Ben Kay | Staying on the pitch, off the pitch.
Former Latics YTS tells of his time at the club and his successful non-league career.
Watch Ben's interview in full on Latics TV.

There aren’t many people involved in this Sunday's Emirates FA Cup first round tie whose roots grow deeper into the Latics-Chorley cross over than Ben Kay.

Some of our readers might be asking who Ben is, apart for those of an early 2000s Latics upbringing and for many in the local non-league scene (and perhaps his opinion-splitting Twitter account).

From a young lad growing up in Pemberton, Ben travelled through Latics’ Centre of Excellence, made a first team debut and proceeded to have a glittering career ‘below the 92’, before becoming Facilities Manager at Victory Park on a full-time basis a year ago.

Filling in the gaps for us and explaining just how he managed to keep his career off the pitch, on the pitch, let’s read from the man himself.

How did your time as an apprentice at Latics come about?

“I signed for Latics as an apprentice in the early 2000s. I did two years in the youth team and had a year as a professional.

“It was a great experience as a young lad from Wigan, especially with it being the first season at the new stadium – I was living my boyhood dream.

“I was born and bred in Pemberton, so it’s only a five or 10-minute walk down to the DW. I started supporting the club as a 10-year-old when my Dad started letting me go to Springfield Park.

“John Deehan was manager when I starting watching the games and we were doing really well at that time – we won the league in the third season I’d been supporting and I’ve only really known good times since.

“I started playing for my local team Highfield Grange at that time – we played on Little Lane and I lived on Tunstall Lane, for those who know Pemberton.

“The Sunday league football carried on from being an 11-year-old until I was 15, but it became a serious opportunity for me at that age and the club asked me to stop playing at that level once I hit 15.

“It all came off the back of a trial at the old Robin Park. Dave Crompton, who was part of the youth development at the time, and a couple of the coaches, invited all of the best players from the borough down to see if they could recruit any of us to the Centre of Excellence.

“I must have done something to impress them because my parents got a phone call back to say I’d been selected for the Centre of Excellence.

“I progressed really well through the younger teams until I turned 16 and the club offered me the chance to become an apprentice.”

What was the experience of being an apprentice like and who did you come across at Christopher Park?

“The YTS (Youth Training Scheme) as it was called back then was a serious eye-opener for a lot of young players, because it gave you that reality of being so close to the first team, especially with us all training together at Christopher Park, much like the current teams are doing.

“Paul Mitchell, who’s done so much in the recruitment side of the game now, was a year older than my year, and then Leighton Baines came through just after – I was looking through a scrapbook the other day and I was actually in the same team when Bainesy stepped up from the under 16s to make his youth team debut.

“I played for two years with Mitch and now he’s gone on to work at clubs like Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco, which is an amazing achievement for him – it probably makes him bigger than Bainesy now!

“The quality in the first team at the team really started to improve – we had lads like Lee McCulloch, Nathan Ellington and Gary Teale coming in and Andy Liddell, (Arjan) De Zeeuw), Greeny (Scott Green) were already at the club.”

You made your debut and only senior appearance away at Walsall in the LDV Trophy in January 2001, but you had a lot of other first team experiences didn’t you?

“It was a really competitive place to be, but a few of us young lads were involved in first team training and regularly in squads for match days.

“The Walsall game was obviously memorable because it was my debut, but it was also the fact that I got to play alongside seasoned pros like Stuart Balmer and Neil Redfearn – the other side of that was that a lot of my team mates from the reserves got to play as well, the likes of Francis McMahon, Joel Johnson, Ian Johnson and Craig Cunningham.

“I was involved in the squad a few times on the bench as well against Blackpool and Oldham Athletic, and a pre-season friendly against Everton as well, but all I really remember of that one was that they filled the whole of one stand with fans. It was a great experience just to be in and around the club on occasions like that.”

You left Latics in 2002, but stayed in the game. Who did you play for during your non-league career?

“After the year as a pro I went into non-league football. I had a trial at Scarborough, but nothing came about it, so I signed for Congleton Town.

