|
|
|
Recognition: Michael Chopra joined Newcastle United’s academy in July 1993, signing his first professional contract seven and a half years later. He played for England at every age group from Under-15 through to Under-21 and seemed destined to be the one that the British-Asian community had been waiting for. He was the first British-Asian to play in the Premier League, scoring the first goal scored by a member of his community in the Premiership as well; it was the fastest too. He was also the first to play in European competition – the Intertoto Cup – and score in that too.
Despite progressing through England’s youth teams, the full international cap eluded him – he made just one Under-21 appearance. Was he disappointed not to have played for England at senior level? “Not really no,” Chopra told us. “I don’t think I’ve deserved to have an England cap, so I can’t really be disappointed about that. I think if you’re going to be an England player, you’ve got to be playing week in week out in the Premiership and I haven’t really been doing that on a regular basis, so I can’t really say I’m disappointed, because I don’t think I’ve deserved it.” Heritage: It didn’t take long for another British-Asian to make his mark as well. Zesh Rehman played for Fulham between 2004-06 including loan spells before dropping down the leagues to Queen’s Park Rangers and then Bradford City. Rehman played for England at every level from Under-18 to Under-20, but he was never close to full England recognition, as he found opportunities at the highest level in English football restricted.
Nevertheless, Rehman achieved notable firsts in his own right. He is the first British-Asian to have played in all four divisions. Although he never made the grade at senior level for England, he is an international – for Pakistan. Rehman offers his international team-mates the benefit of his experience playing professional football in England and modern training methods. He sees himself as a role model for British-Asian footballers and is the first Pakistani international to play professional football in England’s top leagues.
Meanwhile, Chopra is proud of his Indian heritage as well, so has he thought of doing the same for India if they asked him to? “Yes, course I would,” he told us exclusively. “I know that they tried to get me about five years ago, but I was twenty-one, twenty-two and not ready to leave England and travel so many miles and then come back and play on a Saturday, because it would be so difficult for me. Now as I’ve got older I can cope with things like that and if they came for me I would consider it.”
After Football: So what about later? What will he do after he hangs up his boots? “After football, haven’t really thought about that,” Chopra said. “Hopefully I’ve still got another ten years on my career to go, but I think after football I might just stay in football – maybe coaching, but at this moment in time I can’t really see myself as being a coach, so maybe commentating or something like that just to stick in football by something to do with football.”
But players don’t tend to think about life after playing professional football until they have to and Chopra is no different. He is twenty-six and his concerns are immediate. He concentrates on playing football now – seeing no reason to think about the future just yet. “I want to be successful,” he told us. “I want to win trophies. I want to score lots of goals. I want to get promoted with Cardiff. That’s my main ambition at the minute. I think each season you’ve got to set yourself a new ambition and the main one for this season is to get promoted.”
After missing out on the play-offs last season on goal difference, the Bluebirds and manager Dave Jones were determined to make sure that wouldn’t happen again. Shrewd signings strengthened the squad. At £3m Chopra is their record signing. His goals helped the push towards promotion. They made the play-offs and have the opportunity to achieve their goal of promotion. Then Chopra can set new targets. |
