Touted as the English Maradona, Sonny Pike had the world at his feet before it was all taken away and he had to rebuild his life.
The Greatest Footballer That Never Was is published by Reach Sport and serialised in our national newspapers.
Here's an excerpt.
Blue Peter came on the flight to Amsterdam with me and Dad.
They were paying for our flights and accommodation and would then give my week-long trial at Ajax an extended segment on the show.
All of the players from my bedroom wall walked out before my very eyes. There were the De Boer brothers, Jari Litmanen, Nwankwo Kanu, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf, Marc Overmars, Edwin van der Sar and the captain, Danny Blind. No wonder they were the best team in the world at that time.
Louis van Gaal turned up and said hello, then offered us all some biscuits. Dad didn’t have a clue who he was.
The emphasis on the technical rather than physical work suited me down to the ground. Maybe I could make something of myself in Holland at the best academy in the world.
Tim Vincent came to congratulate me and award me my official Blue Peter badge.
There was never a chance to switch off – even when we went into central Amsterdam for an evening meal.
“Dad, what are those women doing in the windows?” I asked. That wasn't the only tough question he had to field that evening as we walked past the Red Light District to the Chinese restaurant.
I'd never been more sure that I was going to make it as a professional footballer. All I had to do was shoot for the stars.
At a Sky Sports awards show, I was ushered into a seat next to George Best. There I was, the “new George Best” next to the original.
Later we were joined by Sylvester Stallone. “Hey, kid, you look like a real athlete,” he said.
A marketing executive told me how Coca-Cola was investing heavily in football, The League Cup was officially known as The Coca-Cola League Cup and it was their plan to turn me into the Coca-Cola Kid.
It had a ring to it, I’ll give them that. I must have done all right because after a few juggling tricks and keepie-uppies at corporate events, Coca Cola asked me to perform at the League Cup final that season.
I felt like I was in the film Gladiator. There were 80,000 pairs of eyes trained on me – it was overwhelming.
Then Chelsea came calling for me – this was the moment I had waited for. A proper big club where I could excel. I had been training with Leyton Orient but Dad insisted I had not signed for them so I was free to do what I wanted.
All sorts of people approached Dad with new ideas and opportunities. He lapped them up, constantly moving me from agent to agent – and then he was suckered in by the biggest of them all.
There was an opportunity to make a documentary about me, presented by someone called Greg Dyke, and would result in me being represented by Eric 'Monster' Hall, the most charismatic football agent of the 1990s.
Dad believed in the hype; I was beginning to feel burdened by it.
Eric's office was on Star Street, just off the Edgware Road. “Look at this street you're going to,” Dad told me. The Great Exploitations were fully in motion.
Everyone was looking forward to the documentary, the programme that would come to define my whole career.
“This is Sonny Pike, one of the most sought-after 12-year-olds in the country,” it began.
Soon, though, I was no longer the main focus. Instead, the voiceover told how scouts are controlled by a whole series of rules from the FA – or are supposed to be.
Hold on, what was going on? This wasn’t about me any more. I wasn’t even on screen. This was about the scouts.
The programme was called Fair Game: Coaching and Poaching. I was the poaching – and it led to me being banned for training with two clubs.
Looking back, I question whether Greg knew the full devastating impact that documentary would have on me.
From his point of view, perhaps he was just focused on making a programme about what he considered a genuine issue in the game, but at the time I saw him as someone who had brought my dreams crashing down.
The world was at my feet and then the world got taken away.
My monster agent, perhaps wisely, vanished after that.
*Adapted by MIKE WALTERS from Sonny Pike: The Greatest Footballer That Never Was, published by Reach Sport, May 27
