Chris Iwelumo swaps shooting for studying and extends first-class strike rate
Former Wolves striker Chris Iwelumo is celebrating after graduating from Staffordshire University with first-class honours.
The 37-year-old, who netted 16 goals in 50 appearances for Wolves between 2008 and 2010, has been studying Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting.
Iwelumo's course was designed by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to help footballers find a new career following their retirement.
And after previously doing some radio work with broadcasters including talkSPORT, the former Scotland striker hopes it will lead to more media opportunities.
"When I first retired I tried to break into radio at talkSPORT," Iwelumo said.
"I was told that 87 ex-professional footballers were trying to do the same thing.
"Now a lot of those will probably be bigger names or have played at a higher level, internationals.
"So you have to do whatever you can to make yourself stand out from that crowd and I feel that having this behind me will help me in that world."
Iwelumo was full of praise for the PFA, who work to support footballers in making the transition to a new role after hanging up their boots.
"Whenever I've needed the PFA for whatever reason – there's been a lot of hard things I've been through towards the end of my career – the PFA were there," he said.
"I met Ian Bayley, who was the course leader (at Staffordshire University).
"He was the head of media at Stoke City when I was there and I had a good relationship with him.
"I told him what I was doing with the likes of talkSPORT and Sky Sports and he said the course would be perfect for me.
"I enrolled the next day. I found it pretty straight-forward.
"I wouldn't say I was good with computers, my laptop was the most expensive DVD player before I came on to the course.
"It's all about preparation, you have to work very hard and make sure you know what you're talking about.
"It's how you express yourself and that is something that I feel has got better since I started this journey.
"There's still a lot of improvement to come but the course has been massive for me being in that media circle.
"I've taken that full step and closed the door from the athletic and football side of things but talking about it is the next best thing."
