mortgage adviser Tyrone Mings received a call from Ipswich Town. The club were inviting Mings for a trial at the club after their scouts had spotted him playing for a local non-league side.

Mings had been on the books of Southampton as a youngster – playing alongside future England international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – but was released as a teenager when relegation to the third tier forced the south coast club to cut its youth budget.

He completed a football scholarship at Millfield School, but with a professional career looking increasingly unlikely, the then 19-year-old Mings was working in a pub when he spotted an advert for trainee mortgage brokers.

“I wasn’t playing football at the time and it seemed like a good career if I wasn’t going to play football,” he told Mortgage Solutions.

“I never had a desire to be a mortgage adviser before then but it was a good opportunity and London & Country took me in through their academy.”

He combined his new job with playing part-time for non-league sides, first at Yate Town and later Chippenham Town. It was there that Ipswich became aware of the player for the first time and sent scouts along to watch him in action.

Then came the call from the Championship side, inviting him to Portman Road for a trial game. He played the full 90 minutes and manager Mick McCarthy quickly offered him an 18-month contract, he later said that he knew after just five minutes that he wanted Mings to join the club.

“It was a crazy time,” says Mings. “That was everything I’d been working towards and everything I had dreamed about.

“The trial was on the Monday and I went into London & Country on the Tuesday and told everyone what had happened. They were all over the moon and they didn’t stand in my way, they were just delighted.”

“I signed the contract on the Thursday, trained with the team that same morning and then I travelled to Leeds on the Saturday with the first team and I’ve been in the squad ever since.”

Mings featured on the bench several times for the Tractor Boys before making his debut in the final game of the season, a 2-0 defeat away at Burnley.

“My debut came a little later than planned,” he explains. “The manager always promised to give me a few games before the end of the season as soon as we were safe, but we were in a relegation battle and didn’t get mathematically safe until the penultimate game of the season.

“But there were about 13,000 people at Burnley. My first game of the season had been in front of 200 people while I was playing for Yate.”

Now, with a full pre-season under his belt, he says he is ready to challenge for a regular place in the first team this season, starting with the game against newly-relegated Reading on August 3.

“I just want to keep working hard and when my opportunity does come to take it and play as many games as I can. Every game I play it brings my game on and to get a full pre-season now puts me on a level playing field with everyone else. It’s just up to me to take my opportunity when it arises.”

While Mings describes being recognised in the street by Ipswich fans a ‘surreal’ experience he is already a popular figure amongst the supporters after he gave away a pair free of tickets to a supporter who couldn’t afford to see the team in action.

“We were playing Bolton on the Saturday and I tweeted about the game,” he says. “A fan replied saying he hoped we win but he couldn’t afford to get to the match because he was skint.

“He didn’t ask for any tickets or anything like that but I said if he could get to Portman Road I’d leave him some tickets, he shouldn’t miss out on the game just because he can’t afford it. I never thought people would take much notice of it.”

It’s a tale that sets him apart from the typical image of overpaid, pampered footballers. I ask if he thinks his time as a mortgage broker stood him in good stead.

“Having the experience away from the game has definitely helped me. Seeing what is required in a full-time job and juggling the football means a lot in terms of real world experience and just how grateful I am to be a footballer.”

While Mings is just at the start of his career, would he ever return to being a mortgage broker when he hangs up his boots?

“I’d certainly consider it, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at London & Country and I really enjoyed the job.

“I studied CeMAP 1 but I never got a chance to do 2 and 3,” he laughs “If I could do part time along with football I definitely would.”

Image courtesy of Ipswich Town FC

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