‘I went to signal for Plymouth on Deadline Day – I ended up becoming a member of Man Utd’
Andy Kellett, who now performs for ninth-tier aspect Bury, was a part of one of the surprising Deadline Day strikes in 2015 when he joined Manchester United on mortgage from Bolton Wanderers.
The last-minute deal shocked many, together with United followers who had been in all probability hoping for some big-name signings to spice up their Premier League title probabilities. Instead, they received Kellett, a 21 yr outdated midfielder who had spent the earlier three months on mortgage from Bolton at League Two aspect Plymouth Argyle.
Even Kellett himself was greatly surprised by the transfer. He had agreed to spend the remainder of the season on mortgage at Plymouth till United swooped in for his companies. Speaking to Daily Star Sport in 2022, Kellett shared: “The deal at Plymouth had all been agreed. So I went to the training ground on Deadline Day, quite late on actually.
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“I went in and the supervisor mentioned there’s an possibility so that you can go to Man Utd on mortgage in order for you. So that is the way it happened. I used to be taking place to the coaching floor to signal for Plymouth and I ended up coming away signing for Man Utd.
“At first I was quite shocked by it. But then further on in the night I got quite emotional because it was quite a big thing. I can’t really remember my initial reaction, I just think I was in a bit of shock really.”
Shifting from League Two soccer to Manchester United is a large soar, as Kellett rapidly realised. “It was quite surreal,” he mentioned, speaking about his first go to to the coaching floor. “Obviously I’d been to Carrington before having played games for Bolton in the U14s and U16s and that, but I’d never been inside the building.”
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“It literally had everything. It was a culture shock. The six months before I was at Plymouth, which I really enjoyed, but they didn’t have the kind of facilities that United had. So it was a massive, massive shock in terms of that.”
Kellett spent most of his stint as a United participant with the U23s, however he nonetheless received loads of time round first-team stars like Wayne Rooney, David De Gea and Angel Di Maria.
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“On most of the training days lads like myself would go over to the first-team whenever they needed bodies,” he provides. “So I trained with them quite a lot. And when the first-team had games, the lads who weren’t in the squad would drop down to the 23s, so there was always a lot of experience in training.”
Kellett discovered taking part in with Manchester United simpler than decrease leagues, saying: “Obviously the standard was very good,” and “I’ve always said this to people, though; I don’t know whether it was the surfaces or playing with better players, but it felt a lot easier than playing in the lower leagues where it’s a bit more like pinball.”
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He additionally famous that at United, “In training, you would get time on the ball, whereas lower down the levels everything was kind of frantic. If you gave someone an opportunity to score, they would score nine times out of ten.”
Kellett loved the camaraderie at United, mentioning, “The under 23s had their own changing room but you’d all eat together and everyone would be in the same gym, so there were interactions all the time with the first-team.” He discovered the primary group as grounded as every other membership, including, “To be fair, I didn’t know whether, because of the different environment, they would take on young lads and that but they were probably just as down to earth as any other club I’ve been at.”
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A memorable second for him was throughout his first coaching session when he received nutmegged by Angel Di Maria: “I remember my first training session. I got nutmegged by Angel Di Maria. Obviously it was a bit of a thing because it was my first day. Everyone gave me a bit of banter, and, to be fair, I’m glad it happened because it made me relax. That stands out!” Kellett shared.
Kellett by no means received the possibility to play for United’s first group, however he did share the pitch with Robin van Persie within the underneath 23s. “It was surreal,” he tells us. “Van Persie used to drop down all the time. I think he played four or five games while I was there.” A couple of of them used to drop down roughly each single sport. I’d watched Van Persie within the Premier League for ten years and you possibly can simply see how simple he made stuff look.”
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“Just the way he was dropping down, I know some first-team players when they play 23s, they might sulk and stuff like that, but the way he carried himself and presented himself when he used to drop down was great.”
Despite spending most of his time at United within the underneath 23s, Kellett wasn’t clear on what his function can be when he joined the membership. If the mortgage deal had come a few yr later, the previous Bolton man, now 28, believes he might need had a shot at taking part in for the primary group.
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“I got told you’re going on loan to United, and then when I spoke to Warren Joyce the day after he said we as a team want to look at you,” he says. “He’d previously told my manager at Bolton that he’d been looking at me for a while and wanted to see what I was like in day-to-day training and stuff like that.”
“It was never explained to me really. The only thing is, I never really felt like there was an opportunity to play for the first team.” “The year after they had quite a few injuries. I think Cameron Borthwick-Jackson ended up playing a few games and he was an under 18 while I was there. Maybe, if it had happened a year later, I might have had an opportunity.”
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He continues to mirror on his time as a United participant with nice heat although, saying: “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” However, he does query whether or not he had made the suitable transfer at the moment, contemplating: “Could I have gone down that route, maybe?
If we’d had gone up that year, we would have been League One. But I don’t think going from playing first-team to United’s under 23s – I don’t think that would have done me any harm because I might have got the move to Wigan from it.”
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After his stint with United, Kellett moved on to Championship aspect Wigan Athletic for 3 seasons, earlier than transferring to Notts County. After that he had quick stints at Fylde, Alfreton Town and Guiseley earlier than becoming a member of North West Counties Football League Bury final summer time.
