I tiled Steven Gerrard's roof... now we're going head to head, says Cardiff's Noone



No matter how far Craig Noone goes down the track, he won't forget Harrogate Town.

Cardiff City's winger is going through his memories from the not-so-distant past, recalling his Vauxhall Corsa, the day he tiled Liverpool and England midfield star Steven Gerrard's roof, and the £60-a-week playing contract that seemed like a fortune.

But Harrogate's pitch is stuck in his mind. He was talking about it recently to Dale Wright, his best mate. Wright plays in the seventh tier of English football for Skelmersdale United, the Merseyside club where Noone started his resurrection.



Fightback: Noone was 11 when Liverpool released him and 15 when Wrexham did the same

Harrogate have one of those pitches that almost every player in non-league knows about.

'I played there a few times - it's on such a slope that sometimes the ball would get away from you and just keep rolling,' he said. 'You couldn't catch it - it was a nightmare for wingers. But I don't think there was ever any dog c*** on that pitch. I played on a few that did have it.'

He starts laughing and shaking his head. On Saturday, he hopes to walk out at the Cardiff City Stadium to play against Everton; a 25-year-old man who, at 20, was still playing non-league.

'It's just crazy,' he said. 'Every little thing is setting me off thinking at the moment - the Premier League balls, the badges on the kits. Championship balls are good, believe me, but kicking Premier League balls in training feels even better. I had it the other day - just a little moment in training. I thought, "I'm training with Craig Bellamy every day".

'I know it might sound daft, but that's just how it is for me after everything that's happened. I've always wanted to be a Premier League player.'

It has not been an easy trip for Noone. His memory goes back to 1998. The scrawny 11-year-old from Kirkby, Merseyside, has been called into Steve Heighway's office at Liverpool. He is sitting alongside Paul Taylor, who now plays for Ipswich Town.

'We both got released the same night,' said Noone. 'It was just the worst thing. A couple of years later they moved the academy next to my mum's house. I had to walk past it every day.

Living the dream: Noone at the club's training facility, The Vale Hotel

'Imagine being told at 11 that you're not going to be good enough. I was devastated but at the same time I had this thing inside me that said I wanted to try harder.'

He got taken on by Wrexham. At 15, he was released.

'I guess not many players get released twice,' he said.

'Both times I didn't really see it coming. I had been getting good reports. I have kept them all. They said I was progressing but said I was small and weak. I still look in them for a bit of inspiration. There's no forgetting where I came from.'

Picking himself up meant joining Skelmersdale's youth team and learning to become a roofer.

The story frequently told is of the day his boss picked him up one morning five years ago to go on a job.

'He said to me - we're going to do the roof on Steven Gerrard's extension,' said Noone. 'I thought it was a wind-up. That job was an inspiration to me. I wanted to do better for myself.'

At the time Noone was playing for Southport, having worked his way up from Skelmersdale and then Burscough.

'I was getting about £60 a week at Skem (Skelmersdale),' he said. 'At Southport it felt like a big step. I was getting about £150 a game and a win bonus, something like £50.



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'They are hard leagues - physical. But I loved it. Sometimes we would have a coach to games but if it was close we'd go in cars.

'You had to wear your own clothes for training.

'I remember my first game for Burscough. We were on the bus after the match and we stopped for fish and chips and had a crate of beer. I was singing like a tool.

'It was so much fun - I stay in contact with those lads. But, believe me, I didn't take football lightly for a second. I was desperate to get on.'

His break came in 2008 when then Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock gave him a call. 'I got in my Corsa and drove for five hours,' said Noone. 'I was grinning all the way.'

Today he drives a Range Rover and has a signed shirt from Gerrard on his wall at home.

Over the past five years - first at Plymouth, then Brighton, where he won League One, and now Cardiff, where he won the Championship - he has developed a reputation as a rapid winger who loves to take people on.