Tommie recently spoke to the red matchday editor.

 

It’s not all glamour, life as a professional footballer.

Sometimes it’s long days, weeks, months of a lonely battle against injury, striving to return to fitness, giving everything to get back on the pitch once again. Ask Tommie Hoban, that’s been his lot for nearly 18 months now. But at last, there’s light at the end of the tunnel for our Watford loanee, who deserves some success in the game for the tremendous attitude he showed throughout that period.

Tommie’s first brush with injury came back at the start of 2017/18 when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Having got over that, he was looking forward to getting some games under his belt in Scotland having made the loan move to the Dons. After making such a promising start against in the two games against Burnley, he then grabbed a goal against Hibs in August at Easter Road, but a shoulder injury in that game cut him down again, ruling him out until his return to action in late January. Now he’s back, reminding us all what a fantastic player he is, wanting to make up for lost time.

“It has been a tough few months. I was very disappointed to have picked up another injury after missing the whole of last season with a knee injury. I had just settled into life at Aberdeen, so it came at the worst possible time. But that is all behind me now. I am fit again and desperate to start playing and to have a good second half to the season.

“As soon as I got the knock at Hibs, I did feel my shoulder go in and out a bit. I have done it before, so I realised quite quickly that there was something not quite right. I just hoped that it would not be as bad as last time. I had a scan a few days later and it showed the extent of the damage and that the shoulder was not stable, so unfortunately I needed to have an operation on it.

“All the ligaments that hold the shoulder in place, they were all torn. It was the second time I have had shoulder surgery because I damaged the same shoulder a few years back. It was quite an unlucky fall that caused it, but it something that could happen at any time to anyone. Thankfully I have been able to move on and touch wood, the shoulder is now sorted.

“It has been a very frustrating few months in terms of football, but at the same time, at home, my partner and I had our first baby and that was incredible. It was a stressful time, but the birth of your child makes you realise there is more than football. It definitely helped keep my mind off things. The shoulder injury did not make it easy to do my duties with the baby, such as changing nappies, so I’m having to make up for it now!

“My surgery actually got delayed by a month because Christina was expecting, but Finley turned up two weeks late, so looking back that was a very stressful time. But that all went well, he’s a happy, healthy baby and that’s the main thing.

“Now it’s about making up for lost time on the pitch. It was great to get back out there against Kilmarnock and in the cup game and to feel part of the team again. Hopefully all my injury problems are behind me now and I can focus on having a good second half to the season, and I’m really looking forward to hopefully doing well in the cup.

“When I was out injured, I went back home for rehab but I was delighted to meet up with the boys at Hampden for the League Cup semi-final and final when I travelled up to Glasgow for the games. I would love to get the opportunity to play there this season. I am hopeful we can have another good cup run so I can experience playing on the Hampden pitch and not just sit in the stands.

“As a player, you have to appreciate the size of these games because they don’t come around very often. It certainly gave me a lift during my rehab and made me want to get back playing again, and it gave me a better sense of Scottish football too”.

Tommie is very much a London lad, having grown up in the capital. “I was a Chelsea fan. Still am! It was not the closest team to me growing up in London, but my dad was a Chelsea fan so I had no choice! The club enjoyed some good times when I was growing up though.

“As a player my involvement in the game started with Arsenal.

“I was there from the age of seven. It was amazing. I can’t find anything bad to say about the club. I got released when I was 14 but at the time, it was probably the right decision. It pushed me on. I went to Watford, who are maybe not at the same level, but I thrived at that club and definitely developed as a player.

“It’s a very different club, certainly the last few years, where they’ve changed the manager quite regularly, which is unusual, but has been very successful. I joined Watford in about 2008, and if I compare the club now to the club of ten years ago, it is a completely different place.

“Since the Italian family, the Pozzos, have taken over, they have obviously injected a lot of money into it but they have at the same time built a stable, strong club. The club is more than just the manager. At a lot of clubs, the manager might be the club, but at Watford there are a lot of people who are important, if not more important.

“I think I’ve had ten managers since I’ve been there and from the outside, it probably does look strange the way they keep rotating it, but they have a model that is working and for a club like them to get up to the Premiership and still be there four or five years later, it is a massive achievement. And they have not just stayed there, they are flying.

“The owner has got big ambitions. I always remember them saying that when they first took over that they wanted us to not just become an established Premiership club, but a top ten Premiership team and you can now see that is the ambition. If the owner is not happy with what is going on, then he changes it. He does not care what people say from the outside.

“It is working so it is hard to criticise. I am sure the fans are loving the journey the club has gone on in recent years. Watford are maybe not the most fashionable club, particularly in London, so for them to be up there competing with Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, it is massive.

“People ask if I’ve met Elton John yet, but I haven’t! I have seen him at a couple of games but have never met him. I don’t think he comes that often nowadays, but I know he used to be a massive part of the club. Things have certainly changed since he was the owner.

“But going back to my time at Arsenal, that was really formative from the age of seven to 14. I have some amazing memories of Arsenal. Lots of incredible tournaments across Europe, playing against the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, where you were playing in front of five or six thousand people as a ten or eleven-year-old. It certainly helps your development playing in front of that number of people and at that age.

“There are not many better clubs for a young player to learn the game than at Arsenal. You also learn to have that winning mentality and going forward, that is very important in your career. The competition is very high as they take in some of the best youngsters from all over the world and you are training with some really good players.

“There is not anyone from my age group who has really gone on yet, but the year above me, you had Benik Afobe who has had a very good career. A couple of years below was Chuba Akpom and a few others who have done well and come through the ranks.

“Back when I was very young, I was a striker. But I think everyone is a striker when they start playing are they not?! I soon realised I was not quite good enough, so went back to midfielder and then back to defence and thankfully I have managed to hang on in there! Then it will be off the pitch altogether next! Maybe then it will be golf that I play!

“I do enjoy playing golf, although sadly with my shoulder I have not swung a club for a while. One of my best friends tried to a professional golfer, although it did not work out, but through him I have met a couple of other boys who are pros. Jamie Rutherford was on the European Tour two years ago and is now on the Challenge tour at the moment. And there is another boy I know, Callum Hill, who is actually Scottish but is based in the US. He qualified for the US Open at Shinnecock Hills and finished inside the top 60 which is not a bad achievement and he is on the Challenge Tour in America. He is doing very well and is a name to look out for.

“I am nothing like them but I can get around a golf course ok. I think there would probably be a few boys here who are better than me and also Adam Stokes, our physio, is meant to be very good.

“As a professional sportsman, I have a lot of admiration for golfers. The slightest twist of your wrist can affect your shot, the tiniest of things and the golf ball goes miles from where you are aiming.

I guess it is like anything, if you are practicing eight or nine hours a day, you can really hone your skills.

“You also really have to admire their temperament, they have to stay calm, relaxed, focused under the greatest of pressure. Also from the guys I know, they tell me it is quite a lonely sport. In football, you have all the boys around, but in golf, you are travelling around on your own a lot. But if they get to the top, then the rewards are massive.”
Golf is going to have to wait though, for Tommie has plenty of work to do at Pittodrie after already impressing in the few glimpses we’ve had of him. As well as looking to progress in the cup, Hoban has his eye on the league too.

“There is still everything to play for in the league. Hopefully we can keep picking up points so we are right up there going into the post-split fixtures. There is still a long way to go so we will just keep working hard and see where it takes us. Hopefully it can still be a special season.

“Personally, I just want to play as much football as possible. Aberdeen fans have hardly seen me play at all. I only played a couple of games at the start of the season. I’m looking forward to showing what I can do when I get the opportunity.”