Opinion: Why football and youth work don't mix

In 1993, one local authority strangely held its annual youth service conference that day, at which I spoke. And in 2000, I was in Lisbon doing preparatory work for the European white paper on youth and missed the defeat of my own team, Aston Villa, by Chelsea.

In between those two years I missed the cup final for a very different reason. Settled in front of the TV shortly before the match was due to start, Clive knocked on my door. I suppose he was about 16. He was obviously upset and it transpired that his mother, a schoolteacher, had threatened to throw him out. When I asked why, he said he had been at an all-night party and when he had gone home in the morning, his mum had, according to him, "lost it". She had discovered he'd been smoking dope and had had enough. GCSEs were looming, and Clive wasn't taking them seriously. What did Clive want me to do, I asked? He wanted me to go with him and talk to his mother.