George Friend: From a car boot of eggs to a career in the Premier League

“I’d never really left Devon before that and didn’t know too much about Wolves and certainly not the size and scale of the club,” he recalls. “I remember speaking to my flatmates at Exeter asking what they thought as I’d got interest from Bristol City as well, and they told me I had to go to Wolves!”

And so, Friend headed up the M5 for talks with Dad Andrew, but not just armed with his thoughts and aspirations about what might lie ahead.

In the boot of the car, with thanks to the family business on the farm in Barnstaple, came an array of produce from eggs to meats which were ready to be distributed around the dressing room and help Friend make a very positive first impression!

“Little did I know that Dad had packed all that in the boot before we headed up to Wolves,” says Friend. “He had the idea to distribute the eggs all around the training ground, to Jez Moxey (chief executive) and the staff and players, whoever else that wanted them.

“But there was me, quite a shy and reserved 18-year-old, who really didn’t want to be selling steaks out the back of a car to Karl Henry, Chris Iwelumo and David Jones!

“I mean, I’d rather try and get in the first team!

“In truth though, I’m glad we did it. It broke the ice, helped me settle in, and became a regular thing.

“Every time I went home, the car would be loaded up again and my Dad would say, ‘sell these to the lads when you get back’.

“Later on, we even branched out into healthy ready meals that I’d dish out on the coach on the way back from away games.

“At the time I wasn’t really playing, so it kind of felt that I was still playing my part by making sure the lads were eating good nutritious meals after a game!”

Nearly two decades on, Friend, not far off 39, can reflect on his football career, an ‘egg-citing’ one if you will, with plenty of pride and satisfaction.

It is just over two-and-a-half years since his final appearance, when he went off with an injury after half an hour of Bristol Rovers’ home defeat to Burton Albion, knowing that his race was run, and it was time to hang up the boots.

He did then become sporting director for Rovers, a role he departed just over a year ago, to now combine several business interests and consultancy work within football in mentoring and recruitment with a much-cherished return to family life which always suffers due to the intensity of the sport.

There will, however, undoubtedly be plenty more opportunities coming his way in the future given his experience and expertise, and the learnings from everything he has been through within the game.

Returning to football, Wolves were, as mentioned, the second club Friend represented in his long career. Birmingham City, Wolves’ hosts in the long-awaited return of the Midlands derby on Sunday lunchtime, were the second last.

And Friend, who still lives in the Midlands, actually played in this fixture, in Wolves’ 2-0 win in the FA Cup back in 2009.

While he greatly enjoyed his time with both clubs, from his blooding and development as a young talent at Wolves to a very different role as an experienced head at Blues, the best years of his career undoubtedly came with the pair’s Championship rivals, Middlesbrough.

Friend spent no fewer than eight years on Teesside, chalking up 299 appearances, helping the team into the Premier League and also enjoying a spell as captain.

His coming of age in the upper echelons of English football came several years later and over 250 miles further north from where it all began, back home in Devon.

He didn’t emerge from the traditional YTS or academy route but, while pursuing education at school, Friend would be given Tuesdays off to head up to Exeter to train initially within the youth ranks and then the first team.

After completing his A-levels on the Friday, he started life with pre-season as a professional at the Grecians the following Monday.

Over the next two years he would be part of the team which took Exeter back from the National League into Football League via a play-off win over Cambridge at Wembley, as well as becoming the youngest captain in the club’s history.

He would also play with club legend Adam Stansfield, who sadly passed away with cancer aged just 31 in 2010, and whose son Jay, whom Friend just missed out on overlapping with during his time at St Andrew’s, is set feature for Blues on Sunday.

“As people can probably tell from my whole career, I didn’t have the skills or tutelage that you would see from an academy player,” Friend explains. “Maybe it was more life skills, a farming and agricultural background!

“But those first couple of seasons at Exeter were so special, and it was incredible to experience so much in such a short space of time.

“I didn’t even play 50 games, but there was the promotion, being part of such a closely knit team, and then everything which ‘Stanno’ went through later on.

“Then playing against Jay when he was at Fulham before going to Blues, and I have such a soft spot for him because I can still remember when he was a little boy and I was playing in the same team as his Dad.

“I still feel really fortunate to have been part of such a good group, and I learned so much from the other players, pretty much all of whom went on to play at a higher level afterwards.”

For Friend, that higher level came at Molineux, as the opportunity emerged to become part of Mick McCarthy’s squad in the Championship in 2008/09.

He had been spotted by then Wolves chief scout Dave Bowman, and remains forever grateful to have had those early working relationships with the likes of McCarthy, Bowman and assistant manager Terry Connor.

“Dave is such a great guy who was brilliant to me as a player and has been really helpful in terms of what I have done since hanging up my boots,” says Friend. “And obviously Mick is an incredible football man who I have so much respect for, and I still speak to both him and Dave now.

“I will also never forget when I left Wolves, and a really honest conversation between myself and TC (Connor).

“I’d had the two years at the club, and I remember him telling me to have a real think about what I did next, and to make sure I made the right decision.

“He wasn’t being brutal with how he was saying it, and I will always appreciate him doing it because it was a bit of a wake-up for me at the time.

“I think I was just coasting along, living in the Midlands, enjoying life and being around a great team, but I hadn’t been playing much.

“That chat just helped make me realise I had to get back to being in a team somewhere and getting regular football if I wanted to become a proper player.”

There were highlights during what proved to be a short stay at Wolves, not least as the team won the Championship title and then survived in the Premier League, although by that stage Friend was regularly sent on loan, to Millwall, Southend, Scunthorpe and back to Exeter.

In that promotion-winning season, he only made seven appearances, one of which was the cup tie at St Andrew’s, but that tally included some very important moments and matches.

