Tyrone Mings will be eternally thankful to Mick McCarthy for giving him his professional football opportunity, despite admitting that as a 19-year-old keen to get noticed, he nearly ruined his connection with the Ipswich manager on the first day.
Mings joined Ipswich for a paltry £10,000 in 2013, along with an agreement to play a friendly against Chippenham Town, the team he was leaving. McCarthy organized a trial game to watch the defender, and after an hour, he decided he had seen enough and took him off before the conclusion.
Mings was irate, telling McCarthy exactly what he thought as he walked off the field. “I didn’t realize he had already made up his mind to sign me; I was just irritated because notIt turned out differently, but there are still a few unexpected twists in the Mings story. Far from chasing his football goal as an escape from the monotony of the factory floor or construction site, Mings’ day job in 2013 was as a mortgage adviser. Not only that, but he relished it. “I was very good at it,” he explains. “Maybe better at it than a footballer. That’s how I envisioned my life going; I was devoting everything to a profession in financial services. I didn’t have a mortgage at the time, but I completed certain qualifications and examinations. I was making good money while working with genuine people. I was very satisfied, but I knew I had to
Find out about football or risk being disappointed for the rest of your life.”
Mings isn’t disappointed now. After contributing to Villa’s promotion push last year while on loan from Bournemouth and then joining the club permanently for their first season back in the Premier League, he has been promoted to the England squad and is now preparing for his first cup final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
City are aiming to win the competition for the third time in a row, while Villa fell into the bottom three on Saturday due to other teams’ results, but Mings remains undeterred. “I can’t wait, it will be a welcome distraction from the league,” he said. “We have eight days after.
