At so many points in Joel Nouble’s career it would have been easy for him to simply give up.
As a kid, he was pushed around by boys six years older than him playing cage football in south east London. Later, he faced the devastating blow of his release from Chelsea. And an injury at Dagenham and Redbridge, which put him out of the game for 19 months, was a huge test of his mental strength.
But maybe more than most, plying his trade in England’s non-league set-up took him to the brink. Driving for hours to away games for the likes of Thurrock, Haringey Borough and Concord Rangers. Having to get changed OUTSIDE in the cold and getting home in the early hours before starting a shift as a postman the next day. Anyone without a steely inner resilience would surely have left football behind to focus on another career outside the game.
But not Nouble. His upbringing in Deptford, where he had the support of his family, simply wouldn’t allow it. And now, eight years after that injury at Dagenham, he’s getting his reward for never giving up.
Nouble has been a breath of fresh air in the Premiership for Livingston this season. At 26, his gaffer David Martindale rates him as a £2million player. And after scoring against Rangers at Ibrox, pundits were tipping him for a move to the Old Firm.
It has been some journey. At the heart of it has been an unerring belief in his own ability –and playing the game with a smile on his face.
Ahead of facing Celtic at Parkhead in midweek, Nouble told MailSport : “The people who know me know I’ve got confidence in myself.
“I’ve been involved in football from such a young age at Chelsea. Me not getting back to being a professional footballer would have been a failure in my eyes.
“So I was more scared of failure than anything else. I always knew that I’d get another opportunity. When it comes, you have to be ready.
“I just had to have that self-belief. My friends and family would say: ‘We know you’re good and eventually the world will see it too.’
“But maybe I looked a bit delusional when I’d say: ‘I know I’m going to get there.’
“Did I ever think about doing something else? I probably did in a few different moments.
“But I try not to let any negative thoughts in my head. I went to grounds when we had to change outside. The dressing-rooms would be messed up so we couldn’t go in.
“We’d get changed outside in the cold then have a 10 minute warm-up. Some games would be so far away and we wouldn’t have a coach so you’d have to drive there yourself.
“I’d get back at 1am then have to go to work in the morning. I don’t really know what was going through my mind at those points.
“I just had an inner belief that eventually I’d get there. I had to keep going.
“If I believed I was good enough I had to demonstrate it at that level. Because if I couldn’t do it down there, I couldn’t even think about the pro game. That’s how I looked at it.”
So where does that grit come from? For Nouble, it’s a mixture of the environment he grew up in and having the thing he loved taken away from him as a teenager.
He said: “What you experience when you’re young has a massive influence on you and builds up characteristics.
“When I played cage football in London, I was up against older boys because I had a big brother, Frank. These guys were six or seven years older than me. It might not seem like a big thing but they didn’t care that I was younger than them. They treated me the same.
“I couldn’t run to my mum and tell her I got pushed. I had to get up and deal with it. Those little things help to give you a strong mindset.
“When I was a postman, after a Tuesday night game my legs were tired but I’d need to get up early and walk up blocks of flats. I’d go to every door on every level. I’d have packages and if people weren’t in I’d have to take it back to the van.
“And I was doing it around this time of the year when it was cold. That was hard. But my strong mentality kept me going.
“Getting injured at Dagenham and missing 19 months of football played a big part. It was the worst feeling I’ve had. But looking back, it was probably the best thing in terms of my mentality.
“It changed my whole outlook on football. When the game was taken away from me and I had to watch all my friends play, it changed me.
“When I came back I just wanted to enjoy it. When football’s gone it’s the worst thing ever.”
Experiencing those setbacks and challenges has ensured nothing fazes Nouble now. He has already silenced Ibrox by scoring this season and he’d love to do the same at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Incredibly, he says he won’t be nervous. After the graft he’s put in and the humility shown to get here, it’s only excitement he feels.
He said: “I’m not scared of going to Celtic. In terms of showcasing my ability, that’s the best place to do it.
“I’m more looking forward to it. These are the stadiums I want to play in.
“Before I went to Arbroath on loan, people told me Gayfield wasn’t the best ground because it was next to the sea. But when I got there I didn’t think it was that bad compared to some of the grounds I’d played in
“It was a great stadium for me! Parkhead is the only one I’ve not been to yet. So I’m going to take it all in because I’ve seen the atmosphere there, watching Champions League games. I’ll try things, I won’t shy away from it.
“That’s the whole point of my whole journey through football from Chelsea to Dagenham, getting injured, coming back, doing jobs, then joining Livingston.
“These are the moments you live for and want to thrive on.”
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