He came off the bench to replace the injured Dave Edwards after 16 minutes of what turned into a bruising but statement-making 3-1 win at Bramall Lane in November, before, in early March, starting both the 1-0 victories away at Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday which were so pivotal after a run of just one win in 11 in the league.

He later also started the 1-1 draw at Barnsley which secured the Championship title.

“That Sheffield United game was a really tough one and they had some very good players, but I remember making a tackle which ended up turning into an assist,” says Friend. “I ran into someone and the ball broke forward and we ended up scoring, and Mick was so happy with me for my contribution. That was more learning, and something I always remember.

“At Palace and Sheffield Wednesday I was playing left midfield, as I don’t think Mick trusted me at left back at the time.

“Palace was such a wet night where we really had to battle, especially after such a bad run, so it was a great result, which we then followed up at Hillsborough.

“Coming after that FA Cup game at St Andrew’s as well – I hadn’t experienced those sorts of stadiums and atmospheres before, and little did I know I would end up playing for both clubs.

“Even though I only played a few games it was such a great season with a squad which Mick had put together, predominantly British lads, with an amazing team spirit.

“It was just a really good side which had everything, but most of all it had great character, and we went to the top of the league early on and stayed there all season.”

At the end of that 2008/09 season which brought promotion to the Holy Grail, little did Friend know that he would only have one more Wolves appearance to make. But, what an appearance it was.

December 2009, in front of almost 74,000 at Old Trafford, and the infamous night where McCarthy changed his entire outfield 10, and Wolves lost 3-0 to Manchester United.

Friend, again playing in midfield, made his Premier League bow against a team including Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidic and Luis Valencia. Quite the baptism.

“And Sir Alex Ferguson was still the manager,” Friend adds. “I always dreamt of playing at Old Trafford because they were the big team when I was growing up, so what a place to make my Premier League debut.

“I know it was talked about so much, and probably still is, but say what you like about the team and the game, I think Mick played it absolutely perfectly.

“If you consider what we did in the games before and after, and the fact we stayed up, it’s an approach which was successful.

“And yes, before you ask, I did have a chance to score in the game as well, and all these years later I’ve probably just about got over it!

“Goalscoring was never my forte during my career, but that would obviously have been amazing!”

If the curtain was then to come down on Friend’s Wolves career at the end of that season, it was a good few years before it came back up in terms of the Premier League, offering another shining example of the hard work and professionalism to return to that level, which epitomised his career.

With the strong words of Connor ringing in his ears, Friend joined Doncaster in the Championship, coming up against Wolves in the FA Cup, and by his second season, had been named captain and swept the board in the Player of the Year awards.

That helped secure a move to Middlesbrough, and eventually promotion from the Championship, and so in August of 2016, nearly seven years after his top-flight debut, Friend made his second appearance in the Premier League. And he would go on to make 25.

It was this time which brought Friend his greatest days on the pitch, but so much fulfilment off it as well. Among more yearly accolades was the Community Player of the Year award, and he remains a trustee of the Middlesbrough Foundation. He also set up the George Friend Scholarship at Teesside University, helping students from all backgrounds access a performance sport programme, pursuing their passion for football alongside a university education.

He always wanted to leave something of a legacy in Middlesbrough, and that necessitates regular visits back, which Friend now combines with those other business interests but, perhaps most importantly, family time, with wife Kerri, whom he met while at Wolves, and their daughters Isobel and Harriet.

“While I was still playing I was doing a lot of courses, had the player databases and was talking to lots of different people, to prepare for going into recruitment after I finished,” he reveals. “So that was always in the planning, and while I wasn’t really expecting it, by the time I got to Bristol Rovers it was clear my days as a player were coming to an end and I took that role.

“For now, though, the idea is to spend a bit more time with my family, because having spent 20 years as a player, you don’t get much chance to do that.

“So being able to enjoy time with my wife and daughters is really important, along with wider family and friends that you just don’t really have the opportunity to see too much during the intensity of a football season.”

And so, Sunday’s fixture will bring plenty of happy memories for Friend, of his time at both clubs, even if neither ultimately lived up to the heights of what he achieved in the North East.

“I would never take away from what I achieved at Middlesbrough, and the times at Wolves and Birmingham probably weren’t the best in terms of my performances, but I always give my best,” he admits. “I was never quite in my prime in that it was too early when I went to Wolves and too late at Birmingham.

“When I first got to Blues the club was in a difficult position and we were all just working hard as a squad and staff to make things better.

“I know Troy (Deeney) has talked about this, but we were also doing lots of work around the place, painting, fixing the showers, the hot and cold baths!

“And so, to see them booming again now is something that is really good to see.

“I also became more of a mentor during my time there, playing a bit of a coaching role in my final year under John Eustace, which was obviously very different to when I arrived at Wolves as a teenager who had barely been out of Devon!

“Moving up as an 18-year-old to live on my own, I had to learn so much, but I met so many great people, including my future wife!

“I often think that if I had arrived at Wolves at the stage I did at Middlesbrough, I would have played hundreds of games for Wolves instead.

“But then also I wouldn’t have had that learning experience which helped me so much with everything else that happened in my career.

“Living in the Midlands as I do now, it would be great to see all the clubs kicking on and challenging this season, and hopefully that’s what will happen.”

Friend enjoyed a fantastic career, and there are so many happy memories and experiences to reflect on as he heads into the next phase not just of working life, but, more importantly, family time as well.

It feels like a lifetime since he arrived at Compton on transfer deadline day as a teenager with a heart full of hopes and dreams, and a car boot packed with eggs and other culinary goodies to pass on to his new team-mates.

What a gesture. But to the lines of the famous song, maybe ‘that’s what friends are for’.