Make no mistake about it, Ryan Fredericks will be doing everything he can to knock Tottenham Hotspur out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening.
But the West Ham United player will always owe tonight’s opponents a debt of gratitude for turning him into a potential Premier League footballer.
For it was during his formative years within Tottenham’s Academy that the young Fredericks was converted from a promising yet inconsistent winger into the flying full-back he is today.
“Tottenham is where it all started for me, really” the 25-year-old told the Official Programme for the fourth-round meeting with his old club. “I joined Spurs at 14, so that’s quite late relative to most players. I started out with my local club Potters Bar United, then I went to Barnet, but their Centre of Excellence closed, so I moved to Arsenal, but it didn’t work out there, so I went to Spurs and I was 21 when I left.
“The coach who converted me from a winger to a full-back was Tim Sherwood, who was managing the Under-21s at the time. I got on well with Tim, he taught me a lot and he pushed me to go out on loan and get that experience, first at Brentford and then at Millwall, where I first played senior football as a full-back.
“I learnt a lot there and had some good coaches, both in the Under-18s – Alex Inglethorpe and John McDermott – and at the time I made the transition to senior football – Tim, Chris Ramsay and Les Ferdinand – who taught me everything I know.
“They converted me from an out-and-out winger into an attacking full-back, which is probably how I’ve made it to the highest level.
“I think if I had stayed as a winger, the way I was playing back in the day, I don’t think I’d have made it to the Premier League, so I owe a lot to that club.
“But obviously I’m a West Ham player now and my affiliations with them are long gone.”
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