Simon Dawkins’ smile lights up the room as he discusses the day he diced with Lionel Messi. He chuckles as he remembers Emmanuel Adebayor clearing a street of snow for his neighbours, pauses for a moment to focus on the genius that was Luka Modric and remembers a surprise reaction from legendary midfielder Edgar Davids when he was just a fresh-faced teenager at Tottenham Hotspur, one “raging” at the Dutch star for not passing in training.



The 32-year-old free agent won the MLS Western Conference with San Jose Earthquakes after David Beckham helped fix up the move. He’s played in a Championship play-off final with Derby County and finished as a runner-up with the Jamaican team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.



Yet despite having enough football memories to last him a lifetime, there’s still a part of him that feels empty and at times, wracked with guilt. Dawkins lost his mother, Lorna, to breast cancer in May 2015 and he can’t shake the...