Frank Nouble interview: ‘People think football is glamorous but the lower leagues are a...

[ASFN Admin]

Frank Nouble had enjoyed a good season with Colchester United, reaching the League Two play-offs. Both he and his young family were happy and settled until the coronavirus pandemic turned his world upside and left his career hanging in the balance. Although Nouble’s contract was due to expire, he was confident, for the first time in years, there would be another and he would not have to put his young family through any upheaval. Having played for four different clubs in as many years since 2016, following a short stint in China, the 29-year-old thought the nomadic lifestyle he had been forced to live in order to continue playing professionally was over. But when football shut down last year because of the pandemic, Nouble, and many others, had their lives plunged into turmoil. “The two years at Colchester, they went really well,” said Nouble. “We had cup success, we reached the play-offs. I was settled and didn’t want to leave. “When Covid came they let four of us go. Just like that. All of us had been playing every week but were out of contract. It was a shock just getting the phone call telling me there would be no contract. “You looked at the market and everything was chaotic, clubs were all thinking, ‘how do we save some money.’ They were signing two players, not five. It was a tense, waiting game. The toughest summer of my career until I got the call from Plymouth. “I was just hoping the fact the play-off games with Colchester were on Sky Sports would help and that’s what happened, Ryan Lowe [Plymouth manager] was watching and he liked what he saw and the way I conducted myself. “I knew I wasn’t going to get a contract, but I still played, risked injury. He liked that. It was a big relief. There were more players than there were jobs going. It was an awful time for a lot of my friends in the game.”

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