MIDFIELDER Solomon Nwabuokei is loving how his second spell with the Cards is working out. But he has revealed that he almost quit football.

The 26-year-old played a starring role with Woking, making 43 appearances, before sealing a move to League Two team Barrow in the summer. But now he is back in the swing of things at Kingfield, having penned a loan deal for the rest of the campaign.

He told the News & Mail: “I’m loving it. It couldn’t have gone better. There’s a lot of quality all over the side and the team is hard-working and resilient. 

“Every young boy wants to be a footballer. But my path was a bit different from lots of other players that you come across who start young. I kind of fell into it [playing professionally]. 

“I’ve always loved football, but I didn’t really play at a young age. I just didn’t get into it. 

“Where I grew up, it wasn’t that easy for me to get into a team. So I played in school, played Sunday league and just played for fun with my mates.” 

But after he had a spell in higher education, he got his big break.

Nwabuokei said: “One of my closest friends was playing football with St Albans City and I was working. I said to him that I wanted to stop playing football and just work.

“He persuaded me not to stop and told me to come with him to training. But at that time I wasn’t really ready to be playing at that level. 

“Then the season after that one, the assistant manager who was at St Albans at the time got a job at Biggleswade Town and told me to come for pre-season – and that’s basically how my career started. Everything happens for a reason.”

For the full interview, see the 2 February issue of the News & Mail.