Kidderminster Harriers former player Joe Leesley Talks to The Final Word

Great chance to speak to Joe about:
His times at Harriers
Thinking because Messi doesn’t train he doesn’t have to
That goal against Kettering

It’s the final word and it’s a bit of a sad one for me especially um he’s the man that I reckon um got us promoted last season let’s be honest he did but his time at k s Harris was cut short uh through another injury it’s Joe leasley

Hello Joe he hello Paul how are you all right well you know I’m getting through more importantly how are you doing how how’s life are you still devastated yeah good um I I’m devastated to be leaving the boys and uh the club but yeah had some good news this

Afternoon I’ve been back that’s why I’m in the car right now I’ve been up at Harriet today one of my old clubs um and I’ve had a injection this week so I’m probably a couple of weeks away from playing again signing for somebody so um hopefully um all being well I can be

Back out on pitch in um before end of month right okay um have you got Phil Brown’s number could you just give him a call and say Phil I’m back I’m here I’m here come come on let’s do it so what actually what actually was the injury

Because no one ever really knows what they are anymore so what was the injury no and I think in this um circumstance I’ve had loads of people messaging me from kiding saying like the club never really put anything out about the injury it was kind of just kept on the down low

Um but against Wiston at home um I felt something in my back uh everyone was a little bit like must be a nerve must be something like that um and it turned out that I had a fractor in my back um so I we battling that for a while uh I came

Back probably looking back on it now sillly uh a bit too early yeah and had another setback so what probably should have been a three-month injury ended up turning out to be like a six-month one um so yeah I’m at the back end of it now

I’ve had uh an injection this week and uh hopefully touchwood will be able to sign for somebody before the end of the season and back before the end of the month well jool Le Lee um Shane burn your BFF that you used to do carpool karaoke with right is also out till the

End of the season did you put some voodoo magic on him what what happened there what’s going on I literally was on the phone to him about half an hour ago and um yeah it’s sad it’s sad because he’s had a he’s had a tough year and you

Know it’s probably a bit like myself me and Shane between us we probably played a thousand games of football because we’ve we’ve never really been injured and then this last 12 months uh believe it or not I know the kid him in probably won’t believe me that I’m not actually

Injury prone I’ve never had an injury until I’ve being 28 signed for kid Minster and picked up two in in space of 14 15 months and two Shockers really and I think Shane’s done the same do you remember I don’t because this for me you my favorite player Joe I’ve gotta be

Honest I mean look at this look at this and you’ve even signed it Joe and it says two w I’ll never leave your side love big kisses Joe Le I think it says something like that anyway Joe I think it does um no so tell me about when you

Signed for harrius what was that like did you you knew about us you scored against us so what what were your feelings there yeah so um I kind of had a bit of a rough time personally and football-wise for a while with football I kind of since I left harget I never

Really found my feet anywhere um I went to Darlington on kind of a bit of a whim um did really well for a month and just got a phone call off the guy that was looking after me at the time and said Ross Penn be interested what your thoughts yeah

Um initially I was like probably not for me it’s it’s a long way away yeah um but then I kind of spoke with Ross the club got sold to me as a full-time Club a way you get back into full-time football massive club like you say I’ve played

Against you quite a few times so it were a decision I had to make logistically which was always going to be tough um but for my career and for for 28 29 year old lad um it was massive to get back involved in a big club and and full

Fulltime football more importantly um and literally I know it’s a it’s cringy and probably a bit of a cliche but from the minute I arrived I kind of just thought this will be perfect for me um The Dressing Room needed an experienced player it needed probably a bit of somebody of my

Personality um and it all just fit really well um I I got on amazingly well with Russ and and Jimmy um and it and it just it just worked perfectly for me so uh yeah when you signed um you got injured the first injury what was that

About do you remember yeah so the F yeah the first injury was just um I did my so what Shane did at the start of the season this season that’s what I did um so we literally had the same injury went to the same specialist shanes were just

A little bit worse so yeah but kind of came in in a time where you boys were struggling to be honest um came in it changed a few things played did quite well picked up a injury um and then like I say Obviously the rest is history

With the coming back and yeah winning the games that we did do you know what um I knew I loved you Joe because I saw you grab a football on the floor and scream at the football and I thought listen that’s passion right there that is Passion um is that something you

Always do Joe do you always take out the football no not always the football but I think uh I think I’m quite um I think if you don’t know me and you come to watch me not many people speak very fondly of me or if you don’t

If you don’t if you don’t play with me um Shane Shane summed it up he said um I think everybody wants you in the dressing room in their team but not nobody wants to play against you because I don’t make many friends uh and that’s not from my amazing football ability

That’s just for me being a bit of a tip so yeah okay okay I get that I get that I’m actually GNA go back to the interview that I wrote that I crafted superbly for this okay so what’s the worst thing about a long-term injury For You