“I spent two years at Congleton and then signed for Marine in what was then the Unibond Premier Division. I had a really good time at Marine and it’s just coincidence that they’re in the first round this year as well.

“That was another two to three-year period, before I played for Warrington Town, Leigh RMI, Wigan Robin Park and St Helens.

“Things started to change for me after St Helens and I was offered the chance to move into management at Ashton Athletic.

“I had four amazing years at Ashton Athletic – we won the Lancashire Cup, which was a real honour for us and a big achievement at the time being a North West Counties team.

“We actually beat Chorley in the semi-final that year and then beat Radcliffe Borough 2-1 in the final with a 90th minute winner.

“Being at Ashton definitely gave me some good opportunities because I moved to be Simon Haworth’s assistant at Clitheroe for six months.”

From Clitheroe, how did you end up becoming groundsman at Chorley?

“I got offered this job during that time I had at Clitheroe and it was too good of an opportunity to turn down.

“It all came about because of one of my best friends Dougie Pitts, who was a YTS with me at Latics and played for Ashton Athletic – he missed the Lancashire Cup final because he’d a booked a holiday and the final got moved from its original date.

“Anyway, Dougie is really good mates with the manager here at Chorley, Jamie Vermiglio.

“Vermo and Smudger (Jonathan Smith), were really keen to get a groundsman in part-time, before making it a full-time job around a year ago.

“It’s not just about looking after the pitch here; my job title is facilities manager. I do all sorts really, maintaining the pitch, being a kitman, maintenance around the stadium – anything that needs doing, I’ll do it and I’m more than happy to do it for the club.”

We’re all facing difficult times during this pandemic, how have things been for you and for Chorley FC?

“It’s been a really challenging time for clubs at our level recently. We’re reliant on supporters coming to our games, that’s the main bulk of money towards out budget for the season.

“Without the supporters, it’s been hard, but we’re very lucky to have money coming in through grants, which has been made available to all of the clubs in the three National League divisions.

“Every penny helps at the moment and that goes for both clubs. It would have been nice for this to be the main TV game, especially with it being a local derby that goes back so far, but both clubs will be grateful for the money from the game being streamed on the BBC.”

This game is a huge tie locally for supporters of both teams, I take it Latics were the only team you personally had your eye on during the draw?

“We have a supporters page for Chorley on Facebook and on the Friday before the draw one of the guys asked that very same question.

“My answer is always “the best team in the North West, Wigan Athletic”, so as soon as we got drawn out against Wigan, and I apologise to my wife for saying this, but I ended up swearing in front of the kids and she was going mad at me.

“I was so excited, it’s my boyhood team, why would I not be excited about that?

“Playing Wigan for me, it’s like for other football fans when their team plays Man United or Liverpool.

“I grew up in Pemberton, I played for the club as a teenager and I live in Lower Ince now – there couldn’t be a more perfect team for Chorley to be drawn against for me.

“Outside of the pandemic it would have been a superb day for Chorley fans, and for Wigan fans for that matter.

“We’d have taken 1,500 fans to the DW easily – it would have been even better to get Wigan at Victory Park.

“It’s not ideal for anyone, but everyone has to make the most of it and it’s a good opportunity for our team to show what we’re made of on Sunday.”

And finally, can we have a prediction, Ben?

“I think Wigan supporters will be in for a shock because I don’t think our league position really reflects how well we’ve been playing.

“I’ve watched every game we’ve played and we should have comfortably won some of our games.

“We play some really good football and we create a lot of chances, but with the pandemic stopping us in March, it’s a building process again for Vermo and the staff.

“Latics are struggling with something similar at the moment in terms of getting a settled team together and it’s a cup game, so anything goes.

“My boss will be reading this… but genuinely I really do want Chorley to win.”

Wigan Athletic’s Emirates FA Cup First Round clash with Chorley will be broadcast live on the BBC’s digital platforms, which include BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport App.

The match will be played on Sunday 8 November, with kick-off at 12.45pm.

Latics TV audio subscribers will be able to access live match commentary via the Wigan Athletic website and App.

Staying on the pitch with former Latics trainee and Chorley FC's Groundsman Ben Kay