'My epiphany at Wigan Athletic', by Nick Powell

Nick Powell has offered a unique insight into his persona by admitting to ‘changing my whole view on life’ during his time with Wigan Athletic.
Nick Powell at Doncaster on the day Latics clinched the League One title in 2018Nick Powell at Doncaster on the day Latics clinched the League One title in 2018
Nick Powell at Doncaster on the day Latics clinched the League One title in 2018

The 26-year-old joined Latics – for whom he’d previously spent a successful season on loan – in 2016 from Manchester United having, by his own admission, ‘fallen out of love with football’.

His first season as a permanent Latics player ended in relegation to League One, which didn’t seem to affect him as much as the other players – and which he says set alarm bells ringing.

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Having just become a father for the first time, Powell realised he needed to act fast – to prevent his career slipping through his fingers.

“As soon as you have a kid, your whole world changes and I had to start proving to people why I was worth a contract,” he acknowledged.

“It was something to fight for, then. I had a target and someone who believed in me. It probably took me until 23, 24.

"The first year I was at Wigan (permanently) I was just happy to be home. I just got on with it, still didn’t really care.

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“We got relegated that year and even getting relegated didn’t push me to strive for anything different. To get relegated and not feel anything… that’s quite worrying.

“Then that May my daughter was born, and I said to my missus ‘I’m gonna have to start changing my whole view on life’ because I was either going to stop caring and keep going down.

“Having my daughter here in front of me, I said it was gonna be the season I start trying. But even then, I’m one of those that says ‘I’ll do it on Monday’.”

Powell appeared to have the world at his feet when he left Crewe in 2012 at the age of 18 to join a United side who’d just clinched another Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson.

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Soon, however, the dream move turned into a nightmare, with Ferguson announcing his retirement within 12 months.

“My time at United was poisoned by falling out of love with football,” admitted Powell.

“I didn’t feel like I was part of anything at the time. I was in limbo between reserves and first-team.

“It was always going to be different when Sir Alex retired. If he wasn’t there and I didn’t have a phone call and meetings with him, I probably wouldn’t have gone to United.

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“So it was always going to be a downhill spiral for me as soon as he left.

"I gave up really trying at United when Fergie left, purely because I didn’t believe I would get played or thought about.”

Having kickstarted his career with Latics, with whom he won the League One title in 2018 and retained Championship status in 2019, he was enjoying a fine campaign with Stoke before the season was postponed last month.

And he says the move to Stoke has helped him to take another huge step towards becoming the player he was once tipped to be.

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“I’ve never trained in the off-season and it wasn’t until I went to Stoke and had a conversation with (ex- manager) Nathan Jones, who started monitoring me,” Powell added in the Manchester Evening News.

“That was the only time I’d ever done anything in the off-season, because I was getting monitored! It took me until 25 to start doing anything.

"I’ve now kept on the path of ‘this is going to be my everything until I retire’ and we’ll see how it goes on.”

Not that a desire to prove he is good enough for the Premier League is fuelling his efforts.

"Football isn't my be-all and end-all," he added.

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“If I ever get back to the Prem, I’d be happy to do that. If I don’t, that’s just life.

"I’m not one of them to put ambitions like that in my head. If I stop football tomorrow, I’ve still had everything I wanted.

"I wouldn’t really be that bothered - family comes first and football comes second.”