‘Arsenal sometimes didn’t feel real’: Reice Charles-Cook on making a fresh start overseas Having come through the Arsenal academy, Charles-Cook found himself drifting down the leagues. Now, he’s kickstarting his career in Denmark

There are two groups of players who emerge from every Premier League academy. Those who graduate to the senior side and are greeted by bright lights, television cameras, exposure and endorsements, and those – far more numerous – who have to rebuild their self-belief having been told, in one way or another, that they are no longer wanted.

While it is easy to envy youngsters at top-flight clubs – wealth and acclaim within touching distance, seemingly limitless promise, the sense in which they are living the dream compared to most other young footballers let alone the rest of us – the prospect of that life fading away can be immensely difficult to come to terms with. Often players are left to re-acclimatise in an environment far removed from the state-of-the-art sports halls, gyms and training pitches they are used to. This is the double-edged sword of youth football at the highest level: an incredible footballing education, yes, but also the psychological burden of adjusting to something different.

That is a burden with which goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook is familiar. Having spent much of his childhood and adolescence at Arsenal before signing professional terms in 2012, he struggled to break into the first team and was abruptly released the following year. After a season with Bury in League Two, he went on to join Coventry City in League One and made over 60 senior appearances for the Sky Blues. In 2016, however, after the resignation of Tony Mowbray, he lost his starting spot and his game time became erratic across a campaign which would end in relegation for the club. Having moved on to Swindon Town, Charles-Cook was released once again last summer and found himself without a club for several months.

‘Different world’

Speaking to i, Charles-Cook is open about the fact that he struggled to adapt to life after Arsenal. “The culture of growing up at Arsenal as a kid, it’s a whole different world to lower-league football where the facilities and everything like that aren’t as good,” he says.

“I’ve lived in a bubble for a lot of years of my life. The transition was quite difficult to be honest. That’s the way I am, I think it’s made a lot of managers not able to trust me. I like to have a laugh and that, people say I’m not serious, people like to say: ‘You’re not at Arsenal anymore.’ That’s what a lot of managers like to use as an excuse [for not picking me].”

This is the double-edged sword of graduating from one of the biggest clubs in the country. While it comes with numerous advantages – the best coaching, the best amenities and a system which meets players’ every material need – it also leaves youngsters with a cosseted reputation and even more to prove to their managers and peers once they leave. “Obviously it’s in my footballing DNA growing up at Arsenal. It’s a special, special club and there aren’t many in the country like it,” Charles-Cook goes on.

“But sometimes it’s like it’s not real, you know what I mean? Obviously a lot of people do struggle as soon as they leave. You know the quality there and you have to be a special, special player to get through to that final step. A lot of kids don’t make it and after leaving it’s about going into the real world, going into the lower leagues where you’re not getting everything on tap like you did.”

Life of a goalkeeper

Psychology is especially important for young keepers, given how hard it is for them to make a breakthrough. By the very nature of the position there are a limited number of starting spots for goalies, with senior minutes even harder to come by than they are for their teammates outfield. “A lot of it does come down to trust. If the manager hasn’t got that trust in you then he’s not going to play you, because his job is in your hands,” Charles-Cook says.

“Obviously there is one position and nowadays you’ve got three or four goalies at a club, so it’s a difficult spot. But it’s all about the mental side to be honest. If you get taken out of a team it’s all about your reaction and about dealing with yourself being taken out. You have to get back on it and it’s hard to recover when you know as a goalkeeper it’s hard to get back in. Unless the starting keeper has a really bad game… it takes a lot for a manager to drop a goalkeeper.”

Charles-Cook admits that he has not always responded well to being dropped, not least at Coventry. “[Mowbray] was the first to properly trust me and was like a second dad to me, so when he left I didn’t really take it well as I’ve never had someone’s trust like that before,” he says. “I’ve learnt from that you know. I was young, a young goalkeeper breaking into the game. It was difficult, but I’ve learnt from it.”

Move overseas

Now 24 years of age, Charles-Cook is hardly a rickety old-timer. Given that goalkeepers tend to reach their prime a little later than outfield players, he still has plenty of time to revive his career. He’s made an unusual and brave first step with a move to SønderjyskE in the Danish Superliga. Having trained with Crewe Alexandra thanks to the recommendation of goalkeeping coach Fred Barber, someone he credits as a positive influence on his career, Charles-Cook was contacted by an agent who put him in touch with SønderjyskE. “Obviously I was a bit nervous because it’s a new experience abroad, but I went over and the club were brilliant. I wanted to grab the opportunity when they said they’d offer me a deal,” he says.

At a time when more and more youngsters from England are seeking opportunities overseas, Charles-Cook decided to strike out away from the grind of lower-league football. When asked if he had any hesitations about leaving the country, he says: “Honestly, no. I’m 24 now and I just thought: ‘You know what, go for it, you’ve got nothing to lose.’

“In Denmark they’re very welcoming. From the first day the greeting has made me feel at home. I was fine from the off. My teammates all speak very good English which is a great help as well. I genuinely couldn’t complain at all. From the start, from the way the manager introduced me to the Sporting Director Hans [Jorgen Haysen], it was like: ‘This is a proper club, I’m here, and if I get an opportunity to sign I’m not even hesitating, I’m signing straightaway.’”

With no real language barrier and relatively little culture clash, Scandinavia makes sense as a destination for English talent. Likewise, clubs from Denmark, Norway and Sweden seem to have identified the English lower leagues as an alternative market. With brothers Anthony Cook and Regan Charles-Cook both carving out their own careers in football – Anthony appeared on Sky One reality show Football Icon and is now at Dulwich Hamlet, while Regan is currently with Gillingham – Reice was not short on advice ahead of the move. “They said: ‘You know what, you might as well take [the contract]… it’s a new experience, go out there and do what you’ve got to do.’”

‘I want to prove people wrong’

Though it’s early days for Charles-Cook at SønderjyskE he wants to make an impression as soon as possible, especially given he is on a short contract. He will be competing for a starting spot with Sebastian Mielitz, an experienced keeper who has had spells with Werder Bremen and SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga as well as Greuther Fürth in Germany’s second tier. “It’s just about seeing how it goes, just experiencing it,” Charles-Cook says.

“I always believe in myself, I believe that I can come back. It’s just about coming out here, proving myself, and for myself it means a lot really to show that I can do it and to prove a lot of people wrong, you know? A lot of people have questioned my mental state and asked me if I really want it, so it’s just to prove to people that I do and I’m not the same kid I was.”

So does he look back fondly on his academy years, even though he’s had to leave that kid behind him? “Of course I still follow Arsenal,” he says. “Some of the boys have come through who I played with and they have made it. Alex Iwobi, [Hector] Bellerin and that, I do follow them and follow their careers. Others have gone on to do very well [elsewhere], for example Serge Gnabry, so I do try to keep up with how they’re getting on.

“I just hope they all do well. We were like a family, we all grew up together and it’s all about just wishing each other well really.”