Big Interview: Pub chinwag gave Joel Byrom a second chance in football

The 36-year-old brought the curtain down on his football career last month after nearly 300 appearances operating in the Football League representing clubs such as Preston North End, Stevenage and Northampton Town.

Among many individual highlights over the past decade or so, the Oswaldtwistle lad can boast of an appearance at Wembley, being part of a play-off promotion-winning team at Old Trafford and scoring against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

However, all of those memorable moments have never been taken for granted by Byrom as he very nearly was lost to the professional game.

An apprentice at Blackburn Rovers, he was released by the Ewood Park club in 2006 and was then subsequently rejected by Accrington Stanley after just one first-team appearance.

Downcast and dejected, the 19-year-old Byrom was contemplating getting a proper job and drawing a permanent line under his football dreams and ambitions.

He had already given the nod to his mates that he would join their park team in local league football when he ordered a beer at his local pub, The Plough.

As Byrom supped on his pint, he was completely unaware that Clitheroe chairman Carl Garner and his manager Neil Reynolds were about to step through the pub’s doors – and ultimately change the course of his life.

The Blues duo had got wind that the cultured midfielder was inside the boozer and were determined to clinch a deal over a couple of pints and a packet of pork scratchings.

It was a real sliding doors moment for Byrom as the pendulum of his life swung one way to the other.

He would go on to find a home from home at Shawbridge, starring for the Blues in the Northern Premier League.

The Rovers academy graduate soon attracted the attention of clubs further up the football pyramid – ultimately paving the way to achieve his ambition of becoming a full-time professional.

"I wasn’t really playing,” Byrom recalled. “In fact I had stopped playing completely.

"But I spoke with Carl Garner one night – he had pulled up at the pub that I was in with Reno – the manager.

“I was good mates with Carl’s son-in-law TJ and I had gone to school with Carl’s daughter.

"We were all sort of around the same age and had grown up together.

"The Plough was just around the corner from where I lived and Carl lives in Ossy.

"He knew I would be in there and him and Reno came in one night.

"They just said to me, ‘Why don’t you give it a go at Clitheroe?’”

"And to be fair, I had an unbelievable time there – I think I was there for just over a year.

"I got myself fit, enjoyed it – played with a smile on my face.

“From there I got bought by Northwich Victoria and made my way up the levels.”

Byrom admits he probably did not take his time at Blackburn seriously enough but his spell at Clitheroe coupled with a new sense of maturity saw him begin to realise his ambitions.

"I just don’t think I was ready to be a professional footballer at Blackburn,” he said.

"I didn’t really put the hard yards in. It took me a couple of years for the penny to drop and realise how much hard work it took to be a professional footballer.”

With Clitheroe having given Byrom the platform to showcase his talents and get his career back on track, his big break came in the summer of 2009 when he was snapped up by National League outfit Stevenage – then managed by Graham Westley – for £15,000.

Over the next three years at Broadhall Way, Borough won two promotions.

"That three years at Stevenage was amazing,” he said. “We won the National League – I scored the goal which clinched promotion away at Kidderminster.

"That same season, we also reached the FA Trophy final at Wembley, although we lost 2-1 to Barrow.

"The following season we scraped into the play-offs and played Accrington in the semi-finals. We beat Accy and I scored which was sort of nice for me after what happened for me at Accy.

"Then we beat Torquay in the play-off final at Old Trafford then the season after we reached the play-offs again, losing to Sheffield United in the semi-finals.

"So in three years it was promotion, promotion and then play-offs.”

Westley’s success at Broadhall Way tempted North End to make him their next manager after sacking Phil Brown in 2011.

Over the summer of 2012, the new boss stamped his mark on the club by making a raft of changes to the playing squad.

Byrom was one of a number men who played under Westley at Borough to make the move to Deepdale.

Westley will go down in history as one of North End’s most eccentric managers and ultimately his way did not work at North End as his tenure lasted only 13 months before he was sacked, subsequently replaced by Simon Grayson in February 2013.

But for Byrom he will always be grateful to his former manager for handing him the opportunity to sign for the Lilywhites.

"Graham has his way but in the case at Stevenage, the lads just jumped on board and rode the wave,” he said.

"I think at Preston, a few people did not go with his way and unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

"There was the so-called nine-to-five culture but that is sort of a myth. We were probably in a bit longer than most other professionals at other clubs but it was more like 10 or 11am to 4pm.

"I remember at Stevenage, we would be going into games and get to the 60th or 70th minute and we would have more energy than the opposition – we would just grind teams down.

"People just bought into his methods and it worked, it brought us success.

"He did a lot of work on the opposition – we knew every little detail about who we were playing, where we were playing.

"He just knew how to get the best out of the lads. He would treat people differently because he would know which lads needed him to have a go at them or those who needed to be left alone.

"He kind of would leave me alone because he knew that’s what worked for me and that every Saturday, I would turn up and give him 100%. I will always be grateful to him."

Byrom felt his link with Westley worked against him during his time at North End, especially once he had left and Grayson had taken charge.

Westley’s appointment divided opinion among the PNE faithful in the first place and his tenure is perhaps not remembered too fondly by the fans.

“Signing for Preston was a great opportunity for me. It’s a brilliant club, massive club,” said Byrom.

"When Graham talked to me about the move, I jumped at the chance.

"There were a lot of changes in that summer when I came. I think he brought in around 20 new players.

"We actually started off the season quite well but when the results didn’t start going to plan, people started questioning his way of thinking and things just fizzled out.

"It’s a shame it didn’t really work out for me at North End. I had injuries and there were times I got opportunities which I felt I took.

"I think there was a perception that I, along with some of the other lads; we got lumped together as Graham Westley’s boys and we always felt that we were fighting a losing battle as soon as we walked through the door."

Byrom would depart PNE in 2015 and would go on to enjoy another promotion, this time with Northampton Town, helping the club to the League Two title in 2016.

He subsequently moved to Mansfield Town, had a second spell at Stevenage, before ending his career back where it all really began for him at Clitheroe.