Joe um I think it’s um I I think I think ultimately it’s just the mental struggles um it’s it’s an industry that’s quite like no other you’re not you don’t get to do anything that you want to do it’s it’s what you you know football I’ll be

Honest with you I probably can speak honestly I don’t I’m not really bothered about training yeah um I like like Messi are you like Messi is that what you’re saying you’re as good as Messi well I’m number I was number 30 so um okay yeah

But yeah so I’m all about the game day the fans um you know the passion even even the way I play I kind of run on a lot of emotion and in training you can’t necessarily do that um so I I I do I do love the match days and and then the

Long boring weeks you know even sometimes when you’re playing training can be boring it’s the tactics it’s the shape it’s the walkthroughs but even when you’re injured it’s the the gym um the the bike and and all the rubbish things that come with a process of

Getting back so for me it’ definitely be the loneliness of you’re not around 20 Lads and the boring aspect of no one wants to squat on one leg when they could be shooting at a and all that stuff so yeah that’s the unprofessional answer is the rehab’s rubbish and I

Don’t like doing it I won’t tell but I will put this out on the internet um all right okay so um okay so I’ve got a story to tell you Joe before we do the story Joe um I want to say to everyone watching it’s not Joe’s camera

That gives him just the worst picture it’s the sunlight where are you Joe because if you say you’re somewhere Sun like Barbados we’ll believe you but if you say you’re in Darlington then we not no one’s beli in that mate no one’s believing that I’m mean I’m in sunny

Donter in a service station car par because I didn’t think it was safe to drive down the M18 and do this interview yeah no it definitely isn’t it definitely isn’t I’m I’m glad you did that anyway um I’m going to share my screen um because I want you to talk me

I’m going to tell you the story okay of this fateful day which was amazing and it honestly it is one of the best um days I think Aras have had for a while which then led to the bigger days and stuff um you’ll know what I mean when I

Say the gitty do you know what I mean okay so um so here we are now I’m sat I’m sat in the Agra Suite okay I’m guessing you’re over here somewhere right I’m in the aguite I’m St to this guy another guy right and we’ve been chatting the whole game about what we’re

Doing right what we’re doing wrong I was like just give it to leasley give it to Le just give it to leasley give it to leasley give it to leasley give it to leasley now you’ve got it there right so I turn around to the I I just shouted

Out in front of everyone I went I went turn turn like that and then bye and then I was like shoot Joe shoot and then Joe can [Laughter] we oh brilliant yeah oh it was amazing I was like turn shoot when you when you turned like that

Joe did you think well this is this is a chance now I’m taking this thanks yeah I think if I I’m not been blessed with scoring hundreds of goals in my career but I think the one the ones I have done they get whacked and they have go into they

Either go into top corner or bottom corner or go nowhere near at net um and I think that was one of them oh that was it was a beautiful moment and the got we all just hugged we all hugged in in the AG which which was amazing really for us

It was really good um right okay so next one um what was I ask every play of this what was the first pair of football boots you had and do you still have them Joe I I don’t I don’t still have them because I’ve they’ll they’ll be you got

Bigger somewhere yeah there’ll be a size children’s four or five but yeah so uh I always remember the first ones I had was a pair of hatrick that was Alan she Alan sheir wore a pair of Patricks back in really back in the day and I had a pair

Of them well I watched an interview with Alan sheir about boots and he used to wear Umbro boots and Adidas um tried to sign him to use their boots and gave him 600,000 more than Umbro and he said no he said no so yeah anyway my first boot

Obviously I didn’t read your level not as many injur well more injuries um my first boots were quazar they had a picture of Gary liner on the box you probably don’t remember quazar right there had a picture of L box and in small print it said Gary liner does not wear these boots

So I was like really come on SO Patrick’s and you don’t still have them that’s that’s fine the only person to to say that they still had them was have a guess have a guess from the team last year Alex pen Alex peny no it wasn’t a player all right Ross no

Nearly Jimmy yes it was Jimmy Jimmy he’s so kind of thing to do is it is he is he is he one of them is he one of them he’ll probably tried to squeeze in him keep using them um right Joe these are the funny questions now so gaffa says when you

Finally get one um eat what you want as you scored a hattick apparently calories don’t count what are you having Jolie slee what are you gonna eat what’s your favorite meal cheap meal uh yeah Chinese Chinese everyone says that everyone says Chinese man just what they do is it

Because all salt do you think I think it’s just cuz I’d order probably five or six different things no nothing in particular and just eat until I probably was sick yeah through it I love that um okay um so you played once ringland C what was

That like and do you still have the gear yeah yeah um an amazing experience I think uh you get Tre as close to an England football as I’d imagine it’s it’s quite f um played in quite a good game and yeah there’s a lot of talent I didn’t know um

But there’s a lot of Talent on display and it used to be when I played it used to be under 24 yeah you had to be under 24 to play for it so it was more like emerging young talent in the non leagues whereas now it’s open Age um but yeah it

Was really good I really enjoyed it so we’ve got Jack Lambert now who’s kind of in the same kind of well he’s just doing nice things and scoring nice goals if you’ve seen them um um do you know Jack yes very well me and Jack was obviously at Darlington

Together and we were roommates for my time at kidin so oh there you go perfect stuff right okay so um um so Joe I think you’re probably a massive fan of football who do you support not who you played for but who do you support you

Got a team I’m a Sheffield dcast lad so I was born in Sheffield my family are all from Sheffield and we’re all Chef Wednesday fans there you go are they going to do anything this season I don’t know where they’re on the table to be honest they’re actually fighting relegation

And they’re a bit like K him Ina we know what that’s like uh you know what that’s like mate um yeah so okay so that’s that’s your team okay so Joe um you’ve only scored twice for Harry I couldn’t believe that when I read it and

Wikipedia if it’s right it says you only played 14 times for us is that correct no no definitely not now so I played I played probably 20 games this season 15 20 games this season probably played 20 20 games last season so maybe 40 odd games well someone from who reads

This will better tell us how many it was I’m sure and what was your favorite match I won’t accept the playoff final Joe what was your favorite match um my favorite match do you know do you know what um I think when we came back on the

Run uh when we when when I came back from injury there was a lot um we we we’d won a couple of games and then we played a bank holiday weekend at Easter and we had filed away on the Friday yeah uh and then we had Bon or or other way

Around maybe bton at home and then filed away whichever it was and Bon had not lost in 14 15 games yeah F were top at league and everyone was just kind of like yeah you’re doing all right but you’ve got to play them two and then so

To win those two over that weekend they they were both equally very good H because then it kind of became a bit real that we were like actually we’re going to do something um and then I think my favorite game apart from obviously the playoff ones uh the

Playoff final would be the semi-final I think beating kingslin yeah at their ground um in the way that we did it was probably a massive achievement because kings were a good side that year they were a good side they should have gone up really with the amount of points they

Got you know but works I think no and I think even a lot of their players on the day probably thought they were going to beat us um I think a lot of their you know pundits bookkeepers all that was like no one really gave us a chance and

To go and no we should have won six or seven really to it was a big stuffing so yeah that that that would be for me okay um final question from me Joe um when you are fit again I’ve put in closed season but it sounds like it’s a month

Away and you can’t get a club but km hares were interested would you come back Joe don’t lie to me would you come back you know what I’ve said this um I would always come back uh to kinster absolutely love it um he one of the best

Clubs I’ve played for um really enjoyed it so yeah definitely would I just have to kind of manage the logistics a bit better it’s uh it’s 125 miles from my house and I was making that trip quite a lot so but I heard you didn’t drive

That’s what I was told you were ever driving is that correct yeah so Shane Shane likes to spin this narrative that I never drove however Shane forgets that I was 70 miles to Shane so yeah even on the days even the days that Shane drove I still drove more than

Him I love that so that’s a yes then that is a yes you would come back absolutely I haven’t got Phil Brown’s phone number but I’m gonna email the club straight away and tell them um it’s been absolutely lovely catching up with you Joe you know it’s been

Lovely that’s actually was your shirt that you wore that you said wasn’t the wrong s wasn’t the right size so they just gave it me so yeah so so yeah thank you so much for everything you did for the club um I really really hope we get to see you

Again in harri’s colors not against us because that would just make me I’m probably vomi in on Pitch to be honest so so yeah so um as I always say this is the final word so as it’s the final word it’s your chance to have your final word

To the players and the fans of Kid harriers Joe Ley thank you so much thank you so much Joe take it away have have your final word buddy no I I I would like to say um there’s a lot of amazing people connected with the football club um from

People that work in the offices from people that work upstairs you know the staff present and past um and it was sad that I never got to say bye in person there are probably a few hugs that I needed to give out a few thank yous that

I needed to give out um yeah so so yeah that that’ be the overriding message I want to say massive thank you um some some tough times personally but kind of coming to kidderminster has allowed you to kind of just Express Yourself forget it the fans were amazing with me

Absolutely you had a couple of songs in space I was there I’m gut I didn’t get to play more um I wish the uh the injuries and the timings of stuff had have been different but I definitely have turned into a bit of a Kidman starers fan I can honestly say I’ve

Watched majority of the game since I’ve left the club and I will continue to do so to hope that they can be safe because the fans deserve it the people that work there deserve it and the boys deserve it so final word from me is a massive thank

You to absolutely everybody I’ve loved my time there and I won’t be a stranger I’m sure I’ll be back I just had a thought Joe sorry I normally end it here but I’ve had a thought have you still got your kit your harri’s kit no no you

Could put it on and then just walk in and be like just headphones on so no no one says in the your headon just sit in the changing rooms all right boys I think uh I think the lads at the Players house have picked a pie as my training

Kit and my my tracko probably or something like that so but we’ll see thank you so much thank you for having me on mate cheers pal I’m sure Phil Brown cheers pal speak you soon byee